Who Inspires You?

Today is a bit of a divergence from the usual geekery that may abound on my blog. As prompted by Ewald Cress (blog | twitter), it is time to take a step back and put forth a bit of reflection. Ewald has requested we do this as a part of the TSQLTuesday monthly event. If interested, here is the invitation to participate along with all the nitty gritty details and those things we love to ignore (rules).

While looking at the invitation, it dawned on me how long this monthly event has been running. This is the 96th installment which also means it is the 8th birthday of this event. Birthdays are a good time to do a bit of self reflection. And right now with Thanksgiving around the corner, the invite to reflect upon those people that may have served up some sort of inspiration to us is a really cool idea.

For me, this is about much more than just a story or two about people that have impacted me in my career choices. This topic is also about much more than just a handful of years of inspiration. Inspiration comes in many different flavors and should help to build you into who you are over time.

With that, I give you my 96 for 96.There is no way that just one or two people could have inspired me to this point in my life. So, I set to see if I could think of 96 people that have had some impact in shaping and inspiring me. One person for each edition of TSQLTuesday on this the 8th Anniversary of a really cool thing started by Adam Machanic (twitter).

96 for 96

My apologies up front for what may be a really long article

Personal

• My Wife (1) – How can I have a list of those who have inspired me in my life and not include the rock and stability of my life for most of my adult life? She has been there to push me along since the beginning and working me into something more refined.
• Hursts (5) – My adopted family that taught me a lot about compassion and hard work. They have been very instrumental in helping me to learn more about giving to others.
• Grandparents (2) – I wrote about my grandfather when he passed. My grandmother is tough and inspiring for somebody so petite. The two of them helped to inspire me to have a good time but also how to be resolute.
• Children (4) – Wow, my kids are crazy balls of energy all the time. The learn and grow and absorb and try and fail and try again. They have so many talents that I would have never imagined. They embrace the challenges (mostly) and inspire me to develop new talents and continue to learn.
• Ella (1) – My wife’s grandmother was stern and rigid. She was very precise in how things needed to be done. Oh and boy was she strong willed. She influenced me with how to be stern and accepting and how to balance that nicely.
• Football team (22) – A football team? Why would that be? This is the team that I coached most recently. These guys had it tough. Due to various things outside of my control or their control they had a mid-season coaching change. I became a part of the new coaching staff. We pushed them hard and saw them grow. They did not quit and would be a huge inspiration to many on how to persevere.
• Pierre & Veronique (2) – Good friends from France. Pierre died many years ago but he was able to instill in me a “fire in the belly” type of mantra. Hunger for more and hunger to be better. Veronique is another very strong woman and very quiet. Between them they have helped to inspire me in how to be strong yet quiet.
• language teachers (2) – This one is for my foreign language teachers from elementary school through high school. Between French and German, they were able to inspire a desire to learn language and culture.
• Conway (1) – My High school Calculus teacher. He was the toughest teacher I ever had. There were no shortcuts with him. I learned how to think logically from him. I may not have liked it back then when I could just see the solutions (without having to do every stinking step) but had to do it his way. Turns out it was worth it because it helps to avoid the shortcuts and I can think through problems to hopefully reach a better solution now.
• Mimi (1) – Mimi was my collegiate counselor. She helped me to understand the need to speak up but how to do it politically when the time warranted it.
• Mandy Harvey (1) – What more can be said about this girl? If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it now.
• Kelvin Spendlove (1) – Kelvin was a family friend from Vegas. He came down with cancer and passed away earlier this year. Kelvin was an example of fighting and persevering. Despite all of his pain, he kept a pleasant demeanor and showed as much charity to others as he could. No matter how bad you have it, you can take a moment to uplift somebody else.
• Jon Huntsman Sr (1) – Mr. Huntsman is more of somebody that is well known that does and says many things that are inspirational to me. His philanthropy is of great interest. Huntsman teaches that the more you give with the right intent, the more you will receive and thus be able to continue the cycle

Hey Sport!

