Tag: asset protection

TalkLP’s Top 10 Podcasts of 2021

Well, here we are again cleaning up the tinsel in time to throw some confetti for the New Year!  As we enter the New Year, we can’t tell you how grateful we are to the loss prevention industry for listening and engaging in what TalkLP has to offer: our TalkLPnews APP bringing you breaking LP headlines, job alerts, solution provider info, research and more; as well as TalkLP podcasts, webinars and our Asset Protection Executive Xchange event series!

Phew, it’s been a packed year and we can’t thank you enough for engaging with TalkLP!

Stay tuned in by downloading the app, joining the TalkLP LinkedIn Group, and subscribing here!

Take a look at our top 10 most popular podcasts of 2021!

Number 10: “How LP Prepares You for the CEO Role” President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater East Bay Mike Keenan, CPP, CFI, LPC joins TalkLP host Amber Bradley and guest co-host Angie Barnes, Executive Vice President of Sales for NAVCO.  This episode discusses how Mike’s extensive experience in the loss prevention gave him a unique and valuable perspective for his current role as CEO.  Mike talks how to use your LP perspective to bring value to every organizational conversation and why you can tell a lot about a person by the way they play golf.  Thank you to NAVCO for sponsoring this episode and our stellar guest co-host Angie Barnes!

Number 9: “Demonstrating LP’s Value to Operations” TalkLP host Amber Bradley is joined by guest co-host David Shugan, CFI, Sr. Director of Asset Protection for Carter’s to pick the brain of Robert LaCommare, CFI, Vice President of Asset Protection for Big Lots Stores.  This episode covers ways loss prevention professionals can demonstrate the value of LP to operations.  We also hear what Robert would tell his 22-year-old self as he navigates his career. And both David and Robert give an homage to some leaders in the LP industry that impacted their careers! AND attention Solution Providers:  some fantastic advice from these two here!

Number 8: “Calculating Career Moves” TalkLP host Amber Bradley discusses many leadership topics with Peter Chie, CFI, Operating Vice President, Asset Protection and Risk Management for Bloomingdale’s.  Peter discusses the elements professionals should consider prior to making a career change and defines his 4 “B’s” of leadership and success.  Take a look and listen from this thoughtful and strategic executive as he shares his wisdom — and a few laughs — with TalkLP.

Number 7: “Loss Prevention’s Take on Retail Predictions” TalkLP host Amber Bradley sits down with Vice President of Education at the National Retail Federation (NRF), Susan Reda to talk retail predictions for 2021 and why they matter to loss prevention.  We also discuss how those predictions are holding up being mid-year and why it’s important for loss prevention executives to pivot.  Susan also provides us a sneak peek into NRF’s BIG show and the future of NRF PROTECT.  You can read Susan’s retail predictions by clicking here!

Number 6: “Unapologetic Series: Guess Who is Traveling Again?” TalkLP host Amber Bradley chats with Wicklander-Zulawski & Associate’s Brett Ward, CFI in our next episode of “Unapologetic.”  Guess who’s traveling again?  That’s right.  And you can guess how excited he is about it!  (actually, pretty excited!)  Listen now to hear how he feels about it — what he’s hearing in the industry now we’re in the “new normal” (sigh) and what you should consider when doing Zoom interviews.  Check it out!

Number 5: “What do CFOs Really Want from LP Executives?” This episode of TalkLP features host Amber Bradley and special guest co-host Peter Chie, VP of Asset Protection at Bloomingdale’s interviewing the CFO of Bloomingdale’s, Scott Zettell.  Scott provides insights into exactly what he’s expecting when evaluating capital, what’s important to him from asset protection executives as well as how he started in asset protection and navigated his way to the c-suite.  Take a listen to dive into these two brilliant minds from Bloomingdale’s!

Number 4: “Keith White’s Corporate Insights for America” TalkLP guest co-host Debbie Maples,  VP Global Safety & Security: Intelligence, Investigations & Protection at Salesforce, joins host Amber Bradley to interview Keith White, Chief of Safety and Security for Salesforce.com at Salesforce.  As many know, Keith started his career as a loss prevention agent and has ascended up the ranks to many c-level roles.  Hear his “Rules for Corporate America” for the secrets to Keith’s success and what Debbie has learned with him as a mentor along the way.  Tune in to hear us tackle many issues including diversity, dealing with corporate politics, and ensuring visibility within an organization!

