Mentors, vendors, and friends—now there is a group you don't often see having dinner together. But they do. More on them later, but first let me reminisce. Not long ago I was driving through rural Indiana back to my hometown. Perhaps some of you have heard of Marion, Indiana. We are known for automotive plants, high school basketball, breaded tenderloin sandwiches, and not making many changes. As I was driving into Marion I saw the General Motors plant that's been there fifty years. Then I drove past the basketball gym, but don't call it a "gym" to anyone in Marion.…

Do you remember getting many of these good wishes? Now, maybe if you were out on New Year 's Eve when the clock stuck midnight, people may have come up to you and wished you a Happy New Year. But, other than family, did you bump into many people the first few days of the year that wished you a Happy New Year? It seemed to me that everyone was pleased to wish me "Happy Holidays," but I rarely heard anyone wish me a Happy New Year, let alone a prosperous one. And I did not get one card that…

There are two things that are constant as we approach the holiday season. One is that all of retail is geared up to sell more merchandise. The other is that each of us will give a gift or get a gift. That's great news for everyone. Since selling merchandise is the business loss prevention professionals have chosen, getting or giving a gift is good stuff. Sir Winston Churchill is given credit for the following quote: "We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." I can't imagine another career, job, or profession that…

Sometimes in your job or life nothing seems to be working for you. You get upset, frustrated, angry, confused. Nothing you do or say seems to be right. Everything you touch turns to you know what. We all have these days and our own ways of trying to deal with these downers. Or at least we should have ways to step back when nothing seems to be working for us. Over the years I have witnessed many who have had that look of trouble. And sometimes I have looked in the mirror and seen someone with that same look. I…

Just coming off of a terrific celebration of the 4th of July and looking forward to Labor Day and the very special remembrances of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I realized that the month of August is without a national holiday. It's kind of a kicked back month of vacations, hot weather, and putting the kids back to school. My apologies to anyone who has a birthday or anniversary in August, but you have to dig deep to find special days set aside for August. Some of those I came up with are National Watermelon Day on the 3rd, Lefthanders…

If you were asked to review your calendar over the past six weeks and then write an article on what you have done, seen, and heard, could you do it? I took good notes and want to share from my calendar.   RILA—I attended the RILA LP conference in Orlando and here is what I observed and heard. There were several really outstanding presentations that are worthy of calling out. Tom Arigi and Suni Shamapande from Sears were spectacular. Their presentation was entitled "Prioritize or Lose: Loss Prevention 2011 and Beyond." From that title I thought about bringing my 3D…

This is a great time of the year. Just think of all the good things that happen each spring. For some the weather gets better, for some you have an hour in the daylight after work to spend outside, for some you get to begin executing new plans for the year, and for some it is just same old same old. Here at the magazine we have sounded off on the fact that we have been publishing for ten years. This is an important milestone for us, and we are proud and pleased of the achievement. We have so many…