What is an 800 Pound Gorilla? Well as this blog is not about biology or animal species it is safe to assume we are not talking about the Western Lowland Gorilla, the Eastern Lowland Gorilla, the Mountain Gorilla, or any other Ape Family in the Animal Kingdom. We are talking about a small sub-class of Homo sapiens whose natural habitats are corporations and other organizations.
Yes, we are talking about people. They do not resemble Gorillas in any physical manner. Nor are these “800 Pound Gorillas” necessarily obese as the weight reference alludes. No, we are talking about a class of people, men or women, who are adept and skilled at getting their own way in organizations. The name comes because we generally assume that an 800 Pound Gorilla usually gets his weight in the Gorilla world. It may be a little offensive to gorillas but this is a common name given to corporate bullies.
The 800 Pound Gorilla is often the leader of an organization. It could be the CEO, President, General Manager, VP, Director, Manager, and even Supervisor. In his realm or span of control, the 800 Pound Gorilla is dynamic and forceful. The 800 Pound Gorilla gets his way through force of personality and often by intimidating those who oppose his point of view.
However, not all 800 Pound Gorillas are leaders. They might be natural leaders in a group or milieu where the actual leader may be the exact opposite of an 800 Pound Gorilla. More often than not, this sub-class of 800 Pound Gorilla is very knowledgeable and uses that knowledge as a club. There are also cases where these 800 Pound Gorillas are right and wrong.
The term 800 Pound Gorilla is not a positive term. They are, as in the above matrix, senior executives who throw their weight around and are often wrong, the term Gorilla is not often used for leaders that impose their will and are always right. We tend to call these leaders great and visionary.
At DemandCaster, we are concerned with Demand Planning and Inventory Optimization. We see 800 Pound Gorillas mostly in the area of Demand Planning. These 800 Pound Gorillas insist on revising forecasts upward into what they “believe” the sales will be. In most cases the Gorilla is wrong. If the 800 Pound Gorilla is the CEO, President, VP of Marketing, or VP of Sales there is not much the demand planning team can do. There is also not much a well crafted S&OP process can do. The 800 Pound Gorilla gets his way and the Demand Plan is compromised.
If the Demand Plan is compromised too often, no one will want to play and the S&OP process will unravel. The entire effort will become ineffective. In fact, the best S&OP programs work when senior executives become Gorillas with the intent on making S&OP work.
We invite you to share with us your experience with 800 pound Gorillas both good and bad. Are you a Gorilla? Be honest.