Number 3: “In His Own Words: Ben Dugan on the WSJ’s Exposé on ORC” The Wall Street Journal published an exposé about organized retail crime (ORC) featuring Ben Dugan, Director of Organized Retail Crime & Corporate Investigations at CVS Health. It’s an interesting article that describes the war on ORC that retailers continuously fight — and how CVS is working hard to lead the industry on this growing challenge.  In this podcast, host of TalkLP Amber Bradley gets candid with Ben on his thoughts about the article, the key points covered and how eCommerce continues to be a hinderance in this fight, specifically Amazon.  Take a listen to Ben’s thoughts on the WSJ article and more about the fight on ORC.

Number 2: “Why Digging Into Retail Loss is so Important” Pamela Velose, Vice President of Asset Protection/Safety and Store Operations at Belk knows retail.  There’s no doubt about that.  Check out this podcast with special guest co-host John Matas, CFE, CFCI, Head of Global Fraud & Risk Operations at Etsy and TalkLP host Amber Bradley dig into Pamela’s career, how she has been successful and why digging into Total Retail Loss is so important.

Number 1: “The Importance of Explaining the Why” Chris Nelson, Senior Vice President / Head of Asset Protection at Gap Inc. with guest co-host Mike Keenan, President and CEO at Goodwill Industries of Greater East Bay.  Chris talks with Mike and host Amber Bradley about his time in the military, the lessons he implements every day within his leadership role at Gap Inc.  Chris discusses what it’s like to fill big shoes, lead a disparate team, and the importance of explaining the why.

These were the top 10 most popular, by super narrow margin, so check out the other value-packed podcasts at here.  And we totally realize we didn’t give many of the Q4 released podcasts a chance!  So don’t miss them here!

Don’t forget to download the TalkLPnews app for easy access to the podcasts and breaking loss prevention headlines constantly updating throughout the day!

Click here with your phone or scan the QR code below for easy downloading!  You can also find the TalkLPnews app wherever you find your favorite apps!

I’m dishonest. But so are you.

I was in a business meeting once where I was asked, “How honest are you on a scale of 1 to 10?”  The individual asking the question decided to put everyone in the meeting on the spot by going around the room receiving everyone’s self-rating.  As he glanced around the room for everyone’s answer, each person gave a resounding “10” reply.  His crystal stare came to me and I simply shrugged and said, “I guess more around an 8.”  He was shocked at my rating.  I explained that of course everyone lies a little, every day offering an example of if someone asks you if they “look fat” or offers the question, “do you like my new haircut?”  I was immediately told that was not the correct answer and everyone should respond by being a 10 out of 10.  Frankly, I felt that was dishonest…why would someone obviously lie about a question of honesty?

This interaction has stayed with me for years making me wonder, aren’t we all a little bit dishonest?  And why was my “8” response so insulting?  You can imagine my relief after reading Dan Ariely’s book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. Ariely walks the reader through numerous experiments and tested theories explaining different concepts about why and how people lie to themselves and others.  He explains the Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC) and how it works in the rational mind stating we all essentially make our way through the world seeking our own advantage while considering the costs vs. benefits of our actions.

Science Tells Us No One is a 10

Ariely describes numerous experiments that illustrate how the human mind works when it comes to cheating, however there is one experiment he conducts that sets the foundation of why no one is a 10. The control portion of the experiment describes MIT students being asked to solve as many matrices as possible (selecting two numbers that add up to ten from a grid of varying numbers) within 5 minutes, providing their completed answer sheet to a researcher to count their number of correct responses. They would then be paid 50 cents for each correct answer.

Example of Experiment Matrix

However, in an effort to take a deeper look into the SMORC model, Ariely and his team of researchers introduced varying conditions to this experiment to understand more about how and why individuals cheat. One of those conditions called for subjects to participate as described in the control condition, but when the 5 minutes were up ,they would count the number of matrices correct on their own, place their answer key in a shredder, and then self-report the number they answered correctly to the researcher for payment.

The results are probably not surprising to you if you have worked in the loss prevention field for very long.  The results that were self-reported by the participants after their papers were shredded reported an average of solving two more matrices than the control condition participants.  It is also interesting to note that this increase was not because a few people in the experiment chose to cheat a lot, but because lots of people chose to cheat just a little.

Ariely and his team of researchers carried out variation upon variation of this experiment including raising the amount paid, different ways of shredding their answer sheet, participants paying themselves instead of the researcher, etc.  Each of the contrasting ways they altered the experiment emphasized the varying levels at which humans cheat, but they all reemphasized the findings that most humans will cheat at least a little bit given the opportunity.

