Dear Reader,

With the school year just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about achievement – or more specifically, overachievers, and how they impact the people around them. It isn’t difficult to find examples of individuals who accomplish more than anyone expects, from the 1983 N.C. State basketball team to Keanu Reeves to that guy who sat in the back of your Algebra II class in the same Metallica shirt every day, carving indecipherable symbols into his desk. Yes, that guy – the one who flew to your 20-year high school reunion in his private plane.

Overachievers can inspire hope and surprise, as in Jim Valvano’s impossible NCAA championship title. They can inspire bewilderment (everyone knows Laurence Fishburne was the real star of The Matrix) or even jealousy (you got a much better grade in that class than Metallica Guy … and at least you went to the prom). But in their purest form, overachievers simply inspire. And that’s great news for the rest of us who need a little boost from our peers from time to time.

Around the halls at SAS, we have a lot of folks who are so talented or driven or upbeat or creative that their zest for betterment makes us want to be better, too. I read a great example recently in a two-part blog series by Mark Stevens, a SAS certification specialist who occupies an office two doors down from mine. Mark joined SAS in February, and by June, he had already achieved Base SAS Certification. Keep in mind that Mark, who has a degree in engineering, had never dabbled in SAS software before coming on board with the company. He took his first class, SAS Programming 1, in March. Three months is light-speed quick for such a feat, but Mark’s thought was, ‘If I’m going to work on a team that writes certification exams, I should know the process a student takes to arrive at that point. I should go through it myself.’

Mark represents another special class of overachiever: Those who accomplish big things or dream big ideas to purposely help others. I don’t know about you, but that’s an overachieving spirit I wholeheartedly envy support.

Mark probably would have made a great Neo, too.

When you read his story – which includes his tips on crash-coursing SAS – I hope you’ll also consider SAS’ programs in certification. Or find another way to inspire through your own accomplishments. After all, your next-door-neighbor’s 13-year-old shouldn’t be the only overachiever on your block … even if she is enrolling at MIT this fall.

Until next month,

Larry LaRusso
Editor, SAS Training Report