Magazine

"It was extremely refreshing to think about things from a process and operationally driven organization and see how I could apply some of the leadership skills that I had acquired in asset protection to the operations side of the game." - Paul Jaeckle, LPC

As the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail celebrates its tenth anniversary, perhaps an apt metaphor for CLEAR entering its second decade is a child on the precipice of adolescence—still hopeful, not without challenges, and hitting a growth spurt. In just the last year, CLEAR has doubled in size.

At a recent ECR meeting in Madrid, the working group of fifty-plus retailers set about answering the same question: where does loss prevention see itself in 2025? This article summarises how these retailers saw the future, but the real point of this discussion is to act as a prompt for you and your team to find your own responses to the question.

In this follow-up to the 2019 Loss Prevention Survey “The New Generation of Loss Prevention: Are We on The Same Page?”, we look to further digest and interpret the industry response. As part of this process, we felt it vital to hear the voice of industry leadership, including how today’s leaders reacted and responded to the results.

Jay Mealing is the typical Walmart Cinderella story. He started in the Garden Center as an hourly associate in 1990 at a store in Columbia, South Carolina. Almost 30 years later, he is senior director of global security for Walmart International. Not bad for a country boy from South Carolina. Read his story.

“Becoming a leader takes a special skill set. It’s more than just managing the team. You need to know how to treat people—leading by example, taking ownership and responsibility for your actions, and being an effective communicator and a good listener. This approach will make people want to work with you rather than just for you.”

"Let me get this straight. You’re asking us to spend over $3 on a tag with a scary warning label and glass vials filled with indelible dye. If a shoplifter tries to remove it without the right detacher, the vials will explode, and the dye will ruin the garment. You’ve got to be kidding!” LP executive [circa 1990]

Millennials don't won't to work hard, have short attention spans, don't want to be managed, don't care about long-term careers, want more money than they're worth. True or false? Here are the fourteen most common myths about the millennial generation’s attitude toward work and career.

“As a fourth-generation retailer, I have retail in my DNA. And of all the retail functions, I have always admired how LP professionals share the strongest collaborations. Together, they’re committed to improving the safety of the stores, reducing total retail loss, and adding value to their companies."