Ariely’s central thesis is that our behavior is essentially driven by two opposing forces 1) we want to view ourselves as honest, honorable people and 2) we want to benefit as much as possible from cheating and get as much money as possible – standard financial motivation. We reconcile those two opposing ideals by maintaining a cognitive flexibility that allows us to rationalize that if we only cheat just a little bit, we can still see ourselves as “marvelous human beings.”

Causing Employees to Stop Before They Steal  

If your goal is to prevent loss within your company, you might be thinking, “great, now what?”  Ariely’s experiments do offer some hope when it comes to impacting an individual’s propensity to cheat and steal.

Ariely and his research team decided to test how a religious reminder impacted subjects that were about to participate in the matrix experiment.  They asked one of the groups to try and recall as many of The Ten Commandments as possible and the other group to try and recall ten books they read in high school.  The results were the group that tried to recall the ten books they read in high school had the same level of cheating but the group that tried to recall The Ten Commandments didn’t cheat at all.  Ariely’s conclusion was these moral reminders diminish the willingness and tendency to cheat.

Of course, it would not be smart business to start posting The Ten Commandments around your retail or grocery store.  But the science does indicate that incorporating moral reminders or honesty expectations in the form of an awareness program can help impact how honest your employees will be when faced with temptation.  Here is another study that looks at the impact of signing your name as a commitment of honesty.

Two groups of MIT and Yale students were asked to sign honor codes right before they were given the chance to cheat on the matrix test.  The students who did not sign it cheated a little bit, while the students that signed the code didn’t cheat at all.  Maybe it’s time to bring back those signature cards for a statement of honesty for employees. The team of researchers conducted various other experiments testing this type of moral reminder before being placed into a tempting environment.  Ariely concluded that the majority of people “seem to want to be honest, which suggests that it might be wise to incorporate moral reminders into situations that tempt us to be dishonest.”  In the retail environment these situations might be handling cash transactions or merchandise, pressuring friend groups demanding discounts, and even the internal conflict of reporting a dishonest coworker.

We’ve all known that an employee awareness program is a valuable addition to your shrink-lowering formula, but as Ariely would suggest and the science demonstrates, it might be the most valuable element to impact the majority of your employees in a consistent way.  Why not stop the theft before it starts?

Next time you are confronted with rating your honesty on a scale of one to 10, feel confident knowing maybe those replying a solid “10” are the ones you should be watching the most.

Curious how retailers really feel about communicating with their employees?  Take a look at Director of Operations, Terry Stanley, with Lowes Foods APEX Grocery presentation on his key elements of making sure their employees are engaged.

About Amber Bradley, MA, LPQ

Amber Bradley, founder of Calibration Group, LLC, is a brand-positioning expert with extensive experience across multiple business disciplines, including marketing and public relations. Amber’s proven success in creating multi-tiered, strategic marketing and communication campaigns continues to yield unmatched results for solutions providers, as well as retail loss prevention and operations professionals.

Amber is also the owner and host of TalkLP that provides valuable content to loss prevention and asset protection professionals through unscripted interviews about various topics.

In addition, Amber also serves as Executive Director for the Restaurant Loss Prevention and Security Association (RLPSA), and is a contributing editor for the D&D Daily, a daily e-news outlet specializing in providing the most relevant news for retail loss prevention, safety, and security professionals.

Amber holds a Master of Arts degree specializing in communication, a Bachelor of Arts specializing in marketing communications and the Loss Prevention Qualified (LPQ) certification from the Loss Prevention Foundation.

About Calibration

Calibration Group, LLC is a full-service marketing, communications, and consulting firm specializing in providing relevant, educational content for the loss prevention, asset protection, and safety professions. We are also the leading provider of Loss Prevention Awareness campaigns that successfully modify employee behavior. Calibration has mastered the ability to move beyond simple awareness and communication. We create. We deliver. We inspire.

For more information about Calibration Group, visit www.calibrationgroup.com.

 

The Great Deception: Why Felony Thresholds Should Not Be Our Primary Focus

THE FELONY THRESHOLD CONCERN

To prevent prison overcrowding, felony thresholds have been rising over the last few years. This means that for shoplifters to be charged with a felony rather than a misdemeanor, a shoplifter must steal much more merchandise. For example, the State of California replaced their old petty crime law (PC 666) with what is called Prop 47. One of the many things Prop 47 did that concerns California retailers was that it raised the felony threshold to $950. This means that any shoplifter caught stealing less than $950 can only be charged with a misdemeanor. To put this into perspective, under the old version of PC 666, if a shoplifter had three or more prior convictions for certain theft crimes, then he or she could have potentially received a felony sentence of 16 months to 3 years in prison. However, Prop 47 stipulates that shoplifters can only be charged with misdemeanors regardless of how many prior theft convictions they have. (The only exception to this is if a suspect has a prior conviction of theft or embezzlement from an elderly person or dependent adult.)

