27 minute read
ASSOCIATIONS IN ACTION
Protecting People, Property, and Brand Reputation
by Rhett Asher
Rhett Asher is vice president of industry relations for the Food Marketing Institute, where he is responsible for the association’s asset protection, risk, and safety initiatives, including the annual Asset Protection Conference, Supply Chain Council, and Technology Leadership Board. Asher has over twenty years of retail store operations and trade association experience, including management roles with the National Retail Federation, Loss Prevention Foundation, National Food Service Security Council, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. He can be reached at 202-220-0774 or rasher@fmi.org.
After more than a year in my current role at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), I’m reminded every day how there is no longer a clear divide between food and non-food when it comes to issues within asset protection, technology, or even the supply chain. The business needs of our retailing industry go well beyond the confines of definitions, and I’m motivated by our food retail members to construct and offer engagement opportunities across the aforementioned roles, including safety, risk management, crisis management, loss prevention, and food defense. In light of the challenges among these issues, one of my immediate goals is to reignite programs and build participation at FMI.
FMI represents more than 1,500 retailer and wholesaler members, or about 75 percent of the supermarkets in the U.S. For these food retailers, the protection of people, property, and brand reputation is about focusing on operational efficiencies, internal processes, partnerships, and the mitigation of overall risk to an organization. Connections are crucial, and since food retailers play a critical role in our nation’s crisis management plan, we need to bridge the gaps between retailers and their local, state, and federal agencies and bring awareness to the role of these retail professionals.
New Leadership Councils. In recent meetings of several new leadership councils, our members discussed how to reengage our membership and trading partners across the areas of asset protection, risk management, safety, supply chain, and technology. Action items revolved around providing subject-matter expertise, advice, leadership, and support to advance the retail food industry.
As a priority, these groups are currently working with FMI to provide frameworks for best practices regarding the identification, prevention, management, and mitigation of risk, in addition to developing strong business strategies though communication and education. Secondarily, the councils are advising FMI on regulatory and legal issues and lobbying efforts, advising FMI on issues that are of importance to the well-being of the retail industry and guiding their participation in industry work groups.
For food retailers, asset protection has moved beyond the common shoplifter to defense against intentional tampering across a wide range of critical control points: ■ Cargo to cyber to mobile-point-of-sale security, ■ Data analytics to effective C-level communications, ■ OSHA to workplace violence, and ■ Pharmacy to fuel fraud.
Asset Protection Conference. At future FMI events, such as the Asset Protection Conference in New Orleans March 11 – 14, 2012, our committees are working to ensure that the educational value exceeds that of other industry shows. Next year’s conference will feature a series of professional development workshops led by collaborating partner organizations in order to drill down on these business system issues.
Technology Summit. On the heels of the 2011 FMI Technology Summit, I’m able to reflect on how the newly reestablished Technology Leadership Council identified disaster recovery, food safety, data security, privacy, and mobility as relevant topics for its foundation. These ideas are helping to inform the council’s ultimate business plan, and over time, our common goals for the council will include advising and guiding FMI on the changing technology landscape. In essence, emerging technology will help food retailer professionals in all departments remain informed and equipped to protect their companies.
Supply-Chain Conference. I recognize that industry partners are often the keys to the success of any program and enable strong communications across the entire supply chain. Therefore, I look forward to FMI’s upcoming work with the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) on our 2012 Supply-Chain Conference. FMI and GMA will bring to life ProductivityPlus, a tactically focused add-on day aimed at distribution and transportation professionals in an effort to foster supply-chain efficiency, reduce costs, and drive value. We recognize that it’s through our trading-partner alliances that we’ll be able to truly measure our supply-chain successes.
We are a competitive industry, but we leverage this energy to ensure the food supply is safe, efficient, and delivers on customer satisfaction. Our businesses and our supply chain is a fluid and value-driven process that is not bound by a strict methodology, and retailers remain nimble…no matter the SKU.
NOTE FROM PAUL JONES, LPC: This month I asked our partner from CVS/pharmacy, Tony Sheppard, who manages their ORC team, to share some of his thoughts on this issue.
I still remember my first job as an LP specialist for
Montgomery Ward in Dearborn, Michigan. My job was to catch shoplifters and turn them over to police. In those days the police would respond to the store, arrest the shoplifter, and take them to jail—case closed. Back then I had never heard the terms “booster” or “organized retail crime.”
Things have certainly changed in loss prevention in recent years. Fortunately for all of us, these changes have generally been positive. In most retail companies now, loss prevention is considered a critical function. LP professionals have input into many other facets in the operation of their companies.