• Coaches (3) – Different coaches for different sports that I had growing up inspired many things. One of those things is the ability to work through the fatigue and to be able to be comfortable in that painful/difficult moment of any given competition. Are you able to pick up the pace in that last mile?
• Thao Tran (1) – Thao was a great friend that got me back into endurance sports. I had found myself out of the routine and out of time. With Thao, I was able to find that time and get back to running for very long amounts of time.
• Dan & Dave (2) – Remember these guys? The decathletes that were in all the ads all the time? These guys made Track and Field super sexy. Seeing these guys and how cool it was to do Track helped encourage me to try other events.
• Khalid Khannouchi (1) – Elite level marathoner. Khalid and Bernard are both elite level and record holding marathoners. This was something that I aspired to accomplish. That dream may be changed now but the ability they showed to push harder and harder through the fatigue is something that I have found very helpful in my career.
• Bernard Lagat (1) – same as Khalid.
• Steve Prefontaine (1) – Runners everywhere know about “Pre”, right? His running and style were inspirational and he was one of the runners I looked to when I was running through High School.
• Greg Lemond (1) – Despite the animosity between Greg and Lance I am grouping them together. Lemond was a legend in my youth. He was winning the Tour de France and looking good doing it. Lance contracted and beat cancer and then went on to smash the Tour de France several times. No matter the allegations – the feats of these two were beyond comparison and well beyond awesome. I am a better runner than biker, but the two are similar in that they encourage you to go beyond and dig deeper in order to be successful.
• Lance Armstrong (1) – same as Greg
• Jerry Sloan (1) – Talk about a tough nosed get it done and gritty kind of professional. We could all learn a little about this type of workmanship.
• Stockton (1) – Part of the trinity in Utah Jazz history. The humility and workman-like attitude he brought to the sport he loved is admirable. His attitude inspires me how I can work hard, be humble and be extremely talented and capable in my profession.
• Malone (1) – Nobody outworked the Mailman. It is a tough act to follow but something to strive to accomplish.
• Steve Young (1) – I had the opportunity of meeting Steve Young at the Olympics where I served as a translator one year. I met Dale Murphy there as well. I was amazed out how approachable these men were. I grew up watching both of them play (football and baseball respectively) and becoming a fan of the style in which they played and the success they were able to achieve in life and on the field. This helps me to try and become more approachable with clients or at various SQLFamily community events. It is not easy!
• Dale Murphy (1) – same as Steve Young
• Ozzie Smith (1) – Ozzie was a wizard at shortstop. I remember watching some of the things he did defensively and being floored. Doing the job, doing it well, and doing it with a little flare. Sometimes a little flare is needed in the job – just as long as the job is getting done well!
• Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Mike Singleterry, William Perry, Mike Ditka (5) – Da Bears. These are the guys that got me to be a Bears fan for life – bad or good or well … Teamwork and doing whatever other thing was necessary to help the team succeed is what stuck with me from these guys. Need a lineman to play halfback a few plays? Call on the Fridge. In the workspace, sometimes we will just need to do something else in favor of the success of the group as a whole.

The Geeky!

