Lessons from the Security 500 Conference: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Cue the Ennio Morricone theme. The 2024 SECURITY 500 Conference was full of examples and tales of leadership — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Herewith, a compilation.
The Good: Critical to providing effective leadership is knowing how to inspire and impart shared mission and vision. In her keynote, Linda Reid, Vice President of Security Operations, The Walt Disney World Resort, spoke about how she inculcates her team with a mission that aligns with Disney’s core objective of making dreams come true. “If they don’t feel it, they won’t detect it,” she said. “We have to give them a reason to believe. They are your best deterrent.”
The Bad: While the panel on “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: When World Events Show Up at Your Front Door” provided successful examples of companies addressing local manifestations of global issues, the discussion reflected the struggles of other organizations. Inability to effectively lead during the turbulence on campus triggered by Israel-Gaza conflict, for example, led to the ouster or resignation of the presidents of Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard. Session attendees also heard how some companies have struggled to defend their brands from online disinformation emanating from Russia, China and elsewhere.
The Ugly: In a candid conversation, one young security professional confided that a superior informed him he would never advance in his company because he was too valuable in his current role. Were he to get promoted, they would have to backfill his role, and the replacement wouldn’t be as effective. This isn’t an isolated example. And guess what? This type of short-sighted, toxic leadership all but guarantees to drive away this talented young employee — someone motivated, skilled, successful, and confident enough to attend a conference filled with senior security executives.
The Good: Reid also emphasized how Disney creates tailor-made experiences because the company knows its patrons and customers so well. Disney knows who attends which parks on which days and times, how they behave, how they spend, where they stay, and what they want. Security follows suit, knowing potential flashpoints for conflict, such as in lines for rides, in the parking lot, or back at the resort after a long day. Security staff are trained to contribute to a positive experience and to de-escalate anger, frustration, or tension.
The Bad: Next Generation 911 offers hope for the future, but the current 911 system is woefully deficient. In his presentation on that topic, Michael Martin of RapidSOS noted that more than half of 911 traffic provides responders with only the nearest cell tower location, not the location of the actual emergency. And there’s very little supplementary information that would assist in response. In fact, Martin noted that 911 operators receive only 512 bytes of information per call — 100 fewer than were contained in the first transatlantic telegram, sent in 1858 from Queen Victoria to U.S. President James Buchanan
The Ugly: In a social media-fueled world, perception often trumps reality. Security executives in fast/fast-casual food services related how their brands are tainted when someone wearing a uniform of their company posts a video depicting unsanitary treatment of food before it is served. In fact, the people uploading the images are typically not associated with the company in any way.
Turning the Bad and Ugly into the Good: In a panel session called “What Keeps Security Leaders Up at Night,” Cheryl Steele, VP of Global Security and Resilience at Starbucks Coffee Company, described integrating young staff into the organization’s security culture. She noted that many of the chain’s baristas grew up in an era of frequent school assailants and took part in many active shooter drills. Unlike earlier generations that might fear or resist such training, these employees more readily understand the importance of drills and buy into security’s mission.
The SECURITY 500 Conference may have lacked the bounty hunters, bandits and assorted baddies of the classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western, but it teemed with modern-day examples of good, bad and ugly leadership. There was plenty of gold there; like Blondie and Tuco, you just needed to know where to find it.
