The Great Conversation

The Great Conversation

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The Great Conversation episodes

  • Covert Close Protection: Protecting the Leader

    There is a critical role for the high net worth and/or corporate leader to consider just like they would do for a key function in their company.

    This critical role is the Executive Protection Leader. In a great conversation with Mac Segal, founder and CEO of the AHNA Group, we take advantage of his upcoming International Covert Close Protection Course that he is launching on October 25-31 in Amsterdam to uncover the multi-faceted attributes of such a leader.

    You will want to listen in to a thought-provoking exchange on the attributes needed in this age of risk – this is not your father’s James Bond.

    AHNA Group is a multi-discipline security consortium, providing you with true security convergence services to ensure smooth and optimal operational outcomes

    26 min
  • Leadership and Security

    Guy Beveridge believes in teaching executives and their security teams how to navigate risk and opportunity. Although he is a professional security consultant he first and foremost is focused on the mind of the leader and how they communicate a risk, resilience, and security mindset to their people.

    We have a great conversation around human investment, empowerment, and how to handle the deadly curse of organizational culture; not exposing the fear inside.

    21 min
  • Be Less Zombie

    We are not will-less. Or speechless. We do not need to act like the living dead. That is the beginning of my conversation with Elvin Turner, an award-winning innovation expert and associate professor of innovation, entrepreneurship and marketing for MBA and executive education programs.

    His clients include some of the world’s most innovative organizations in the finance, technology, music, and publishing industries.

    His recent book: Be Less Zombie: How great organizations create dynamic innovation, fearless leadership, and passionate people is intended for leaders and their teams who are suffering from creative constipation or creative indigestion where ideas never get heard or never get executed.

    I was struck by Elvin’s relentless heart and mindset focused on the leadership opportunity to steward tomorrow’s ideas.

    23 min
  • Augmenting the Protector with new Eyes and Ears

    Bill Marcisz is the President of Strategic Security Management Consulting. He has 30 years of experience in Security Management, most recently with the highly acclaimed AdventHealth network. Bill also has a Doctor of Law Degree which he has leveraged in compelling ways throughout his career.

    We had a great conversation around some of the technologies we hear about in the news such as body cameras, which Bill successfully integrated into the fabric of this organization. We explore the technology, the new business processes that were launched because of the technology and the impact on the true metrics that matter, the de-escalation and reduction of violence, investigative forensics, and prosecutorial success.

    36 min
  • Listening: The Art of a Leader
    Gene Deisinger, President of Deisinger Consulting, is a thought leader in risk and threat assessment, provided his perspective on our time and what it might mean for the future of the security industry. "A riot is a language of the unheard", a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King is the foundation by which we explore our collective challenge in the days ahead. How do we listen differently and more effectively?
    Through his training and experience as a licensed psychologist, certified health service provider in psychology, and as a state-certified police officer (now retired from law enforcement), he brings a unique perspective to the field of forensic & law enforcement psychology and his work in behavioral threat assessment & management.
    38 min
  • Creating the Value Creation Team: An Inside Look at a Private Equity Group
    In The Great Conversation, we attempt to bring all the voices to the table to create the narrative and the leverage to increase the value of the risk, resilience, and security industry. Some of the voices are the investors in organizations that may be changing the face of our industry. Last year we sat down with Michael Levenberg a partner in LLR Partners, a private equity group who is leveraging marketing intelligence, domain expertise, independent board member recruiting, and a “value creation” team to accelerate the path to value of organizations in our industry. 
    LLR Partners is a lower middle market private equity firm investing in technology and healthcare businesses. They collaborate with their portfolio companies to define high-impact growth initiatives, turn them into action and create long-term value. Founded in 1999 and with more than $5 billion raised across six funds, LLR is a flexible provider of equity capital for growth, recapitalizations, and buyouts.
    Michael focuses on Security and Industrial Technology. A few companies he has led LLR investments in are ACRE and Mercury Security.
    34 min
  • The Ecosystem of a School’s Security and Safety
    In 2020, we wanted to check in on the state of our schools. We turned to Michele Gay, the co-founder of Safe and Sound Schools.
    Michele is an educator and a mother. Her journey with Safe and Sound Schools was a result of losing her daughter Josephine Grace on December 14, 2012, in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. Earlier that day, before driving to the school, he shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. 
    Since that time, Michele has channeled her work as an advocate, improving safety and security in schools and communities across our country. With a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Towson State University, Michele earned a Masters’ degree in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College. Prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy, she taught at the elementary level in the Maryland and Virginia public schools. Now a nationally and internationally recognized public speaker and school safety expert, Michele reaches audiences and consults with all levels of community institutions — schools; municipalities; houses of worship; educational and public safety leadership; state and federal governments; law enforcement agencies; and top news media sources. Through her work, and always with a goal of helping others increase the safety within their own  communities, Michele shares her personal experiences and the lessons she has learned.
    24 min
  • The Science and Heart of Knowing Another
    What is human? What is behavior? How do those two terms merge in a practice that serves the risk, resilience, and security industry? We turn to the incredibly rich experience of Miranda Coppoolse, the Founder of MC Global Security and one of the top security influencers in the world.
    We find out there is a fire burning in Miranda’s core that infuses her approach to people. And she applies the science of human behavior in a language that can be consumed by her peers and her community.
    Miranda Coppoolse is the Founder of MC Global Security Consulting. She is a distinguished Behavioral Analyst and serves as a Security Risk Advisor on various interrelated security topics. In July 2021 she received an award for Global influencer in Security & Fire for the year 2021, from IFSEC.While known for her behavior analysis trainings & seminars tailored to any industry and profession, her mentoring and coaching and public speaking Miranda also serves as a Board Member on several Boards.
    26 min
  • The Chrysalis Mindset
    Mike Mason, the former CSO of Verizon, shares the mindset he developed to lead his organization and his life. “I am not a finished product.” This conversation took place last year right before his retirement.
    Michael A. Mason joined Verizon Communications in January 2008 as the company’s Chief Security Officer. He oversaw and coordinated global security efforts throughout Verizon and all its business units, including enterprise-wide security strategy and programs, physical security, cyber security, and law enforcement liaison and security matters.
    Before Verizon, he was responsible for the Criminal Branch of the FBI, to include the Criminal Division, Cyber Division, Office of International Operations and the FBI's Critical Incident Response Division and the Office of Law Enforcement Liaison.
    ”
    37 min
  • The Selfishness of Selflessness
    The retired former CSO of Microsoft Mike Howard now President of Howard Consulting, LLC, and author of The Art of Ronin Leadership, reflects on his experiences and what he has learned. When we spoke in 2020, he was anticipating finishing and launching the book and his new podcast. We also learned how he might construct a “scorecard” for a leader. Finally, we tease out a phrase to explore in the future: “The Selfishness of Selflessness”.
    29 min

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