Giving Thanks for the Poets and Plumbers
Dear Saint Mary’s Friends,
Several weeks ago, a member of our fantastic building services crew stopped by my office over the noon hour. I was excited to see her because after some updates—including carpet and paint—in my office suite, I was eager to get the artwork back up on the walls and to start to feel settled again. She asked me to show her where I wanted the various pieces hung, and when I asked, “Aren’t we just going to hang them now?” she replied, “No, I have to go fix a toilet!” I certainly couldn’t argue that my project was more important than that!
As I watched her head down the hallway, I found myself thinking: isn’t that a perfect snapshot of what makes Saint Mary’s work? Every day, across campus, there are people tending to both the beauty and the messiness of our shared life. Some are hanging pictures; some are fixing pipes; others are advising students, designing curriculum, tending gardens, rehearsing a choir, balancing budgets, nurturing spirits, and so much more. All of them make this place a vibrant whole.
That small encounter in my office came to mind recently when I listened to a podcast featuring Huggy Rao, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Early in the show, Rao spoke about a concept first developed by his late colleague Jim March: that leadership is “a mix of poetry and plumbing.” March used poetry as shorthand for purpose—for the lofty goals, values, and visions that inspire us—and plumbing as shorthand for the systems, efficiencies, and routines that make those visions real. Leadership, he said, always lives within that “perennial duality”: the exuberant and the prosaic, the dreaming and the doing. Rao suggests we need to “balance and toggle between our plumber selves and our poet selves.”
As I listened, I realized how fitting this metaphor is for our college community. Saint Mary’s is a place rich in “poetry”—the kinds of ideas and expressions that lift our hearts and expand our imaginations. We speak regularly of purpose, transformation, discovery, and faith. Faculty members craft courses that open minds; staff members create programs that empower students; students explore questions that lead them toward meaning and vocation. The poetry of Saint Mary’s animates every classroom, place of worship, artistic performance, or late-night conversation that invites wonder and wisdom.
But the poetry can’t live without the “plumbing.” The plumbing ensures the lights come on, the technology functions, the grounds are beautiful, the finances are sound, and our students feel engaged, safe, fed, and cared for. It’s the daily commitment to details that allows the poetry to flourish. Remarkably, so many members of our community live at the intersection of both—they are dreamers and doers. They are the ones who turn vision into reality.
In higher education, and perhaps especially in leadership, it can be tempting to focus on the poetry: the strategic plans, the exciting announcements, the visionary goals. But this community reminds me every day that none of that matters without the steadfast, often hidden work that keeps the place running. A usable toilet, a neatly manicured library green, a reconciled budget, a faith-sharing pop-up community, a carefully shoveled walk, a warm smile in the dining hall, a care basket from an alumnae club, a well-run trustee meeting, a donation that extends and expands this work—these are all acts of love, and they make our community not only functional but full of grace.
When I walk across campus, I see that balance happening everywhere: in a gardener leaf-blowing a fresh fall from our campus canopy, in a coach who stays after practice in Angela Athletic & Wellness Center to encourage a student-athlete, in the faculty members whose office lights are on after dark while they fine-tune an assignment or grade a stack of papers, in the student ambassador walking backward through her tour with the surefootedness of Ginger Rogers, in the campus minister who plans a beautiful liturgy, in a residence hall staff member or a mentor for first-generation students making sure every student feels at home. I know it also happens with people who are part of our community but remote from campus: our alumnae, for example, who join our new online platform, The Bridge, in order to stay connected to current students and to each other. Or our regional development staff who keep SMC friends and benefactors excited about all that is happening at the College. Or our parents who staunchly support their students’ goals. Each action is an important thread in the fabric of Saint Mary’s.
As we enter this season of gratitude, I want to pause and say thank you. Thank you to the poets and the plumbers of Saint Mary’s College—the visionaries, the implementers, the innovators, the caretakers, the ones who dream big and the ones who quietly bring dreams to life. You make this College not only an excellent academic institution but also a humane one. You embody the mission in ways seen and unseen, and you remind us all, every day, that purpose and practicality are not opposites—they are partners.
The truth is, in every kind of organization, poetry and plumbing belong together. One offers us direction and heart, and the other gives us strength and endurance. One reminds us of why we do this work while the other ensures that the work actually gets done. Both are necessary to sustain our community. Both are holy and deserving of celebration. So in this Thanksgiving season, I hope you’ll join me in giving thanks to every member of our community—for the poetry that lifts our spirits and the plumbing that keeps our shared life flowing.
November 24, 2025