Interviews

Leadership webinar: part two

by Mark Rowe

Leadership by security people was the topic for the 30th webinar by Prof Martin Gill under the banner of thought leadership and the OSPAs (Outstanding Security Performance Awards).

Speakers were, from the Netherlands, Godfried Hendriks, 2020 President of the US-based, 34,000-member security management association ASIS International; from the United States, Donna Kobzaruk; from Spain, Juan Munoz; and the UK, former Bank of England security man now an adviser, Don Randall.

Juan Munoz spoke of the Covid-19 pandemic as ‘a great opportunity for security’; but not for traditionally-done security, rather for organisational resilience and convergence between three or four functions – such as cyber-security, business continuity and crisis management. “But I am not sure if we will be able to take advantage of that.”

A theme of the hour was the need to speak the language of business, rather than of law enforcement or the military, if that is your background. Donna Kobzaruk suggested that if you still ‘speak military’, that is something to overcome and to get mentoring for, so that you get the culture of the private sector. What do people want from security leaders? To be decisive, she answered; to have soft skills, and a ‘calming influence’; ‘that’s something you really can’t teach, that where mentorship comes into play’.

She called for the breaking down of silos and for stronger partnerships, finding out, for example in her own field, finance, what is expected of security. Don Randall spoke similarly; the core skill of security should be a given, he said: “We are really into resilience and recovery. We must be part of the business we are primarily working for.”

Godfried argued that the security person has to know security, and the industry they’re in. In the sector he works in, retail, security can always be ‘at the top table’, he said, ‘because it makes the difference between making a loss or making a profit, because the margin is so thin. Theft and loss really makes a difference.” As Juan Munoz added, it’s for the CEO of a business to ask whether to bring in a business manager, and train them in security; or, to bring in a security person and train them in business. Security is not an investment but a necessary cost and we shouldn’t be frightened of that, he added.

On how to speak the ‘language of business’, for Godfried that came by taking an MBA, ‘which equipped me very well; I would highly recommend that to anyone and I know a lot of security professionals did follow MBAs so they have that basis, and they can speak at the board level.”

As for security providers, Donna Kobzaruk said that it was important to ‘show your value’; to communicate, and to market yourself, not only your company. “I love doing business with those who are proactive, to anticipate my needs; make me look good. That’s what the security providers should be doing.”

The speakers were alive to the fact that within security there are several disciplines – cyber and physical, and related fields. Without identifying anywhere, Juan Munoz suggested cases where a business brought cyber and physical security together; the top job of chief of security went to the CISO (chief information security officer) because the physical security person would not take the risk, he said.

Likewise Don Randall – who in his corporate security time became the Bank of England’s CISO – advised that if the security person goes into cyber, not to go on the technical side. While it was once in favour and fell out of favour for police officers to be seconded to gain other perspectives, he did quote approvingly the case of someone who went into audit for a couple of years, to learn that field, and came back to security more informed.

For upcoming afternoon webinars, visit https://theospas.com/thought-leadership-webinars/.

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