To Loss Prevention and Asset Protection (LP/AP) professionals, this essentially means shoplifters have a license to steal from California retailers with virtually no behavior-rectifying punishment. By charging the same shoplifters with a misdemeanor each time they are apprehended with no regard to criminal history there is nothing in place to inspire a chronic shoplifter to change their behavior. In the past, a shoplifter knew that after being convicted of petty theft a few times, they’d be facing a lengthy prison term if caught again. The absence of that stipulation, according to most California LP/AP professionals, has opened the flood gates of shoplifting, and they are feeling the pain.

But is California’s new felony threshold of $950 really that bad? Consider South Carolina, for instance. South Carolina already had a felony threshold of $1000 before raising it to $2000 in The question of, “Why did South Carolina increase the felony limit?” begs to be asked and answered.

Read more by downloading the whitepaper here: The_Great_Deception-whtppr FINAL

Violence in Loss Prevention: Dissecting Shoplifter Apprehensions

One can only imagine that the theft of someone else’s belongings must have begun shortly after humans first walked the earth. Nearly everyone on the planet has direct or indirect experience with shoplifting – either by being a shoplifter, knowing a shoplifter, or by witnessing a shoplifting event. Shoplifting is everywhere. According to The Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting, by Rachel Shteir, there are an estimated 27 million shoplifters in America alone. This is an astonishing number, and one that deserves perspective:

  • There are more shoplifters than there are people with pension plans
  • There are more shoplifters than there are students enrolled in college
  • There are more shoplifters than the entire population of Florida
  • There are nearly 8 times more shoplifters than teachers
  • There are nearly 20 times more shoplifters than Americans serving in the Armed Forces

With shoplifting being so prolific, it is understandable how an entire profession has been created to address the issue. Over the years, many different approaches were developed to initiate an all-out assault on the shoplifting epidemic. But like most everything else, changes in culture, risk and laws have forced the former strategies to run their course and exit into the sunset. To add to the complexity of the situation, shoplifters have steadily become more violent toward employees who try to apprehend them.

What is left are thousands of retail organizations, each with a unique set of policies and procedures for apprehending shoplifters. Are any of them successful? One may argue that the death of even one Loss Prevention (LP) professional at the hands of a shoplifter is enough evidence to suggest the retail industry should regroup and find a common, more unified approach to address this problem. Should retailers simply prohibit their employees, including internal LP professionals, from apprehending shoplifters altogether?

To read more, download the full whitepaper here: 

Download Whitepaper Here.

Winning with High Shrink: New Rules for an Old Game

Identifying causes of inventory shortage (shrink) and implementing countermeasures have traditionally been part of the one-line job description of Loss Prevention executives. The success or failure of these hard-working professionals nearly always rests on the elusive shrink rate, despite the fact that all of the elements used to determine this calculation are outside the control of most Loss Prevention teams. In response, Loss Prevention executives are forced to focus their limited resources where they feel they can reduce the greatest amount of shrink in the shortest amount of time.

But are they selecting the right stores? You may be surprised.

To find the answer, click here to download
the Calibration Group’s most recent whitepaper:
Winning with High Shrink: New Rules for an Old Game

Download the Whitepaper Here.

5 Ways to Make Your Cyber Security a Reality

What is a Cyber IQ?

Take the Cyber IQ test compiled by the security firm, Eset.  Companies need to continue to commit to gaining knowledge about cybercrime and technology.  Ignorance in this evolving area could be leaving data at risk.

According to the Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), it is estimated the financial loss from 700 million compromised records cost various industries over $400 million.  The least expensive breach was $750,000 and the single most expensive breach was $31 million, discovered Fortalice Solutions.  These are devastating and costly breaches companies cannot afford.  It’s time to get in the cyber know.

Know the Cyber Lingo

What is the difference between a security incident and data breach?  DBIR clarifies:

Security Incident: Any event that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an information asset.

Data Breach: An incident that resulted in confirmed disclosure (not just exposure) to an unauthorized party.

A Detection Deficit is Growing

Detection Deficit is a term used to describe the time it takes for hackers to compromise a network and the time it takes for the organization to discover the hack.  According to the DBIR, 60% of attackers are able to compromise an organization within minutes, but it may take days, months, and even years for the organization to discover the breach.  The ‘detection deficit’ between attackers and cyber defenders continues to grow.

According to RiskAnalytics, 75% of attacks spread from Victim 0 to Victim 1 within one day (24 hours). Over 40% hit the second victim in less than an hour.

