How have you impacted somebody in the community?

This month I am in charge of the topic for TSQLTuesday. The invite was published here a couple of weeks ago. I knew I was picking something rather difficult for people in general and probably more difficult for technologists due to the notion of jumping head first into a discussion with somebody about yourself. I have been asked by previous employers to do my own personal annual job review. This idea is very much like that – but more personal.

Some say it eats at the core of being prideful to discuss this topic or to broach the “review” with others. I like to take a different angle on it. I see it as a means to personal growth and has nothing to do with bragging. I tend to find that people gifted with humility will ask others how they could improve professionally or personally. Being able to find where you are doing well or not so well is key to progress. I would hope those that participated found this difficult exercise helpful in uncovering a new angle on personal and/or professional improvement.

Discomfort

There is no hiding from the fact that this task provided a great deal of discomfort and probably angst as demonstrated from this tweet.

Multiple participants, as you will see as you read their articles, shared their feelings on the level of discomfort and difficulty they had with the topic. I expected the discomfort, I felt it too.

As I read the articles, I could feel the discomfort alongside the author. I get it – it’s hard because none of us want to come off as bragging about ourselves. Take into account that discomfort and then the message that each of these people has to share with you!

WHO?

Steve Jones (b | t) – Influence. Steve is not comfortable writing about this topic as he dives in to share with us. As he does he hits a very strong note for me. We, the SQL Community, give a lot of ourselves and that giving grows exponentially. We give of ourselves and many times we end up the recipient of this exponential experience.

It can be scary and intimidating to share knowledge with others publicly, but it is also immensely rewarding! -Steve Jones

I believe the same can be said of sharing a personal review publicly.

Wayne Sheffield (b | t) – Influence Somebody. I personally know that Wayne had a hard time with this topic and sharing an article. Wayne shares a couple of stories outlining some very small actions on his part. He was largely unaware of his influence and in turn ended up dumbfounded and awestruck at what his influence meant to other people.

Small actions. That’s all it takes to make a positive difference in a person’s life. Be interested, and encouraging. You never know what kind of effect you are truly having on people. And when you do find out, prepare to be astonished. – Wayne Sheffield

Malathi Mahadevan (b | t) – To Influence and be Influenced. Mala is a very humble person. Mala shares a personal experience about her influence several other people as she worked on her very first book project this past year. The really cool part is the joy she got from seeing many people filled with the joy of having the opportunity to be in the book.

It is a positive way to end the year on a tone of gratitude to people who have influenced you – and it is doubly positive/uplifting to see/hear of what you have done to other people too. – Mala

I am grateful for the friendship I have with Mala, she is a genuine and good person.

Shane O’Neill (b | t) – Influence Somebody. Shane shares how difficult this task was going in and even stumbles on a bit of writers block. Shane doesn’t go out daily to try and find somebody to profoundly impact. He goes about his day in an unassuming way as he just does what he does – shares knowledge just because it needs to be shared. Shane is aware of the impact as people have met him and thanked him personally for his contributions to the community. That’s a win win!

I’ve had some great surprises from people in the community about stuff they’ve seen on here.

It’s nice to know that when you’re shouting into the void, that the void sometimes shouts back.

Each token of appreciation, each expression of gratitude is a replenishment to my morale.

Just a way to say that all efforts put in, while not showing straight away, build up. – Shane O’Neill

I am sure many of us have felt that replenishment to morale from the various tokens of gratitude. The sincere and personal sharing of appreciation carries so much more weight and replenishes the morale so much more completely.

Rob Farley (b | t) – People I Influence. Rob is a humble kind and caring person! He struggled with the topic as he illustrated on twitter. All of that aside, he hit on a note I was hoping somebody would hit on – employees and coworkers. Employees are a reflection of leadership. If the leader is a class act, s/he will impact the employees in a positive manner for the better of the company and the employee.

That aside, Rob is hopeful of being an influence to other people outside of work. Rob is not comfortable with thinking about whether he is influential or not and I get it. I don’t think many of us think regularly about our sphere of influence – until somebody gives us that token of gratitude for some small action we performed.

For a while now, I’ve thought that I would rather employ MVPs than be one myself (although I hope this doesn’t actually cause me to lose my status), and I have often looked for opportunity to get my team in front of people.

As an employer who encourages his staff to be community minded and on the path to being MVPs like Rob is, I think this an outstanding level of influence that is merely demonstrative of the humility that resonates within Rob.

Jason Brimhall (me) – To Influence or be Influenced. I share a couple of experiences in my entry for the month. More important than the stories is the message that as one gives of themselves, there is a gain that will be returned to that person at some point that is likely exponential in nature to the little token of giving that happened in the first place. Give and you will receive! Steve hit on that same note.

And in case you are still curious what this TSQL Tuesday thing is, here are the details…

What is T-SQL Tuesday?

T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party hosted by a different blogger each month. This blog party was started by Adam Machanic (blog|twitter). You can take part by posting your own participating post that fits the topic of the month and follows the requirements below. Additionally, if you are interested in hosting a future T-SQL Tuesday, contact Steve Jones via the tsqltuesday website – here.

How to Participate

• Your post must be published between 00:00 GMT Tuesday, December 11e, 2018, and 00:00 GMT Wednesday December 12e, 2018.
• Your post must contain the T-SQL Tuesday logo from above and the image should link back to this blog post.
• Trackbacks should work. But, please do add a link to your post in the comments section below so everyone can see your work.
• Tweet about your post using the hash tag #TSQL2sDay.