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In the startup-infused culture of workplaces today, it is likely for managers to find themselves responsible for new teams that have never worked together. The members will likely have a variety of backgrounds. No matter, the goal is the same: to get everyone working together as effectively as possible, as soon as possible. Here’s how.

“Always work to improve your capabilities and impact, build relationships, and perform. But never make it all about you—never. Good people doing good things tend to get recognized and promoted, but almost never overnight. Be patient.”

At Meijer, we are dedicated to enriching lives in the communities we serve. Fulfilling this goal begins with a focus on serving people—in the workplace, in our stores, and in our communities. Our approach to diversity and inclusion, as well as asset protection, impacts our ability to deliver on this goal.

LPM recently sat down with the NASP leadership team and members of their advisory committee to understand the current climate in the US around shoplifting, the impact of criminal justice reform, and the resulting need for a paradigm shift in our collective response as an industry.

How much of our shrinkage number is due to theft? How do you answer this question? Educated guess? Based on indicative feedback? Through deep data analysis? The “go to” tool to understand the answer to these questions, and move shrinkage from unknown into known shrink, is often the incident reporting tool.

As we move into a new decade of the 2020s, the magazine is looking forward to not only continuing our editorial focus on “all things asset protection” as we say in our masthead tag line, but also expanding our editorial as the scope of loss prevention and retail evolves.

“Successful business relationships are built on mutual respect and developed over time. It takes effort from both parties to maintain them. As in any relationship, trust is earned—and if you lose it, you’ll likely never get it back.”

Technology is not here to eliminate us; it’s here to make our jobs and lives easier. Retail will continue to evolve with technology. As retailers, our responsibility is to focus our efforts on improving the customer experience using the new tools at our disposal.

Sandy Kennedy, president and CEO of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), retired effective December 31, 2019. During her seventeen-year tenure, the industry has changed dramatically. Kennedy shared her thoughts with LP Magazine on the retail industry, RILA as it stands today, and the asset protection profession.

The national news has been filled with stories about the demise of brick-and-mortar retailers, but such closures are part of a natural evolution of...