The Importance of Security Leadership in Today's World

Jason Blumenauer, Vice President of Security, FirstGroup America

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Jason Blumenauer, Vice President of Security, FirstGroup America

In today’s world security and business continuity should be a fundamental expression of any proactive business philosophy. This means more than simply dealing with security incidents when they happen; it is a commitment to protect and develop an organization’s assets and to help achieve a business’s objectives. Security begins with identifying all business resources: people, property, assets, services, and information. Only after identifying these resources–and the risks associated with them–can the designing and implementation of an effective security program that safeguards the investments begin.

Today the business landscape is dealing with risk around every corner. The security and well-being of the associates, customers, and operation have taken on a new dynamic and the future only shows more of this transition. Being secure just doesn’t mean utilizing the right equipment and following a security manual. Security is everyone’s responsibility and it is the collaboration of all leaders of an organization to align so the best tools possible are created to maintain and secure, safe, and productive environment.

An organization should be made up of individual leaders and accountability needs to be established to pull together any fruitful program. At the end of the day we are there to mitigate risk and a security leader needs to align on many different levels as this is being achieved

The security leaders of an organization are people who mold this concept and it is important to effectively embed that into the organizations’ culture.

The idea is to have security fit the operation, not the other way around, this is one of the most important dynamics. Using this method allows security to get to know the business on a more intimate level so that security can initiate the appropriate synergies and offer suggestions to help with daily operations and build the right programs, so if a problem were to arise the team is equipped to manage it on the ground. This also allows the opportunity to build a relationship with the field so that there can be pulling of security information instead of it having to be pushed out to them. A team that wants the information is much more pro-active and effective than a team that is forced to receive the information.

Building a strong security culture that is pro-active and managing a collaborative mindset that aligns with the ultimate goal of risk mitigation is ideal for any organization. But once that foundation is laid out, it must be maintained and be flexible enough to change as the industry changes. An organization should be made up of individual leaders and accountability needs to be established to pull together any fruitful program. At the end of the day we are there to mitigate risk and a security leader needs to align on many different levels as this is being achieved.

More than ever, business continuity along with a security mind-set should be a normal day-to-day thought process and should be considered in all activities. These aspects are more appropriately managed when security leaders identify, build, and brand a strong risk mitigation program that can support the success of the organization. It is important to remember that there are no easy answers, but there will always be hard choices to make. To be a true leader that can push forward on a positive and productive path you must choose for the greater good and ensure your steps moving forward are worth the effort to follow.



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