Still, after all these changes, we are and always will be the investigators for our respective companies. This is especially true in regards to organized retail crime (ORC). City, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are stretched thin and will justifiably continue to focus on terrorism, public corruption, and violent crime. That leaves the job of investigating these crimes to retailers. Fortunately, one of the positive changes in loss prevention has been a new culture of openly sharing information on investigations, suspects, and law enforcement contacts. Although we may all be competitors for sales in the retail world, when it comes to ORC, we are all on the same team. The old school of thought was to drive shoplifters to your competitor by protecting this intelligence as proprietary information. But recent successes by ORC teams that work collectively has disproven this strategy. ORC cases are being closed faster and more efficiently than ever, and retailers are benefiting from the disruption of these organizations through increased sales due to improved product availability. There are many avenues available to share this information on a market-specific level, such as LAAORCA and AARAPA, or on a national level by utilizing LERPnet2.0.
CVS/pharmacy, like many other national retail chains, has a specialized ORC unit. The unit is comprised of investigators with different backgrounds, who all bring something different to the table. If you are not fortunate enough to have an ORC team, that does not mean you cannot contribute to the fight against ORC. Your company may have great video of incidents inside and outside your stores that can be shared with other retailers. You may have store detectives who apprehend and interview boosters at store level and can share key intelligence.
In order to have success, it is critical to build an actionable case before presenting the case to law enforcement. If you go to law enforcement with the boosters or fence already tied to multiple instances of theft, including thefts from other companies, you will be well on your way to getting their full support in opening a case. This is also true at the federal level, where we have had great success.
Once you bring a case to law enforcement, your job is not over. To ensure a successful ORC case, you need to remain involved throughout the entire case, including presenting the case with law enforcement to the local prosecutor or U.S. attorney. Law enforcement and prosecutors know the law, but you are the retail expert and will be called upon throughout the case for your expertise.
In addition to retailers, manufacturers can help control the supply chain and provide product for reverses on large-scale cases. Many times the same fences dealing in stolen goods are also dealing in counterfeit goods.
Online retailers also have a role to play. eBay has provided valuable support to us over the last few years with actionable intelligence on several ORC cases. It is imperative that the industry continues to build on partnerships between retailers, manufacturers, and online retailers in this ongoing fight against ORC.
By all working together, we can make a major impact on ORC by making it a less rewarding, higher risk crime. By going after the supply and demand concurrently, we stand a greater chance of success. Retailers must continue to educate our associates and senior leaders about the problem of ORC, deploy product-protection strategies to deter and slow down these groups while not impeding sales, and continue to build partnerships to combat this crime.
If a booster crew or fence is arrested and prosecuted fully, that is one less crew stealing from all of us and one less fence buying our stolen product. Thus, we all benefit where it matters most—our company’s bottom line.
Tony Sheppard is Nationwide Manager, Organized Retail Crime, CVS Caremark. Retailers must continue to educate our associates and senior leaders about the problem of ORC, deploy product-protection strategies to deter and slow down these groups while not impeding sales, and continue to build partnerships to combat this crime.
FeatUre
WHY SMART LEADERS DO SUCH DUMB THINGS
In our personal and professional worlds, we are constantly surrounded by smart and successful individuals and some not so much. But have you ever wondered why so many of these people can do such dumb things?
How in the world did Tom Coughlin, Kenneth Lay, and Bernie Madoff, to name but a few, all at the top of their games, do what they did?
Well, I happen to have the answer.
My story isn’t much different from theirs, as I managed to turn a very successful career as a financial planner, stockbroker, and entrepreneur into something far different. In fact, through a series of poor decisions, I ended up becoming an international fugitive, was incarcerated in a Central American country, and served several years in U.S. prisons.
As you can imagine, I paid a very dear price to get that answer, including losing my family, freedom, country, and assets. But now I’m going to share it with you for free.
This research helped me tremendously in my own life to recognize the thinking patterns myself and so many others have been guilty of indulging.
Why Am I Sharing This Experience With You?
Upon release from prison, in addition to my obligation of serving three-and-a-half years on probation, I had 208 hours of community service to fulfill. To satisfy that obligation, my choices were working out on the highway picking up garbage (and trying not to get run over) or giving talks. The obvious pick was giving talks.
Why should the reader be interested in this? Because in our busy lives, we are all subjected to thousands of decisions each and every day, and it’s next to impossible to devote the necessary brainpower to evaluating and processing each of those decisions.
