Value creation is not normally associated with the security profession. However, the conversations this week all touched on this but in very different ways.

John Coovert, the Vice President and Global Head of Security for SAP, reminded us that we have a duty to protect our people wherever they are in their service to our organizations. The acceleration of “work from home” has stress tested this. But this has not deterred John.

John also reminds us that our vendor community can and should play a significant role in our efforts to optimize security services through automation and staff augmentation.

Joe Souza, the Director of Security for the University of Florida, is sold out on the mission of his university to be a preeminent brand within the public education sector.  

We sit down with Joe to discuss his journey.

For those of you who are parents of prospective university students, pause for a second and reflect whether you and your child prioritized security and safety in your scorecard for evaluating a university.

What I appreciated is Joe’s efforts to help his university leverage his program to ensure that all the other elements of the scorecard are not radically diluted by an otherwise predictable event or a poor response. That is value generation.

Michael Levenberg, Partner at LLR Partners, provides us an inside look at a Private Equity Group that focuses its time, resources, and wealth in helping to identify where the value is in the security market. Once identified, they seek to construct a model to realize that fully by working with business owners and their teams.

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. Michael and LLR are 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.

Put your ear buds in during your morning coffee or on your way to work and take 15-20 minutes to listen and learn something new this week. Membership is free. Knowledge is free. The only risk is not contributing your voice and engaging your mind in The Great Conversation in Security.