St John Baptist de Lasalle - Leading by Example

I have always heard of St. John Baptist de Lasalle but it is only until today after I have read and watched a film about his works and history that I have truly understood his life, his works and his significance in the past and until the present time.

St Lasalle can be characterized as a true risk taker, innovator, servant leader and mentor all throughout his life. Despite coming from an affluent family, he took the risk and gave up all his riches for the sake of his desire to help and to educate the poor. He also took risk in opening up schools despite the limited resources and obstacles which he faces at that time. However, his boldness bore fruit when he was able to pass on the vision to his fellow educators and to the people during his time who has the heart to help others. His exemplary works were never forgotten and served as an inspiration and model for a lot of educational institution until the present time.

He is also an innovator in the sense that he looked for a way to standardize his system of education and by training people from all walks of life to be educators like him. Personally, I admire his courage and boldness to think outside of the box and introduce a non conventional method of teaching during his time. He might have been criticized a lot a first but his dream, vision and passion has kept him in pursuing his goals.

Lastly, he is truly a servant leader as he does not only lead others by giving out orders rather he leads them by his example. For me, this is the most admirable trait of St. Lasalle as he lived not only by doctrines but by examples. I believe that he was able to inspire a lot of people to join his cause through his examples. He has won the heart of other educators by walking his talk.

In my personal opinion, I believe that all of us should not only be inspired by the life of St.Lasalle but rather it should also serve as our guide on our journey in becoming future business leaders. I believe that in order for us to claim that we are Lasallians, we must be able to exemplify St.Lasalle's example in our personal and business lives.

Thinking about it, the life of St. Lasalle may have been fruitful but in order for its fruitfulness to continue throughout generations and generations, we, as Lasallian business leaders, must do our part by living and following the example of our patron saint in our everyday life.