Book Description

The global contract security market now totals over $200 billion, with the number of private security officers exceeding that of public law enforcement officers. But this wasn’t always the case. Legends of the Security Services Industry: Profiles in Leadership presents the unique stories of 15 industry legends, who transformed the industry from early private detective and small night watch companies into large-scale contract security companies. The large-scale companies include, but are not limited to, Pinkerton, Burns International, The Wackenhut Corporation, Guardsmark, Wells Fargo, and U.S. Security Associates; as well as today’s leading security companies, Allied Universal, Securitas, G4S, Prosegur, and GardaWorld. The book begins in the nineteenth century, with early U.S. legendary detectives: Allan Pinkerton and William Burns. Then, the book focuses largely from the mid-twentieth century to the present, where successive generations of legends built large-scale contract security companies which competed with, and then acquired, those formed by the early legends. Part II legends George Wackenhut, Ira Lipman, and Tom Wathen; Part III legends, Charles Schneider, Kenneth W. Oringer, William Whitmore, Jr., and Albert Berger; and Part IV, Scandinavian legends Jørgen Philip-Sørensen, Lars Nørby Johansen, and Thomas Berglund, all developed major security companies. Part V includes current global security leaders Helena Revoredo Gut, Stephan Crétier, and Steve Jones. Part VI reviews the timelines and successful leadership of these legendary leaders, with a look at the future of the industry. The legends’ personal stories contain colorful insight into how they capitalized on the industry’s explosive growth. While each generation of legends faced unique social and competitive landscapes, their personal stories illustrate how they respectively succeeded. Their leadership and management prowess enabled them to achieve great success, as they displayed vision and achieved their goals through grit, determination, hard work, charisma, organizational skills, and calculated risk-taking. Each chapter has been extensively researched and includes firsthand accounts based on interviews with living legends, colleagues, and family of deceased legends. Personal, company and signature event photos add further color to the moving narrative. Their stories are not only highly interesting, but also provide a framework for current leaders, and the next generation of entrepreneurs, on how to build and lead large-scale security service companies. With a Foreword from Robert D. McCrie, PhD, longtime John Jay Professor and editor of the renowned industry publication The Security Letter.