When I went to prison I was scared...by the way, not an uncommon feeling there. I knew exactly what I did that landed me in there—32 federal felony counts of bribery, conspiracy, and money laundering—but I didn’t know why I did what I did. I didn’t need the money or the perceived power or prestige, so what on earth was I thinking?
With three out of four men released from prison today going back within three years, I knew I’d better figure out why it happened because I definitely did not want to be one of those returnees nor did I really want to be there in the first place.
Well, what better place to do research on the subject of poor decision-making than prison? Everybody in there had at least one thing in common—we broke the law.
It became my mission to talk with as many fellow inmates as I could over the next several years, trying to discover
if there were common thinking errors that we were all guilty of violating. Over the course of thousands of these conversations, the same glaring thinking errors became apparent time and again.
From all walks of life, all types of crime…everything from wire fraud to murder…different socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels, it didn’t seem to matter; it was always the same erroneous mind sets and decision-making errors.
I have separated these thinking errors into what I now maintain are the eight critical thinking errors that underpin all unethical behavior.
As I unfold these eight errors, don’t be afraid if your face flashes in your mind. We all stick our toes in these waters. I just happened to hit all eight at once.
In fact, many times these thinking errors are “disguised” as something else and hard to detect. Or they try to seduce us by the promises of riches or easy money.
Let’s start with the queen mother of all critical thinking errors.
Critical Thinking Error Entitlement #1
What is entitlement? That sense that we are better than everybody else, or we’ve earned the right to [fill in the blank]. Why? Because we are all that and more; the world owes it to us. We calibrate at a higher level than everyone else.
Anyone with teenagers at home can appreciate the identification of this error. “Hey Dad, give me some money, my friends are waiting and I have to go.” Or, relating to downloading
music and not paying for it, “If it’s on the Internet and accessible, than I can do whatever I want with it.”
My sense of entitlement really started in college when I discovered that my fraternity brothers seemed to have more “things” than I did, plus they had it easier and didn’t have to work for tuition and book money.
Don’t we all consciously or subconsciously compare how we’re doing in life to our peer group? If they have more things than we do, it makes us feel uncomfortable. But if we lead the pack in material accumulations, our self-perception can be very strong.
Critical Thinking Error Super Optimism #2
What is super optimism? It’s ego. A sense that we are invulnerable, incapable of failure, faster, stronger, smarter than others. There is no downside to what we do. If we get ourselves in trouble, we can always get ourselves back out of trouble. Always have, always will.
Super optimism carried me into the financial services profession, a career I truly loved. You can help people achieve their goals and aspirations and be compensated for it. Perfect. I love helping people. It was super optimism that got me over the hurdle of not having a college degree, yet managing to get hired into a firm that required that degree.
You can combine the first two thinking errors, entitlement and super optimism, into one snappy word called “arrogance.”
I was arrogant. I enjoyed success at an early age, made great money, built a financial-planning practice, and seemed to be pulling ahead (monetarily) of my peer group…heady stuff.
There’s an additional acronym that we can plug in here called PIG, which stands for personal instant gratification. Do we live in an instant gratification society? It seems like we all want it and we want it now, yesterday would be even better.
When we are programed for instant gratification, we are moving at such a rapid rate that it’s very difficult to take pause and actually ponder something. No way, it’s full-speed ahead, let’s go get it. Besides, I’m entitled to it.
The slide down the slippery slope of unethical behavior most times does not start with a giant leap over the edge. It almost always starts with a seemingly inconsequential decision that we don’t think much about. Maybe we’re rushed with kids, school, work, relationships demanding our attention and pulling us in many directions at once. Or, it can be a seemingly urgent decision where we’re in a hurry, short on time, pressured by colleagues and friends to do it now!
In those snap decisions, sometimes our emotions highjack our logic, then it’s all hands on deck for the cleanup afterward.
Critical Thinking Error Seemingly #3 Unimportant, Urgent Decisions
So many fellow inmates told me they started looking back and going, “Wow, how in the world did I get here?” Well, we got there one decision at a time, often so subtle it didn’t register at first, then we slowly started to shape or reshape our character and the poor decision making became an every day event.
Have you ever made a decision you wish you could take back? You wanted to hit the “reset” button, but it just wasn’t there? We all have, and no doubt it stemmed from a seemingly unimportant decision.
The queen mother of all critical thinking errors— entitlement. That sense that we are better than everybody else, or we’ve earned the right to [fill in the blank]. Why? Because we are all that and more; the world owes it to us.