No Phishing Allowed

Out of 150,000 emails sent, nearly 50% of the recipients opened the e-mails and clicked on the phishing links within the first hour, DBIR findings revealed.  Phishing typically targets more of an individual rather than an organization.

If the email claims to be a financial institution wanting updated account info, contact information, or to change a password, STOP.  This is the red-flag salute of a comprise trying to take a foothold in your network.

Beware of Malware

According to DBIR, 70-90% of malware samples are unique to an organization.  Malware has a shelf-life and typically is short lived, DBIR explained.  Ninety-five percent of malware types showed up for less than a month, and four out of five didn’t last beyond a week.  Though malware events may not be long lasting, their maliciousness is.  These numbers demand smarter and more adaptive approaches to combating malware.

Calibrate a Cyber Security Solution

It appears the common the cold is no longer what is to be feared.  As a community, businesses can achieve together and unfortunately, businesses can fail together.  The Calibration Group is committed to taking action to thwart off cyberattacks and enlarge the secure perimeter of its business community.  Being a communication facilitator it is quite easy for Calibration to streamline the collective business preparedness.

Ellen Powers, The MITRE Corporation’s Information Security Awareness Program Manager, identifies companies’ most effective asset to stopping cyber breaches, “Employees, our human sensor network, detect 10% of advanced cyberattacks.”

Lance Spitzner, Training Director for the SANS Securing The Human Program, echoes Ellen’s sentiments, noting that “one of the most effective ways you can minimize the phishing threat is through effective awareness and training. Not only can you reduce the number of people that fall victim to (potentially) less than 5%, you create a network of human sensors that are more effective at detecting phishing attacks than almost any technology.”

Contact The Calibration Group today to request a customized company cyber security employee awareness program. Educated employees reduce breach costs by 76%,  Fortalice Solutions and The Calibration Group report. With Calibration’s decades of industry expertise, the employee firewall will become companies’ best line of defense against costly cyber breaches.

NEWS: RLPSA Selects Calibration for Executive Director Role

WASHINGTON, December 4, 2015 – The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA) has elected to expand the role of Calibration Group, LLC within the organization by naming the firm as the new Executive Director. Over the last year, Calibration has served the members of the RLPSA by providing relevant educational content, assistance with event planning and coordination, as well as strategic marketing and communications initiatives.

“I am excited to announce the RLPSA Board of Directors has selected Calibration to champion the duties of Executive Director for our association,” said Rob Holm, RLPSA President and Senior Director, Safety & Security-US Operations at McDonald’s USA.  “Calibration’s founder, Amber Bradley, as well as the Calibration team have been widely recognized for their passion for providing education and value specifically for the Loss Prevention, Security, and Safety professions. That passion is well-aligned with the mission of the RLPSA, making Calibration very well suited for this important role.”

As the only organization focused on loss prevention and security in the restaurant industry, the RLPSA is dedicated to sharing resources, expertise, and knowledge amongst this unique community. The association’s membership includes the most accomplished and recognized leaders representing more than 100 different restaurant brands and 20 of the 25 largest brands in the U.S. The RLPSA is comprised of members from all restaurant segments, including Quick Service (QSR), Quick Casual, and Full Service Dining.

“My team and I are ecstatic the RLPSA has selected us to help carry on the mission of providing relevant content of interest for our members,” said Amber Bradley, owner of the Calibration Group. “Our commitment to the RLPSA members is to continue fostering a forum for the exchange of ideas, remaining responsive to their needs, promoting growth of the organization, and creating strategic alliances with solutions providers and other professional organizations that will maximize member value.”

For more information about RLPSA membership or the annual conference, contact our new Executive Director, Amber Bradley, at Amber@calibrationgroup.com or (770) 335-4891 or visit www.rlpsa.com.

About Calibration Group, LLC

Calibration Group, LLC is a full-service marketing, communications, and consulting firm specializing in providing relevant, educational content for the loss prevention, asset protection, and safety professions. Calibration has mastered the ability to move beyond simple awareness and communication. We create. We deliver. We inspire.

Cybercrime: Hero or Victim? You decide. [Infographic]

Today, the most valuable asset protection executives truly understand the importance of protecting their organization from cybercrime.  Check out Calibration’s infographic on how to tackle cybercrime by creating a team, training your employees and knowing where your organization is most vulnerable.

CAL1507_CyberSecurityInfographic_fn

Calibration has teamed up with former CIO of the White House, Theresa Payton and Fortalice Solutions to create actionable, interactive employee training.  Contact us to learn how we can help.