Leading In Great Plenitude

In George MacDonald’s June 15th entry in Diary of an Old Soul, he reminded us that in times of sufficiency or abundance, what he called plenitude in the poem, we need to view our success and plenitude through a lens that balances our professional, personal and spiritual lives. In 1880, here is what MacDonald wrote in that June 15th poem:

“Who sets himself not sternly to be good,

Is but a fool, who judgment of true things

Has none, however oft the claim renewed.

And he who thinks, in his great plenitude,

To right himself, and set his spirit free,

Without the might of higher communings,

Is foolish also – save he willed himself to be.”

To be transparent, I had to look up the word plenitude. I was pretty sure I was getting the base word of plenty right, but wanted to make sure I knew what it meant. I found it to mean “ great sufficiency or abundance.” This poem jumped out at me. In the blank page MacDonald intentionally left for notes, I wrote, “We need to make sure and remember God, even when things are going well.” I was reminded that successful leaders make decisions by thinking through the consequences or considering how decisions will reverberate throughout our professional, personal and spiritual lives. This thinking went along with my post from yesterday entitled, Prudence in Leadership: Lessons from Aragorn’s Courage and Caution in The Lord of the Rings.

Byron's Babbles