In Praise of Diligence

When public leadership is merely described in terms of money (as is evident in the theme song of Donald Trump’s television show “The Apprentice”, or the business section of newspaper USA Today), leadership and organizational labor turns from the purposive ends it once had toward the sole pursuit of financial goals as ends-in themselves. Leadership is not longer about the honor of leading or labor, it is about the accumulation of wealth, prestige, and power.

This was no always so. John MacDonald, in his 1886 book, Elements Necessary for the Formation of Business Character asked a central question of his day (and maybe one that needs to be asked in this age again): “Who are the men in any of our cities who are the leaders of men?” (p. 21). His answer was a simple one, but a provocative one that would form the base of his persuasive argument more than a hundred years old: “They are the diligent”.  For MacDonald the virtue of diligence would be of prime importance in the moral formation of leaders. In an effort to underscore the eternal nature of this reality he ends his short book with a quotation from the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 21:5, NKJV): “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.”

The virtue of diligence is part of a Christian list of seven virtues, originally named by the Christian poet Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348-413 A.D) and based on the Nicomachean Ethics of the Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, the Wisdom writings of the Old Testament and teachings of the Apostles Paul and Peter of the New Testament.  The Greek word used by the New Testament authors to describe the virtue of diligence is the Greek word spoude and its closest meaning is the disposition to think and act with a proper sense of urgency and zeal. The original term literally meant to make “haste,” or to be “eager”. The Apostle Paul lists diligence as a central Christian virtue (2 Corinthians 8:7, NKJV): “But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.”

The Apostle Peter echoes this Pauline sentiment and places diligence in both of his lists of virtues in his second letter (2 Peter 1).

Later on the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the third century would use the virtue of diligence as part of their spiritual arsenal against the temptations of the evil one. The great Medieval theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) would refer to the virtue of diligence by the terms of solicitude and vigilance. In St. Aquinas’s use of these terms he proposes that that the virtue of diligence includes the values of love and care. To be diligent is to take care to do what we value or prize.

Diligent leadership starts with a determined re-evaluation of what we value. When we are clear about what we prize above all then our leadership will be clear and effective. As Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21 ESV)