Wise words at school fundraiser

ST James School for Girls and Boys recently held the Wizewords networking breakfast at the Waterfront Hotel and Spa.

Speakers at the breakfast, Ela Gandhi and Dr Dudley Forde, had the guests enthralled with their ‘wise words’ and spoke on values and ethical leadership.

Ela Gandhi spoke about her grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, and his transformation during the years he lived in the country, and how in the world we currently live in, we need to be non-violent in nature, and try to conserve and take care of our environment without harbouring anger, hatred and malice.

“We need to change our attitude, and like Gandhi said, we need to refuse to have what millions cannot. We need to rearrange our lives in accordance with that mentality. We need to also be motivated to act on our beliefs and have values such as compassion, love and truth. St James provides that love and nurturing that is needed for young minds to develop and the will to do the right thing,” she said.

Dr Forde spoke on leaders and what it means to be a leader.

“To be a leader is someone who means well and mobilises people to achieve their needs and wants,” he said.

Forde spoke on how there has been a fundamental change in the educational philosophy where leadership is now ‘out of fashion’.

He said he felt organisations which offer leadership training still had a long way to go in developing real leaders.

“Albert Einstein said the way to teach leadership was through example. If one person can influence 10 000 to do good, what a different world it could be,” he said.