Silver

A friend and colleague of mine were discussing how best to categorize where we are at in today's business world. We fit into a number of categories in terms of years of experience, age, culture, and other socioeconomic demographics.

One of them is gray (or grey, if you prefer) hair and beard. But "Salt and Pepper" doesn't due us justice.

"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

We agreed there is much runway left in our professional lives; we both thrive in the dynamic, ever-changing, often frustrating, but hugely rewarding IT and Cybersecurity industries. "Not ready to hang up our guns," we wondered out loud how we are defined by others. Not that it ultimately matters, but fun to think about none-the-less. Words like 'sage and wisdom' came to mind as ways we've been described. I suppose at any given time those words are debatable, but by-and-large, people do seek us out for advice and insight.

A mentor of mine once described me this way: "You don't get too wrapped up around the axle when things go sideways." I liked that. I had a client tell me, "It seems I can go to you for just about anything and you either know the answer or some dude that does." I liked that, too.

I mean, some of it is just, well, time. You accumulate knowledge by shear momentum over time. Trying, failing, succeeding, learning, applying...it all just accumulates.

In other cases, it's through applied learning and the need to get smart about something. And then there are the number of interests and hobbies that build knowledge. Things like music, cars, and travel all add to the wisdom database.

So, we settled on SILVER. Silver Wisdom. Kind of like, "I'm old enough to know better, but young enough not to care what you think."

It's a certain, “je ne sais quoi.”

Undefinable, but you know it when you see it.

Non-threatening in a sort of "I woke up feeling dangerous today", kind of way. Controlled and delivered PRN.

You know enough to be dangerous, but also effective.

Age does bring wisdom. But it's not guaranteed all the time. We've done some pretty stupid things even though we knew better. So, those times turn into advice.

We both know a lot of men and women who are Silver Wisdom people. We don't sit around in rocking chairs talking about the "good old days", but we do talk about how the old days helped build our Silver stash.

Not nearly ready for the "golden years" we'll keep rockin' in the free world.