What are the key characteristics that constitute good leadership, and how might today’s security professionals nurture and develop such traits in a business landscape wherein pressures are mounting to cut costs and the ‘globalisation’ of internal services is very much on the radar? Peter French outlines why security directors must demonstrably champion their cause at every opportunity.

1. D
oes security risk management have a
place at the table of corporate
responsibility as a single function, or
should it be subsumed/converged within lots of
other areas such that the single strand of
‘Security’ becomes unrecognisable to C-Suite
management by 2030?
At present, how do those illuminated
individuals who understand security risk retain
that top table position? In most cases, it’s down
to luck. You can have a wealth of prior
experiences that either do or don’t prepare you
for life’s helter skelter of brickbats. You study
for a post-graduate degree that some
employers think is too narrow, while others feel
it can make you overqualified.
You risk life and limb in someone else’s war
that makes you too tactical, potentially renders
you mentally unstable and leads to suffering
from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Alternatively, your biggest encounter with
danger may be trying to prevent ‘management
meltdown’ when a suicide jumper has chosen
your building as the venue from which to leap.
It could be a ‘youth war’ that leaves a 15 year-
old stabbed to death in the shopping centre
your organisation has only just purchased.
It could be that your Board director asks:
“Can we access the phone messages of an
employee whom we suspect is selling secrets
to another?” or: “How do we not infringe civil
liberties, but keep every employee locked up as
we have a patent pending on a new drug to
defeat cancer?”
On one occasion, in a job I was recruiting in
Hong Kong, we were briefing applicants for
their presentations to be conducted in a final
Board interview. When asked: ‘What would you
be most aware of when looking to secure a
publicly accessible space such as a museum
that was showing a most valuable and
culturally sensitive exhibit?’, the answers were
varied. Some were looking to lock everything
down, others wanting to confiscate mobile
devices at the front door. Certain respondents
called for four metre-high perimeter fencing.
The problem with most security people is
that their thought processes are two-
dimensional. Who in the Boardroom has heard
of a security director that makes a difference?
Who has seen the security director bring in
revenue, enhance bottom line margins and
actively drive cost savings that will go directly
towards that bottom line?
What would a security director have to do to
equal the efforts of the facilities worker at
Disney who suggested replacing gel soap with
foam soap, in turn saving $43 million per
annum, or the UK worker who recommended
that builders installed soft-closing toilet seats,
duly saving the UK construction sector £23
million per year in sanitary ware replacements
because old-style toilet seats were cracking the
sanitary units? Where are the good ideas in the
security business sector?
Championing the cause
A recent Frost & Sullivan security newsletter
talks about a security services sector growth
rate of 13% until 2024. The market analyst
predicts that Big Data surveillance tools will
enhance the capability of the private sector,
releasing more money – from the overinflated IT
budget – to security functions such that they
might grow their own analyst services.
The globalisation of services is a risk. Within
the UK, there can be differences in a company’s
ability to service clients in London or Glasgow.
When you add Mumbai, New York, Stockholm
and Sydney to the equation, some end users
claim the variance can be so great as to induce
points of service failure. Perhaps the client had
their margin reduced. Maybe the solutions
vendor is gliding gracefully on the surface, but
paddling like a demented duck below. Either
way, innovation may not be found here.
To succeed in business you really do need a
champion within. This isn’t about nepotism, but
a natural development through the individual’s
49
www.risk-uk.com
Leadership for 2030
Peter French MBE CPP FSyl:
CEO of SSR Personnel
What are the key characteristics that constitute good
leadership, and how might today’s security professionals
nurture and develop such traits in a business landscape
wherein pressures are mounting to cut costs and the
‘globalisation’ of internal services is very much on the radar?
Peter French outlines why security directors must
demonstrably champion their cause at every opportunity
Security Risk Management and Corporate Responsibility

2. 50
www.risk-uk.com
Security Risk Management and Corporate Responsibility
talent. A good internal management training
scheme will ‘talent spot’. Look at Sir Terry
Leahy, the former CEO at Tesco, or former BP
CEO Lord John Browne. They presided over
‘above the norm’ industry growth levels within
their respective organisations, subsequently
enriching the lot of shareholders.
With each cadre of individuals emerging
through the security ranks in given
organisations you can see innovation. In the
main, this is due to a developed and unique
understanding of the company for which they
work allied with knowledge of where the
elephant traps are laid. I’ve seen people with
over 20 years’ in-company experience who have
the total confidence of the rising CEO in any
factor of loss prevention and people protection.
How many seasoned security directors would
argue that the security function should be
disbanded and then ‘recreated’ on a thin
platform for exchanging good practice, and that
they themselves then be hired back by
business units to realise a form of ‘Pay As You
Go’-style service? This most likely means that
non-core security services such as executive
protection for minor VIPs can be pushed back
to the business unit.
The EMEA security director in an
entrepreneurial organisation would provide
services through a square foot charge on three
continents such that established business units
are charged less for security services than
start-up units as they’re cheaper to administer
because security protocols are more embedded
within those older businesses. The security
director will have seconded every one of his top
team to work internally within marketing, audit,
manufacturing, business development and
product development. This takes time, but
uniquely all those functions now know one or
two people in the security function and security
now understands the business unit.
Degrees of relevance
Are these examples relevant to all
organisations, though? What about the security
director who had built a security function
highlighting substantial year-on-year savings?
A new CEO then comes in and ‘dismantles’ the
organisational structure such that security is
siloed across three business units. Insiders
estimate great savings in expense, but by Year
3 the organisation will be engulfed in
counterfeit product and patent infringement
scandals combined with grey market sales
which will cause annual losses of over £100
million. As the expected lifecycle of a CEO is
only three years, they’ll be gone before that
little can of worms comes home to roost.
The aforementioned scenario is certainly not
unique. We frequently read in B2B publications
and the national media about company
reorganisations due to ‘new broom’ shake-ups,
activist shareholders, hostile takeovers or
simply because the business has overinvested
and become vulnerable.
What can you do to be that person in the top
team? Look at and understand what affects that
team. What keeps its members awake at night?
Trending now in the ‘Top 10 CEO Fears List’
are third party/customer actions, finding
internal e-mails on Wikileaks (which is certainly
embarrassing), the independent actions of non-
executive directors, HR Departments not being
able to attract top talent, security directors not
being able to keep up-to-date with technology
and IT Departments needing vast additional
budget because of unknown threats.
The security director could be the CEO’s
confidant, placing them into a plan protecting
the firm’s reputation and shareholder value.
A few years back, we began the search for a
new Chief Security Officer on behalf of a client.
With a straight face, the company’s CEO said to
me: “I haven’t spoken to my head of security in
seven years. He only knows how to spend
money. Can you find us someone that can do
other things?”
Of course we could, but I was interested to
know how such a breakdown in communication
could occur. The answer was simple.
On his way up the corporate ladder, this
leading executive had endured a minor
altercation with the head of security. Whatever
took place had damaged the relationship, but I
remain unsure as to whether or not the head of
security had ever thought about what occurred
until such point that it was too late.
Want to be a leader?
Leaders should have compassion, courage and
curiosity, with an element of the latter focused
on exploring other’s points of view. They should
also know and understand what they stand for.
Leadership coach Dr Adrienne Partridge’s
view is that authentic leadership embodies
clear values alongside which people can align.
In addition, leaders need to gauge and check
the feelings of others on a regular basis. They
must also exhibit a degree of humility, both
admitting to their own mistakes and addressing
them on a swift footing.
“Leaders should have compassion, courage and curiosity,
with an element of the latter focused on exploring other’s
points of view. They must also exhibit a degree of humility”