How do you prevent yourself from falling into this thinking trap? Mentors. When we stop listening to mentors, that’s usually when we’re heading for disaster. Have you ever mentored someone who was just heading for a major train wreck in life and quit listening to you? It’s frustrating.
Do you have people in your life who love you, know you, and can assist in guiding you in the proper direction? Share your thoughts and ideas with these mentors and listen carefully to the feedback. It’s tough to do it alone, so create your own winning team.
How do we justify a seemingly unimportant decision when we know in our heart of hearts it’s wrong?
Critical Thinking Error Rationalization #4
We are a nation of rationalizers, aren’t we? Think about it, how many of us drive the speed limit on the freeway? It is the state and federal law, but do we comply? Only when law enforcement is in the area. Can that same parallel be drawn in the business world? We sign the company code of conduct in orientation, then get pulled aside when we start our company position by the veterans who want us to know “how it really works around here” and “don’t try to rock the boat” by doing it by the rules.
What rationalizations do we use most frequently? The most dangerous phrase in the American vocabulary today is, “Everybody is doing it so that makes it okay.” How many times have we used that in our life? When do we start? Usually very young.
The classic example in business is anyone who is responsible for filing an expense report. “I’ve been on the road for three weeks, missed my child’s birthday, picked up the two biggest accounts in company history, and I’m not even eligible for a wage review for six more months.” Enter the temptation to alter your expense report to boost your income
to where you think it should be. There are several variations on this theme, and we’ve probably seen and heard them all at one point or another.
I asked every white-collar criminal I could find in prison the same question, “What was the tipping point in your mind; the point where it all began?” Every one of them answered the same way. Their common rationalization was, “Just this one time...just once. I’ll never do it again. I’m in control here. I can stop anytime.” I didn’t meet any inmates who figured they were going to get caught, but did it anyway.
Every slide down the slippery slope is greased with rationalization. Some of the most common rationalizations we hear: ■ “It’s a one-time thing.” ■ “I’ll never get caught.” ■ “I’m entitled to it.” ■ “It’s only zeroes, no one will really get hurt.” ■ “I can borrow from next quarter to cover this one and then pay it back.” ■ And on and on.
I’ve worked with over 200 business schools and occasionally sit in with the provost offices to hear students answer to a professor’s suspicion of plagiarism. The students’ most common defense, “That’s what I meant to say anyway, what’s the big deal?”
Next thing you know, by rationalizing or mollifying our behavior, we compound a small situation into something larger, requiring us to take more drastic steps.
Here’s where we are in our own little universe with an attitude that it’s my world and you all are just passing through. Kind of like that popular radio station, you know the one—WII-FM, translated into “What’s in it for me?”
Perhaps you no longer consider the consequences of your decisions against the best interest of your loved ones. You’ve disconnected and are not emotionally available.
In my case, a long-time friend approached me about the possibility of working as a broker for an entire state. She had just been appointed as the person who would decide what investments and who would be investing the funds for the state. A powerful position she was not qualified for.
I thought, “What a great opportunity.” All my hard work had finally moved me up the corporate ladder of success to this role. But as you climb your corporate ladder of success, make sure your ladder leans against the right building. Mine leaned against a dollar bill with no solid foundation.
One thing led to another, I started making huge money, and she wanted some of it. My rationalizations intact, I began giving her money to keep her happy and sending me business. After all, I earned it and was entitled
to share it with whomever I saw fit, right?
Critical Thinking Error Laziness #6
Eighty percent of fraud is caught by something the perpetrator did not anticipate. Why? You get lazy, overconfident, want to spend money, have fun, and don’t want the tedious day-to-day job of watching your back.
In my case, eventually suspicions began on how a government employee (my friend) could lead such an opulent lifestyle on a modest income. Investigations began, accusations made, I could see the writing on the wall.
Critical Thinking Error Situational Ethics #7
Instead of looking through the same ethical goggles at every dilemma, maybe we pick and choose our spots, evaluating the dilemma first and then deciding which set of ethics we are going to apply. It’s easiest to pick the set of ethics that cost us the least amount of time and money leading to the old adage—Ethics is easy until it costs you something.
Most of us speed on the freeway, yet I doubt if any of us speed through a school zone with children present. Both are state and federal l aws, yet we will comply whole-heartedly with one and not the other. That’s situational thinking.
I considered myself an ethical guy and had this huge disconnect that this chain of events was happening to me, of all people. Situationally, I just wasn’t seeing the ethical failure in all this and wanted to separate myself from the confusion.
What was driving this disconnect?
