Growth. Most organizations strive for it, but when it happens too quickly, unforeseen issues can arise that translate into a higher level of security related risk than the organization might be comfortable with. While most organizations constantly strive for growth and expansion, they need to recognize that with growth come growing pains and a litany of security related issues that may or may not have been factored into the plans of the organization as it continues to deal with day to day business as well as any new problems that a new acquisition might bring.
You have to create a strategic plan knowing that there’s a high likelihood it will change. Does that mean you shouldn’t plan? Absolutely not,” says Mark Lex, Security Executive Council faculty member and former director of security for Abbott Labs. Over his career, Lex learned through hard-won experience that security strategic planning, done well, incorporates a balance of anticipation and response, detail and flexibility.
Eric Levine left New York and moved to Indianapolis. Why? Not only for the “Crossroads of America,” as the city calls itself, but to build a security team that anticipates and understands the risks and threats that exist for WellPoint, where he is director of corporate security.
Louis Barani, World Trade Center Security Director for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, will keynote this year’s Security 500 Conference on November 1 in New York City.
During the recent federal government budget debates, the “peace dividend” of the 1990s was mentioned a few times. Does the U.S. get a “war dividend” in the risk/reward decision of business location and expansion?
Last month we talked about the knowledge transfer gap that exists in the security profession. We posited that the best of the best of security practitioners don’t have the time to teach their successors how to become future-oriented, business-aligned organizational influencers, and that the business-focused training programs available for security professionals do a great job of talking business, but they fail to marry business processes with the job of risk mitigation.
Each year, Security magazine honors top security executives who positively affect the security industry, their organization, their colleagues and their peers. They change the security landscape for the better. They are nominated by their colleagues and associates, and they are chosen based upon their leadership qualities and the overall positive impact that their security projects, programs or departments have on their shareholders, organizations, colleagues and the general public.
The biggest skill set gaps in the security industry are business acumen, strategic capabilities and an entrepreneurial mindset, according to Kathy Lavinder, owner of Security & Investigative Placement Consultants and a well-known recruiter in the security industry.
Next month, ASIS International will hold its 57th Annual Seminar and Exhibits. The event, September 19-22 in Orlando, will include keynotes from Jeb Bush and Vicente Fox, in addition to education tracks about workplace violence, security leadership and more.
This issue of Security magazine features the most influential people in security. An annual spotlight, the list boasts the best and brightest. But anyone can be influential, one way or another. Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another, said Napoleon Hill, the author of many success books. A Time magazine poll of the most influential people recently found Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao on top. If you know him from the boxing ring, his influence spread wider last year when he won a seat in his country’s Congress — and won it by a landslide.
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