And whom do you know?
Since a good portion of our work is high-risk protective services, we work with a lot of protective specialists. These people often guard assets worth tens of millions of dollars, and business, political and, entertainment people subject to real (albeit not generally life-threatening) and multiple threats.
So, how do you know you have the wrong executive protection person when you interview them? An example came to mind when we were recently part of a group that was interviewing executive protection professionals that were to be hired in a private company to protect an entertainment attorney who often threw lavish parties with many luminaries attending.
The first thing the executive protection person did was tell me about the most recent detail where he got to rub shoulders and talk and meet with Jennifer Lopez, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood and Brittany Spears. He went on at length about what a wonderful time he had had with all of them.
After the interview the two other people said, “He seemed like a very convivial and interesting security protection specialist.”
I said, “Well, you know what, I would put him at the bottom of my list and will never hire him!”
They asked why?
“What is an executive protection specialist doing socializing with the people he is there to protect? This person was more awestruck and star struck than most any EP person I have ever met.”
The point of executive protection is not to interact with the guests and the hosts. The point of executive protection is to separate the guests and the hosts from any threat real or imagined, from anything that may be a nuisance to the host or the guests, and from anything that might cause real harm to the host or the guests.
