Proud To Be a SILVERBACK

Are you a Silverback? Were you a Silverback?

I am.

A Silverback is an 800-pound gorilla with 1. Training 2. Education and 3. Experience. MUCH experience. And a memory.

I am one of those persons that your organization hates to acknowledge because we stand as testimony to prior times and because we possess the bulk of your Institutional Memory.

We know how to do the job correctly.

We know when you fuck up.

We call you on it.

We know what the organization used to look like when it operated efficiently.

We contrast that as to how it operates now, which is why Silverbacks are mostly despised by upper management.

Unless, of course, the organization continues to function with efficiency and consideration for both customer and employee.

As I wrote in my very prior post in comments:

I am what I call a Silverback. Every agency and industry and entity needs a Silverback. We hold the Institutional Memories for our organizations. We call our organizations on stupid moves. We remind our organizations of their history. We are the Inconvenient Truths of our organizations. Because we have Been There and Done That and, worse yet, we have Memories and Know Where The Bodies Are Buried.

In truth, being a Silverback can be somewhat liberating.

Spread the word. Use the term.

Silverbacks can hold the key to your organization.

You ignore them at your own peril.

Are you a Silverback? Were you a Silverback?

BZ