Mining Your Acres of Diamond

“Your diamonds are not in far-away mountains or in distant seas; they are usually in your own backyard if you will take the time to look for them.” Earl Nightingale

I have been away working on my diamond field, so to speak. I have been working on two books, the Human-Centered Culture Playbook and What Value Are You Bringing To The Table? As I write, the idea that Russell Conwell shared in his ever-useful book, Acres of Diamond, came to mind. If you haven’t read the book you need to go get yourself a copy and devour it. It made me realize that if I am not intentional with what I want, I may lose my acres of diamonds.

He shared the story of an African farmer who heard about the diamond and how it makes people rich in a faraway land. He was a rich man who owned a large expanse of land where he farmed. But that night he became a poor man. He became discontented with what he had. He was unable to sleep. By morning, he has made the decision to sell his property and use the fund to travel to Europe and find his diamond to become rich.

He found someone who bought the land. Off he went in confident in search of his diamond mines. Unfortunately, he never found any throughout his sojourn. Instead of returning in shame, he threw himself into the sea and died.

But that isn’t the end of the story. The person who bought the land while walking around on it found a piece of stone. He picked it up and placed it on the table in his sitting room. A priest came visiting and noticed the stone. He picked it up and declared that it was a diamond. On that land was one of the great supplies of diamonds. It made the new landowner very wealthy.

The moral of the story is that we should first try to mine our goldmine, acre of diamond, or oil field before going after a goldmine we heard of that is far off. We all one way or the other leave our acres of diamonds in search of opportunities that continually elude us. After we have spent our lives searching for that diamond, we fear coming back to the diamond field we have left. However, since no land remains fallow for long, someone will take advantage of what we left and mine it for us.

People miss their acres of diamonds because it requires work. They always want to settle for the easy and comfortable. They want someone to do it for them.

Kodak was the first company to create the digital camera. But instead of mining it for the opportunity, they continually seek other opportunities. The digital camera was their acre of diamond. Someone picked it and the rest is history. As the market for digital cameras rose, Kodak lose market share and declared bankruptcy.

When you continually look at outside opportunities without first taking advantage of the opportunities that are right before you, you are creating the acres of diamond scenario for yourself. Firstly, make sure that you tap and mine value out of the opportunities around you and dominate it before going after other opportunities.

There are people who have created a large following on social media. But rather than see it as an acre of diamond to mine, they play with it and go in search of opportunities elsewhere. If they had taken the time to mine the opportunity closer to them, they would have the resources to capture the opportunity that is out while still mining the opportunity.

Leaders also act like the farmer who sold his land in search of diamonds. They hardly study their people to uncover their talents and hidden skills that can be harnessed for the company's use. All a leader needs in many cases to grow his business is right before her but because he is focused on someone outside, they jump their people to recruit someone outside for a position that someone on their team would have done very well. As a leader, you should continually see the value that is present in your people and call it out. If not, you will lose it.

If an employee is not doing well in a position, instead of firing the people, leaders should study them and find the best place they can fit into. Once your people have the right attitude, you can get value from them. All you need to do is to find a place for them.

There are employees who despite liking the company they work still go searching for jobs that will pay them more and better. They want to be rich but believe that if they can get a job that pays more, their finances and lifestyle will improve. Many have made the mistake and regretted it. The grass is not greener on the other side by chance; someone worked it and made it so.

Just as the acres of diamond of a business are the needs of their client, so also the oil field of an employee is the needs and wants of their employer. When businesses are always looking for customers instead of satisfying and upselling their present customers, they end up neglecting their present customers and losing them. It cost more to get a new client than to serve and upsell your present client.

When employees leave companies because they are not being paid well, they are leaving their acres of diamonds. If employees will take the time to study and prepare to learn what their employers want and then develop the mindset and skills to help their employers have what they want, their wildest dreams will come true. Employees’ greatest opportunities are in the needs and want of their employers.

When you focus on money, you will miss your acres of diamonds. That’s because it requires work and may not produce immediately. Wherever you have people who are supporting you and appreciate what you are doing, there you have your acres of diamonds.

Your closest relationships may likely be your acres of diamonds. You mustn’t take that relationship for granted. It could be the bridge to your gap. When you see value in people, you will appreciate them and then mine the diamonds from them. When we take people for granted, someone else who values them will bring out the diamond in them.

Be sure to mine your acre of diamond. Because if you don’t, someone else will. Nature abhors vacuums.