One evening you can listen to one of the most highly rated business executives in all of America. The next evening you can hear from a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. In between the two events, you learn that a University of Kansas alumnus has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The last couple of days have served as quite a reminder of Lawrence’s ability to attract talented people who have changed the world.

On Thursday evening a large crowd turned out at the Lied Center to listen to Lawrence native and KU alumnus Alan Mulally talk about the historic turnaround he led of the Ford Motor Co., when he served as the company’s president and CEO from 2006 to 2014.

On Friday evening, an audience at Liberty Hall heard Geraldine Brooks, the renowned journalist and author who has covered wars around the globe and has become a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of historical fiction.

Anyone who tried to take a nap in between the two may have missed that on Friday Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos — who received degrees in business and economics from KU in 1973 — won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end a more than 50-year war in Columbia.

Lawrence long has been a community that attracts bright minds, but sometimes it is easy for the community to take for granted what a magnet the city and KU can be. We all should be thankful there are benefactors who believe it is important to elevate our dialogue by bringing distinguished individuals to speak to Lawrence audiences.

The Mulally speech was sponsored by the Anderson Chandler Lecture series at KU’s School of Business, and KU’s School of Engineering also played a role in hosting the event. The Brooks speech was made possible by the Lawrence Public Library’s Beach Author Series, which is funded by the foundation of Ross and Marianna Beach, who were fantastic business and philanthropic leaders in their own right.

KU is a natural partner to help bring such events to Lawrence, but it is particularly pleasing to see the Lawrence Public Library play the role. It is an unusual occurrence for a community the size of Lawrence to have a public library that can play such an active part in enhancing the culture of the community.

In some ways, however, the most exciting of the trio was the awarding of the Nobel to Santos. Think for a moment: Santos came from a wealthy and powerful Colombian family. He likely could have attended any university in the world, but he chose the University of Kansas. Not every community has such a magnet. Lawrence should do all it can every day to make the most of it.

Think for a moment more: Perhaps in the near future Nobel Laureate Santos will return and tell a Lawrence audience of how he changed the world. In that audience, there will be someone — or perhaps several someones — who will go on to do the same. Thankfully, Lawrence is that type of place.