SQL Quiz 4

Last conference I did interviews with many of the speakers and posted the answers here. This time I want to get as many people involved as I can. So I am going to combine the SQL Quiz with interviews. The SQL Quiz is something I do every couple of months or so. The purpose is to get as many answers to the questions so people who are leaning about SQL or new in a career can maybe draw off our opinions.

This question is not meant to be something that you use to kiss the rear of the person that you work for; this is meant more for seeing that there are differences between great leaders and good managers. I will give you an example. A good manager is someone who may keep something on track like a project. But if he is not helping his or her people learn then are they really a great leader? A leader and a manager are two different traits; the question is how hard is it to find both of those traits in one person. I did an article on this on SSWUG a couple years ago, but I would love to see what other opinions are that are out there. For those of you reading, someday you may be in a roll to be a leader or a manager, maybe some of the answers I give or some of the answers that people I tag give will give you a few pointers on how you may want to look at your career or your life.

So what is the Question?

Who has been a great leader in your career and what made them a great leader.

I can think of a couple people that have been great leaders in my career and the one that I always think of first is a man by the name of Bill. Bill had the best outlook on life had so many reasons as to why not have that view. He never felt sorry for himself and he never complained. But that is not why I place him in as my greatest leader. Here is why I would place Bill as the best leader I have ever had.

People first- Company second – Now this may not be popular with the company but I think if more companies would look at it this way you was see much better employees that were much more vested with their companies. This does not by any mean say I think that the company suffers, I think it means taking care of your people. Here is an example:

I was working about 30 miles from my house, I heard that a Sherriff in LA was stabbed and his condition was unknown on the radio about 10 PM. They mentioned the Sherriff’s name and it was the same name as m brother. I was a little shaken to say the least. I pulled over because I could not drive and called the only number I could remember. The office it forwarded my call to Bill. Bill who was at home, in Bed drove 20 miles to get me along with another partner of the company. They took me back to a phone and they waited with me until I heard that the press release was just wrong.

Bill was not worried that I had to work at 6 the next morning; he did not care about if I was going to be there. He wanted to make sure that I was going to be ok.

Goals – Bill set goals for me, some were realistic and some would be very difficult. One time he made a bet that really seemed like there was no way I would make it, but if I did it would have been the best day of the company.
There was no time limit set on the goal and it really looked like it would be impossible. I talked to a couple people at the office and I told them what was on the line, they agreed to help. I had a lot of planning to do, and only 24 hours to do it in. But we did it. It was something that even if I would have fallen short on, I will never forget how he brought that team together. Bill always supported me in becoming a better person, manager, and to really live.

Well this is long enough; I am not going to tag as many people that I can find blogs to who are speaking at the SSWUG conference, just to see what answers we can come up with. Remember if you are tagged, please tag more people and if you are not tagged and have a blog let me know and I would like to see those as well.

Brent Ozar

Callahan

Donald Farmer

Jason Strate

Jeremy Lowell

Kevin Kline

Thomas LaRock

Ted Malone

Tim Heuer

Tjay Belt