Critical Thinking Error Victimitis #8
What is victimitis? It’s playing the blame game. Have you ever known anyone who had a long list of people or things they blamed every malady in their life on? It’s never their fault, so they don’t take personal accountability. It’s so much easier to blame someone else instead. Yet, people playing the blame game seem to continue to wallow in self-pity and misfortune because, until you take accountability for your own actions, it’s the easy way out.
By the way, you’ll never find more victims than you will in prison. What are they victims of? Someone told on them. That’s why they are incarcerated. It has nothing to do with their crime; it’s all about someone else being responsible for their containment.
Instead of facing potential federal felony charges, I moved my family out of the country to Costa Rica. From there, I knew I could figure out how to get out of this mess (super optimism).
Charges were eventually filed and warrants issued. Law enforcement began chasing me across Central America. After a couple years of insanity, my family moved back to the States. After four years of running, I surrendered in Costa Rica and was thrown in prison there.
I was returned to the United States, pled guilty, and sentenced to 71 months, $3.89 million in restitution, banned from securities, given three-and-a-half years of probation after eventual release, and 208 hours of community service.
My Climb Back Out
Prison is many things, but it all boils down to one concept—missed opportunities. As an inmate, you are removed from society socially, professionally, and personally. Life marches on outside, but inside it’s a terrible lack of participation.
Prison visitation is probably the most depressing place in America. All these kids want their daddies to go home with them. When they return home from a visit, they face the harshest peer group in America—their friends. God forbid if their friends find out their daddy’s in prison. It’s never the inmates who do the time; it’s all their loved ones.
I served my time as best I could, actually finishing my college degree through the mail. I got my college degree and divorced within a week in 2000.
On March 21, 2001, I was released from prison and sent to a halfway house in Arizona to begin my supervised release period of three-and-a-half years. I was allowed to move in with my parents in the Phoenix area under home confinement shortly after arriving in Arizona. Thankfully my parents were very supportive, which went a long way in my reorientation to society.
I got a job driving a delivery truck for a firm based at the Phoenix Airport. My pay was $8.50 an hour. I loved that job. It was hard, but satisfying work, and it gave me a chance to readjust to the world after being “elsewhere” for eight years.
To satisfy my community service, I started giving talks. This led me to realize my true passion in life, sharing what I had learned in my life with others. I gave hundreds of talks to any group that would listen, honing my skills, and building a reputation as a speaker.
As my audiences continued to expand into different areas of life and professions, it once again became
clear that even though so many of us are in diverse fields, the same common thinking errors continue to appear.
In fact, I had the opportunity in 2010 to speak in both Europe and South America. What I found most interesting in both locations was what was on the peoples’ minds—concern for their kids and how to address entitlement issues with them. Sound familiar? There’s a universal theme today to the thinking errors I’ve shared in this article.
Because I have experienced poor ethical decision making on so many levels in my own life, it’s important to me to give my audiences a heads-up on not only the detection, but also the prevention of these dilemmas.
Avoiding Poor Decision Making
Now that I’ve identified these thinking errors, let’s talk about thinking skills that can help assure us of making the right call when faced with an ethical quagmire. There are any number of systems for decision processing, but the most effective and easiest one for me to remember and utilize was developed by my favorite author, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.
Dr. Peale outlined these three basic decision-making steps: 1. Is this decision I’m considering legal? Obviously for me, if
I’d implemented this system in the first place, I would not have gone on to do the things I did. 2. Is the decision I’m considering going to be a win-win for all parties concerned? There should not be “winners and losers.” Everyone is treated evenly and fairly. 3. How will I feel about myself in making this decision? In my own life, I equate it to asking myself how my two sons would perceive me after this decision. Will they be proud or ashamed? Basically this is thinking outside our own universe and taking into consideration the impact on our loved ones.
Hopefully these ideas will resonate with you, your loved ones, your friends, and your coworkers and give you a common ground to discuss your own individual challenges with each other and how to avoid falling into these traps.
Remember, we are exactly where we are in life today due to every decision we’ve ever made. Hone your personal decision-making skills and, just as important, teach these skills to your children.
PATRICK KUHSE is an internationally recognized authority on business ethics and critical decision-making skills. He has given over 1,500 presentations to such diverse groups as businesses, major universities, international business associations, law enforcement agencies, government forums, and civic groups. Kuhse serves as an appointed Ethics Fellow for the Poe Center for Business Ethics at the Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, and the Institute for Executive Education at Suffolk University in Boston. His website is www.speakingofethics. com. Kuhse can be reached at 619-981-1911 or via email at patrick@speakingofethics.com.
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