Keeping Your Edge: The Illusion

Keeping Your Edge: A Day in the Life

By Elijah Shaw

From the red carpets of the film festivals in Cannes, to providing services to attendees of the G7 Summit in the Bavarian Alps, Close Protection is an industry that can have you do, and see, some pretty amazing things.

The business will have you eating in five star restaurants, and staying in hotels under Egyptian cotton sheets with panoramic views. However, with all of this comes a dirty little secret in our business… Sometimes we let it go to our heads.

The fact about it is, just being in the immediate orbit of the ultra-wealthy has a halo effect, and that no matter if they are an executive exiting a Gulfstream, or a rockstar shopping in a fancy boutique, just being with them can make others treat you differently. The halo effect is actually quite common for members of the inner circle, who frequently enjoy perks that come as a result of being closely (or in some cases, loosely), associated with the VIP. The VIP might truly feel that members of their party should benefit from their status or successes. Alternatively, they might not think anything of it at all, as an all too common companion to reaching the pinnacle, is narcissism.

“ The VIP might truly feel that members of their party should benefit from their status or successes. Alternatively, they might not think anything of it at all, as an all too common companion to reaching the pinnacle, is narcissism. ”

Regardless, the entourage can have some of the glow rub off of them, just by proximity to power (i.e. success). In many cases, this might lead to an abuse of power by someone who is not used to it, or just does not understand the implications of misuse. For example the close friend of a singer, who abuses free meals at a restaurant even when the VIP is not present. Or more concerning, the associate of a tech giant, who thinks that sexual harassments does not apply to geniuses or their friends. And while readers of this might agree with every word, sometimes we can be quick to notice the faults in others, but be much slower to recognize the same in ourselves.

Try as we might to ignore it when presenting our “Alpha” image to clients and fellow protectors, we in the industry, can also fall victim to The Illusion. The belief that due to our proximity to the VIP, we are in effect VIP’s ourselves, and therefore entitled to more. That more is a sliding scale, and could be in relation to the general public, other members of the entourage, or even fellow Protectors. Just as an actor might rank himself as having more star power than another member of the cast, and therefore be entitled to more, we sometimes do the same, ranking ourselves against other agents, with one of the major factors being the prestige of our clients.

The fallacy in this type of thinking comes from the fact that we now judge our value by our clients, not by the job we do. We create a manufactured hierarchy in which popularity or net worth is the deciding factor in how other members of our own industry should feel about us. This is often displayed as arrogance, or standoffishness when in the presence of other protection professionals. Social circles, now become professional cliques, with the unwritten basis of membership being how many albums your client has sold, or blockbusters they have starred in.

Yet ultimately, the job we do is rooted in risk management and risk avoidance. While higher profile VIP’s might have a greater degree of risk, the fact that we think of ourselves as better than our peers who might not have a roster as prestigious is detrimental to the long term growth of the industry as a whole. On a macro level, this may turn off newcomers in the business, as they see the mantras of brotherhood as paper thin.

Meanwhile on a micro level, the fact that we start believing the illusion – than the client’s lifestyle is also our own, can work all the way up to the point where it doesn’t. It only takes one occasion for that VIP to look at what they might perceive as excess from their Protector, to remove him or her from the detail. Alternatively, if we get stuck in a pattern of “keeping up with the Joneses,” that becomes increasing harder to do, when Mr. Jones has a net worth that is astronomically larger than our own.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some clients who genuinely do not mind their agents enjoying some of the fruits of their labor. In the same vein, there are Protectors who absolutely have what could be perceived as an “elite” standing in the industry, and have been using that status to elevate others. The purpose here is to hold a mirror up, so that we can honestly look at ourselves and say, am I operating in the real world, or am I getting sucked into an illusion that could affect my performance at a critical moment?

Elijah Shaw is the National Director of the North American Bodyguard Association and the CEO of ICON Global, and International Executive Protection Consulting Firm. Elijah, who has been featured in international publications such as Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, and Portfolio, runs the ICON Academy, an EP Training Program specializing in Celebrity & VIP Protection. He also currently sits on the Board of Directors of Executive Security International (ESI), the United States oldest Executive Protection Training School. His books, An Introduction to Executive Protection & Touring & Introduction to Executive Protection 4th edition, cowritten by Dale L. June (USSS ret.), both hit the Amazon best sellers list, and are available now worldwide in print, digital and audiobook formats.

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