I've always believed in giving without expecting anything in return. It just makes sense and a random act of kindness can often reap enormous rewards in business or simply for your soul and well-being.
My friend, Yury Uskov, CEO of iSpring, did something recently which touched my heart, brought tears to my eyes and showed me, without words, what a caring and kind man he was. Not only that, generous too. He would be embarrassed by this blog because he's a humble man, but some things should be shared.
In this season of giving and Christmas, his action reminds me of what giving is all about.
I worked the iSpring booth as a guest the past DevLearn 2013 show in Vegas, One of the people in the booth is a young and brilliant man named Brian. Brian suffers from ADHD but it does not impair him, on the contrary, it helps him be quite brilliant. But many people don't understand brilliance and passion so he feels alone sometimes.
As Brian and I talked during dinner at the show it became apparent that his intelligence and energy level needed an outlet. We talked about many things but one thing came up and it was music, and how much he used to love drumming. Being an ex-drummer myself (a bad one I might add), I understood where he was coming from. Brian felt music was a great thing for him and how he missed it. Dinner ended and that was that.
I sent a note to Yury afterwards and mentioned what a great time we had at the show and how Brian and I had chatted for a long time. I said, quite in passing, if you ever want to give Brian a good gift, get him an electronic drum set. I also sent a link to one from Alesis that I plan on buying as well. The link was so that Yury could see what I was talking about not knowing if Yury was a musician or not.
A very short time later I got a note from Yury that Brian was to receive a special gift in a few days... a drum kit! Not only a drum kit, but the expensive one I had mentioned. I teared up. It was a selfless act and I can imagine the smile on Yury's face as he hit the Amazon "Place order" button.
Brian was also very touched by this act.
Yury is a generous man but I don't think he thought twice about it. His comment to me was that it was a good holiday in Russia and giving was a good thing and brought good luck too.
Giving is the simple act of sharing and empowering someone. For that, Yury, I thank, commend and respect you. Well done!
Give something to someone or group that needs help this Christmas season. It's a good thing to do...
Happy holidays!
