La Salle's Value Proposition

Dr. Michael Porter, a member of the faculty of the Harvard School of Business, once observed:

Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.

I used this quote in my opening remarks at last February’s Strategic Planning Retreat.   At that event, I offered my view of the world La Salle occupies in the greater Pasadena area.  It is a world only now emerging from the pernicious effects of the Great Recession. It is a world in which the “Baby Boom” has gone “bust” and fewer middle income families can afford private education without the support of financial aid.  It is a world in which excellent private secondary schools are increasingly competing for the same students and it is a world in which programs and facilities occupy an out-sized role in how families choose a high school.

It is this latter challenge that, in Southern California, means attracting Mission-appropriate students cannot be limited to the classroom; but must account for the fact that families choose private high schools in and around the greater Pasadena area based on the perception that their sons and daughters will be well taken care of from the moment they arrive on campus until the moment they leave (which, I might point out, is virtually impossible to predict, since I am convinced that La Salle is the “City that never sleeps”). This means, however, that in the first part of the 21^st Century, there are three legs to the stool which must shape La Salle’s approach to the recruitment of Mission-appropriate students:

Academics • Arts • Athletics

And, like a three-legged stool, kick one out from under and the whole thing collapses. Our ability, therefore, to attract and retain Mission-appropriate students is dependent upon the degree to which La Salle offers superior programs in Academics, Arts and Athletics…which brings me back to Michael Porter who offered this justification for the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the educational process:

I teach in the Medical School, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Business School. And it's the best perch... because most of my work crosses boundaries.

I believe that Porter’s preference for interdisciplinary engagement is exactly what La Salle does best.  Why shouldn’t we choose “the best perch” when searching for the Truth - we know that the answer will be found in the Christian Brothers’ three hundred year mission to promote

A human and Christian education of the young, especially the poor.

And, how we do this at La Salle relies on a three-legged stool comprising academics, arts and athletics. In support of this approach, the Strategic Planning Committee articulated this value proposition to characterize the unique elements that differentiate La Salle from other private secondary schools in the area:

As the only Catholic, co-educational high school in the Pasadena area and rooted in its Mission to nurture, inspire, challenge and motivate the students entrusted to our care, La Salle High School of Pasadena is committed to the delivery of an excellent college preparatory education in which students are encouraged to 
LearnŸ
Serve
Lead

What distinguishes La Salle from other college-preparatory high schools in the greater Pasadena area is the opportunity for students to nurture their individual passion in academics, the arts, athletics and/or the spiritual life. Because it is the largest private high school in Pasadena, La Salle is able to offer a diversity of opportunities both in and out of the classroom that is unparalleled among its peers.

With this value proposition as the basis for their deliberations, the Strategic Planning Retreat set to work on developing strategies to ensure that La Salle will continue to offer excellent programs in academics, the arts and athletics (more on that next month). This, I believe, is what Porter meant when he noted that strategy is “about deliberately choosing to be different.”

            We recently welcomed the incoming Class of 2019. They are a talented group and offer great potential for taking advantage of our academic, arts and athletic programs. I look forward to the next four years as they benefit from the strategic initiatives that we are beginning to put into place to ensure that our value proposition (La Salle is able to offer a diversity of opportunities both in and out of the classroom that is unparalleled among its peers) continues to differentiate us from other high school options.