Leaders lead, of course, but what does that look like? What do successful leaders do? At the University of Florida (UF) and the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), we’re looking at ways to improve LP/AP outcomes by enhancing decision-maker awareness and action tools. We’re also looking at how good leaders take in information, process it, and then make action decisions. Scanning leadership and management research shows some key behaviors. So leaders lead by:
- Focusing on supporting the overall organization’s mission and objectives.
- Carefully mapping out their strategies and how each program component specifically supports success.
- Setting high but realistic expectations for a results-oriented culture.
- Training subordinate leaders in why and how to specifically achieve success in their areas.
- Monitoring key performance metrics with subordinates and other leaders.
- Relentlessly facilitating personal and professional development including establishing a “learning agility” culture.
- Constantly coordinating with all company leaders in all parts of the organization.
- Accepting mistakes, doing after-action discussions, refocusing, and moving on.
In a learning agility culture, team members:
- Seek, encourage, and reward learning.
- Lead by example.
- Absorb books, articles, conference sessions, webinars, courses, and degrees, and take some occasional, quiet reflection time.
- Engage with internal and external colleagues whenever possible.
This list isn’t all-inclusive of course, but hopefully it gets some of us motivated to inspire, teach, and make it happen.
LPRC Board of Advisors
Speaking of leaders, the LPRC not only was founded by LP/AP executives, but also is shaped and steered by LP executives. LPRC has always been a blend of real-world, practical experience with more rigorous trialing and measuring of solutions. A full-time staff operates the overall LPRC, but the executives listed here make up the organization’s board of advisors (BOA).
The BOA is composed of retailer, solution partner, product manufacturer, and industry leaders, and all have LP expertise and passion. Thank you to these executives that regularly meet by phone and in person to shape and drive the LPRC and evidence-based LP/AP.
- Brian Bazer, AVP of AP & Risk Management, dressbarn/Ascena Group
- Bobby Bull, VP, P1/CCI
- Erik Buttlar, Senior Director AP, Best Buy
- John Doggette, Director of LP Merchandise Shrink Solutions & Analytics, Lowe’s
- Scott Draher, VP of LP, Lowe’s
- Dan Geiger, Senior Director of Field Operations, Target
- Julie Giblin, VP of LP, ULTA Beauty
- Paul Jaeckle, Senior Director of AP Strategy and Solution Design, Walmart
- Emy Johnson, Director, Theft & Fraud Ops, Assets, Protection, Target
- Mike Lamb, VP of AP and Safety, Walmart
- Kevin Larson, Senior Manager, LP Operations, Kroger
- Steve Longo, VP Strategic Initiatives, CAP Index
- David Lund, VP of LP, DICK’s Sporting Goods
- Chad McIntosh, VP of LP & Risk Management, Bloomingdale’s
- Krista Monnin, North America On-Shelf Availability Leader, Procter & Gamble
- Rick Peck, SVP, TJX Companies
- Barry Poole, Director, Broker Sales Division, Mead Johnson
- Perry Resnick, DVP of AP, REI
- John Roberts, Director of Inventory Control, Michaels
- Mark Robinson, Executive Director AP, Toys“R”Us
- Steve Scott, VP of Loss Prevention, Tractor Supply
- Byron Smith, Corporate AP Manager, 7-Eleven
- Scott Springer, Director of LP, Michaels
- William Titus, Managing Director, Titus Consulting
- Jack Trlica, Managing Editor, LP Magazine
- Kevin Valentine, SVP of Internal Audit, LP & ERM, Signet Jewelers
- John Voytilla, VP of Global LP & Safety, Office Depot
- Dennis Wamsley, Director of LP & Safety, Publix Super Markets
- Matthew Yanoschik, AP Analytics Manager, Meijer
- Scott Ziter, Director of AP, Price Chopper
Busy Year
LPRC was originally set up to carry out one research project per year. During his tenure as the LPRC BOA chair, Bill Titus requested we expand our productivity to four annual projects. Since that time, the LPRC team has been steadily increasing annual output. In 2016, we generated twenty-three research study findings for members, including:
- BBAT Shrink Reporting Benchmark Analysis, Griffin, Giblin, and Hayes, 2016
- Consequence Phrasing, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- DAWG Shrink Metrics Sheet, Grottini, Lin, and Hayes, 2016
- Employee Theft Survey Brief, Lin and Hayes, 2016
- ePVM Matrix Meta Analysis, Giblin, Grottini, and Hayes, 2016
- Face-Detecting ePVM Report, Lin, Giblin, and Hayes, 2016
- LNL Mat Short Report, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- LPRC Violent Crime Benchmark, Hayes and Johns, 2016
- Mid-Size Box Format ePVM Report, Giblin, Griffin, and Hayes, 2016
- Olay Fixture Retailer Feedback Short Report, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- Paige Electric Label, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- Parking Lot Safety Study, Lin and Hayes, 2016
- Point of Sale Activation Short Report, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- RFWG 2015 Credit Card EMV Benchmarking Survey, Lin and Hayes, 2016
- RFWG Gift Card Fraud Benchmarking Study, Lin and Hayes, 2016
- Robbery Impact Analysis, Lin and Hayes, 2016
- SCPWG Safety White Paper, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- Signage UHD DNA Short Report, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- Snaptagg Offender Report, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- SRAT ALL-STAR White Paper, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- USS Mix Tag Full Report Final, Giblin and Hayes, 2016
- Violent Crime-Parking Lot Crime Survey Report, Scicchitano and Hayes, 2016
- Online Fence Awareness Survey Report, Lin and Hayes, 2016
By the way, the LPRC’s keyword-searchable Knowledge Center contains over 300 PDF-format research reports on a wide variety of topics and hundreds of video clips and other LP decision-support resources.
2017 Impact Conference
Please plan and budget for yourself and your team to participate in the Impact Conference experience. Last year’s group was a record-breaking 300 strong, and we hope to work with even more of you all next October 2 to 4 at UF as we expand the Learning Labs, experience a new “zones zone,” review over twenty new LP research studies, and much more.
Recommended Reading
Place Matters: Criminology for the Twenty-First Century by David Weisburd and others provides a concise look at how motivated offenders are tightly coupled to specific locations for meaningful reasons, meaning crime is highly clustered in specific spots. And those reasons lead to focused protective actions.
As always, our UF and LPRC teams are working to support you, so please let me know your thoughts and suggestions via our website at lpresearch.org, on LinkedIn, or at rhayes (at) lpresearch (dot) org.