I finally read it. I had heard about it from at least twenty people over the years who talked of it being a powerful book that shaped their world: Acres of Diamonds. It’s a century old, and yet its truths are timeless.

This pastor, lawyer, speaker, politician, and university president—who collected $11 million from his speech by the same title and donated it to students—spoke of the riches that are available to all of us and how we search for them in all the wrong places. The acres of diamonds, you see, are in our own backyard.

He tells of struggling merchants who know nothing about the people living near their businesses, nothing about their families or their kids, their joys or sorrows or aspirations. They just plain don’t care about people —and THAT’s why they’re poor. They don’t see opportunities because they don’t know that people will show you how to help them… IF you just listen.

A metaphor for banking? My thoughts exactly.

Those who have the words “rate curve” falling from their lips as an excuse are missing the obvious—the acres of diamonds that are suddenly revealed when they stop worrying about rate curves and start focusing on caring for people.