• Bill Gates / Steve Jobs (2) – from Garage to tech Giant these guys inspire with the dreams of success.
• Steve Jones (1) – Steve was instrumental in getting me to write. He was helpful while also being honest. I have been able to develop into a better writer thanks to his help.
• Gail Shaw (1) – Gail is a good friend. Another strong woman I have had the pleasure of getting to know. She is a great person to have a low key conversation with about SQL or about life. Gail knows her stuff and we can all learn something from her.
• Paul Randal (1) – I have had the opportunity to chat with Paul on a few occasions. The most memorable comment from him was that we can all learn from each other. He learns from us and we can learn from him. Paul knows a lot about SQL Server and is still able to learn more. We can all continue to learn about SQL Server.
• Kimberly Tripp (1) – Kimberly is a genius with stats and indexes. I have learned plenty from her from her presentations and articles.
• Kalen Delaney (1) – One of my favorite things about Kalen is her ability to tease and know when it would be effective. Kalen is a person with whom I have enjoyed some great conversations. Are you looking for somebody that know a boatload about SQL Server – Kalen should be at the top of that list.
• Kevin Kline (1) – Kevin has unwittingly bestowed some great lessons on me. He has some great internals information on SQL Server. He also has some awesome personal development stuff that people could learn from him.
• Brent Ozar (1) – Brent is very smart with SQL Server. Probably the greater inspiration to me is his energy. He is great with marketing and branding. He does a great job at appearing to be outgoing. That is a difficult thing for many in the IT field that would self-classify as an introvert.
• Joe Sack (1) – Joe and Jonathan are going to be grouped together. I had the opportunity to work with both of them when working on my first book. I learned a lot about the writing process and some tips for just plane old making it better. I hope I can retain what I learned.
• Jonathan Gennick (1) – same as Joe
• Bob Ward (1) – between Bob, Paul and Ewald I learn so much about the internals of SQL Server. These guys are smart and love to play with the debugger. It makes me a bit jealous. I would love to have adequate time to just dive in with the debugger on a regular basis – maybe daily. There is a lot that can be learned from these three. Find their stuff and start learning. They push me to keep pushing harder to learn more about the internals.
• Paul White (1) – only addition here is that I appreciated the late night conversations with Paul. He had the added advantage over Ewald and Bob in having a more direct impact in inspiring some of my internals dives.
• Ewald Cress (1) – same as Bob.
• Pat Wright (1) – Pat is a monster in the community. Pat runs user groups, organizes events and works to bring so many people together or greater learning opportunities. He does not limit his efforts to just the SQL Server community. Rather he is looking at all data related communities.
• Ben Miller (1) – I met Ben many years ago. He introduced me to a few little tidbits for SQL Server and it sparked a greater interest in me to diver deeper and just get better at what I do.
• Wayne Sheffield (1) – well this big teddy bear helped Steve Jones with getting me down the path to writing. Wayne did it in a little bit of a different way but was somebody that helped inspire me that writing technical papers is something that I could do.
• Kendra Little (1) – the technical insight and ability of Kendra is top shelf. What I like about Kendra’s community presence and work is the character she brings to it. Learning can be fun and witty and personal. It doesn’t have to be technical and dry all the time like so much of the content out there.
• Jes Borland (1) – Talk about an amazing ball of energy! Oh and Jes is an awesome talent in the SQL community too. If you want to learn, take a minute or three with Jes.
• Jennifer Moser (1) – Jennifer is simply amazing if you ask me. She can herd cats err data professionals like it is nothing. She does so much for the community and I would dare say that much of what she does goes completely unnoticed. If you come across her, tell her thanks. We can all learn a bit about working tirelessly for the betterment of a community from Jennifer.
• Dwaine Camps (1) – Dwaine was a SQL Super Stud in my opinion. He was a great help in solving many technical puzzles and he loved to apply himself to those types of problems. For him, those puzzles were like deep dives for me. I learned a lot from Dwaine. Rest in Peace.
• Jeff Moden (1) – Jeff is rbar none a top shelf MVP in my opinion. He is the juggernaut of high performing tsql solutions.
• Andy Leonard (1) – Friend, mentor, wize man with a goatee. Nuf said! Andy is an easy going person that taught me an important lesson about community. Sometimes taking a step back is a far better contribution to the community than to hold on to everything with white knuckles.
• Andy Warren (1) – Andy has been very influential for me. Reading his articles and talking to him, I have had the opportunity to understand a little better the managerial presence. I don’t really know how to explain that very well, but there is a calming presence and an understanding of staying even keel with whatever issue pops up. He has a way of looking at various issues, thinking about them, presenting them in a seemingly un-biased fashion and just being factual. Sometimes we can benefit from the approach of studying it out and not acting too rashly.
• Robert Davis (1) – Robert is another one of those internals studs. Robert has been influential to me with some of his articles about how different features work. Again, this is an inspiration to dive into SQL Server to better understand how things are working.
• Aaron Bertrand (1) – When I first met Aaron, I have to admit I was surprised that he knew who I was. This impressed me quite a bit. It tells me that this well known community giant takes the time to get to know the little guy and that everybody in SQLFamily is important. Maybe I can learn from that and work that much harder at remembering who people are (I am very weak at remembering people and faces).
• Thomas LaRock (1) – Thomas is an interesting character on my list. This is not a bad thing at all. He is an interesting person. The most influential thing I have picked up from Thomas is his ability to weave a story while presenting. He is an amazing presenter in my opinion. He has an ability to teach through story telling that is difficult for me. It is certainly something I am striving to become better at doing.
• Midnight DBAs (2) – Jen and Sean are the Midnight DBAs. I would call them friends as well. When I think about their influence, “Don’t sweat the small stuff” comes to mind. That doesn’t mean we need not take care of the small stuff, but rather sometimes we can have zero impact on certain things. All we can do is try to make our case and hope that people will accept our input as the SME.
• Grant Fritchey (1) – To be honest, I don’t know why I put Grant on this list. Just kidding. I enjoy chatting with Grant. The nice thing here is that we can chat about things that are not always about SQL Server. If you have a recommendation, Grant is all over listening to you and determining if he can test it out. I don’t think I have ever seen him be dismissive to anybody except that one time to me. Yes, he will probably think about that one for a bit. It is a story that could be told some day.

The Wrap

Wow, what a list? That is a list of 96 influencers in my life. True some names have been partly or entirely obscured, but the people are real. You will probably notice that I did not include any links to twitter profiles or blog sites. I am leaving it to you to google the person.

I have just shared roughly 96 points of data with you about my development into a data professional. I still have a long way to go as well. Oh and because it is 96 points of data, it meets the requirement to be at least loosely tied to the requirement of being about data.

Don’t see your name on this list? I really had far too many names for the 96 and I do realize that some people that have been really influential in my life did not make it to this list. I am sure all of us could find far more than just one or two people that have influenced us in life. If you are reading this post, I challenge you to come up with your list of at least 20 people that have influenced you. I bet you will be pleased with the self reflection.