The Generous DBA

The conversation came out of nowhere, lasted only a few seconds, but impacted me deeply.

“What do you think made him so good?”

“He was very quick, and he was also very generous.”

That line. That sentence fragment. It hit me. Hard. Right in the brain.

And it came from an unlikely source. Season four, episode three of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, with Robert Klein. Go to 1:57 in and watch for yourself:

 

 

If you watch the series you will hear that same phrase used over and over again. Jerry and his guests use it to describe other comedians…no, other humans that were influential to others. They just happened to work in comedy. But the key ingredient for success is their generosity. It’s what made Johnny Carson so great, and it’s why Jimmy Fallon is so good as well. And it *may* explain why Conan O’Brien struggled in his first attempt at hosting, too. But I digress.

I don’t see enough of this generosity inside of IT departments. I see more of a “what’s in it for me” attitude. And, since I work in marketing, I see many examples of where people treat others as prospects, and not as friends or colleagues.

For me, being generous means you don’t expect anything in return. If you are expecting kindness in return then you are doing business, not kindness.

But there are exceptions in the world of data professionals. Robert Davis was one of them. He passed away early this week. And with him, our #sqlfamily lost a very generous soul.

Robert showed us all that generosity need not be of a monetary value. Sometimes a person’s time and/or skill is the most precious thing they can give. And Robert did just that. Here are a few examples:

– Robert’s contributions to the #sqlhelp hashtag
– His efforts on Spiceworks forums
– All his MSDN forum activity
– His SQL Server Mirroring book
– The private Microsoft MVP and MCM email distribution lists

I’m certain that I’ve missed many more examples of his reach. The point I want to make is that he was generous with his time and it influenced thousands of other data professionals.

And he did that without ever expecting anything in return.

That’s being generous. And that’s why there is an outpouring of admiration and respect for Robert.

If you are so motivated to do so, you can make a donation to his wife, Chrissy, at their GoFundMe page.

The world needs more people like Robert.

Thank you, Robert, for all your generosity, to me and everyone else, for so many years.

RIP, my friend.