Not everything with a catchy title online is valuable information or even worth your attention. The same applies to close protection news.
In fact, we see many practitioners publishing articles that they deem essential for our industry. But unfortunately, most of those buzzwords will unnecessarily put a strain on your brainpower. So, allow us to present you with our guide to making the most out of CP news.
Close Protection News for New and Aspiring EPAs
Suppose you have recently started exploring a potential career in the security industry. For example, you could be interested in finding a job and scouting for opportunities. Or, you may want to upskill. In any case, here are six things you can do to maximize your prospects:
- Follow the most trustworthy EP outlets that frequently give updates on industry news.
- Filter whom you follow on LinkedIn and other social media platforms ― a good rule of thumb is the number of interactions their posts are getting.
- Subscribe to LinkedIn hashtags that industry pundits usually attach to posts with relevant information ― examples include #executiveprotection #executiveprotectionlifestyle #closeprotection and others.
- Avoid sensationalism Even though it may seem alluring at first, it brings zero value.
- Be aware that most purported close protection news doesn’t have to do anything with CP per se.
- Know how to read in-between lines. For example, the recent crisis in Ukraine may seem like a military event with no repercussions for our industry. That’s only until you find out that many enterprises are looking to flee the country’s eastern regions in an attempt to reduce business loss. Consequently, these organizations need to hire a security firm to provide evacuation — a splendid opportunity to deliver CP/EP services.
According to one Guardian article, “News is easy to digest. The media feeds us small bites of trivial matter, tidbits that don’t really concern our lives and don’t require thinking. That’s why we experience almost no saturation. Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities of news flashes, which are bright-colored candies for the mind.”
Therefore, beware of flashy close protection news and focus on the big picture.
How Experienced EPAs Read (People And) Close Protection News
When you are part of the EP game for a long time, you have some tricks up your sleeve and know how to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff. In other words, you have grown into a master of curating social media feeds. And that is arguably one of the essential skills in the executive protection industry ― knowing how to read (people and information).
For example, suppose you are working on a big detail and providing protection for a music star at a concert. If you try to make sense of every fan in the audience, that could prove detrimental to your mental health and operational abilities. Moreover, it will steer you toward less critical aspects of your security efforts. Alternatively, you should only pay attention to those individuals who seem unstable or show signs of an impending attack against your principal.
The same goes for close protection news: You don’t need to read every piece ever written. Just the ones that seem crucial for you at a particular moment in your career.
For instance, if you are exploring protective intelligence and how AI-powered technology can help you boost residential security measures for your principal, you will presumably want to avoid close protection news that deals solely with topics unrelated to your current interests. In this sense, less is more.
The All-Knowing Agent
Many clients and subcontractors expect CPOs and EPAs to be well-versed in all things executive protection. From crowd control to counter-surveillance to secure driving to vehicle security. The list goes on and on. Nevertheless, we cannot reasonably expect individual protection professionals to be proficient in all these fields. That’s what teams are for.
In addition, suppose you have been part of the industry for years. In that case, you still need to ensure that you are only absorbing relevant information and data. As time passes and you acquire more and more experience, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to immerse yourself in more stuff than you can handle ― while preserving your peace of mind.
Alternatively, if your work entails frequent travels to South Africa, Israel, or Nigeria, then go ahead and read the articles on the current situation there. But if not, try avoiding it altogether and focus on your ongoing interests and tasks.
Specialization in EP is much more important than being the so-called jack-of-all-trades.
Dissecting the Threat Landscape
So far, we have explained how new and seasoned security professionals go about close protection news. Let’s now focus on some critical psychological aspects toward which everyone inclines, EPAs included.
Can the news, especially those pertaining to our industry, significantly affect how we view the threats and risks surrounding us? The answer is a loud and equivocal yes!
Take, for example, a heavily televised HNWI’s plane crash. Suppose you have read about it on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Industry peers have laboriously dissected every aspect of the plane crash scenario, giving their opinion on how the security staff could have prevented the tragedy.
Given the amount of media attention, you would expect that this is worth considering in your everyday operations. Yet, it probably isn’t, as this type of accident is extremely rare. In fact, high-profile individuals are far more likely to find themselves in a car crash than an airplane accident. However, the media talk far less about the former because it is less sensational and gets fewer clicks.
The very fact of something being more prevalent in the news can impact your judgment, making you think that everything and everyone constitutes a danger. Furthermore, such a mindset can make you believe that all risks are equally applicable. Yet, as practitioners with just a sliver of experience know, they most certainly are not.
Of course, this is not to say that situational awareness is unneeded but just that you should take it all with a grain of salt.
In Conclusion
This article explored how you can make the most out of close protection news. It illustrates how less is often more. But also that not everything your favorite industry peers publish on LinkedIn is necessarily worth your scarce attention.
In a nutshell, here are the main takeaways for you to remember if you want to be more mindful of your news intake:
- Mitigate your news consumption to just 30-60 minutes per day,
- Curate your social media feed by only following security leaders and hashtags that are relevant to you presently,
- Trust executive protection magazines that go in-depth and try to make sense out of certain events,
- Know that an increase in media reporting on a specific topic doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a new risk or threat that you should be overly worried about,
- Find curated close protection jobs that matter at this moment, whether you are new to the industry or a seasoned CPO,
- Ask yourself: Is this piece of news really advancing my career and overall well-being?
Whether we see it or not, close protection news is all around us. But figuring out how to distinguish between the relevant and irrelevant is becoming increasingly challenging. Therefore, those who master this skill have a far greater chance of creating a thriving career in the security industry.
