EPS 37 Security Is a Human Business Leadership Risk and Resilience Lee Oughton

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Welcome to Security Checkpoint, where security professionals gather insights to navigate the dynamic and ever-evolving world of physical and cybersecurity. I'm your host, and today I have the unique pleasure to, to have Lee Auten, Executive Vice President of Global Support at Concentric, with deep experience in security risk crisis management, executive protection, and strategic leadership, Lee has built a reputation for combining operational expertise with a strong human-centric leadership. We'll talk a lot more about that. And Lee, it's a pleasure to have you. Thanks for joining us today. How are you? It's been a minute. We chatted a little bit before this, but man, it's great to see you.

It's great to see you too, Tino. And it has been a minute. I think the last time we were together was actually a year ago, right, in Mexico City at the ASIS LATAM conference.

That's right. That was a pretty good event. And, you know, we always talked about the impact that people have professionally when you get together with other professionals and start learning from everyone. That was a pretty good event. And yeah, so, well, glad that you're here. And I'd like to start from the beginning. us back. What was first— what was it that first pulled you into the industry? I think, you know, you're a very well-known guy, but I'm sure people still maybe don't know that part of your story.

Yeah, fantastic question, Tino. And it's probably not as exciting as everyone thinks, but literally I got to a point in my career in the army, in the British Army, the Royal Engineers, where, um, there were some contracting opportunities, um, in Iraq. And basically I looked at these, uh, you know, private contracting opportunities, I looked at the money that I was earning in the army, and then I looked at what I could earn, and it was a no-brainer for me. So it wasn't really what I would say like this really cool story. It was pure and simple based on finances, and that's how I did it. So I took the opportunity. I did 10 beautiful years, um, in the army, in the Royal Engineers. I loved it. Um, it was my life, uh, it was my family. So you can imagine the last day walking out the gates was extremely scary. Um, I thought my life was over. I didn't really know what I was going into, and I left, uh, on the 6th of December, 2006. And the 26th of December, 2006, I landed in Basra Palace in Iraq to start my private security career in contracting. So technically, that was my first day in the security industry.

Wow. So, but from that beginning, here you are in LATAM living. You are currently where?

So I live in Querétaro, Mexico. And as you say, yeah, it's been an amazing journey where I've done so many wonderful, wonderful things. I've met so many fantastic people. Many of those who have influenced my career have been fantastic mentors. And really, I've just leaned into everything. And I'm one of these people that just is extremely curious. I want to absorb as much information as possible. And of course, you know, I would be lying if I didn't say that I benefited out of that individually, but my focus has always been putting others before myself. And that's what I continue to do to this day.

And it's, you know what, to me it's very palpable when you're around other folks. We've been around a few events. New Orleans was another one that we— and people gravitate towards that energy.

Right? Yeah.

It's not so much— I think that's— I think I've never not seen you smiling. And that genuinely attracts people. And in security, it's an industry that usually is a bit more— not so much that it's not formal or you're not formal, but you're very engaging. And I think that that's a part of your success. You work across complex and highly pressured environments. starting with your private contractor. How does that early experiences kind of shape the leader you are today?

Yeah, great. I actually think that a lot of the hard skills that I learned in the army, I was able to bring them across with me. And again, that then allowed me to shape my future and what that looked like. Specifically how I presented and positioned myself in every situation, every conversation. You mentioned my smile, you mentioned my energy. I am extremely positive, I'm always smiling, and a lot of times I'm using that smile to disarm people because I think also when I smile, that genuinely attracts you straight away, like, hey, what's that individual smiling for? And then You resonate towards me and you want to have a conversation. So I always say to people, like, always have a smile on your face, even if you're going through challenging times. Um, and if you go back to when I moved from the army into private contracting in Iraq, of course I was thrown into the deep end. Um, I think on the first day in Basra Palace, uh, we received 80 rockets, um, uh, attack on the palace. So we were right, right in the thick of it. And again, when you then went outside of the palace, outside of the compound, and you were in the streets of Basra, you are basically coming face to face with the local population. Some love you, some don't. And again, I always use my smile to be able to position myself in those conversations Softly. Um, I never had what I would call an angry, a negative face, or come at someone with, with hatred. Because if you think about that, someone will put a wall up straight away. They'll be defensive, or they'll respond in, in aggression to your aggression. So again, for me, I always advise people, always have that smile on your face because that gives you a great approach. That disarms someone straight away. and you'll get the mood, you'll get the environment that you want. You want it to be conducive, right? You want to be able to openly communicate and get across the message that you want to share and also allow that person or those persons to feel comfortable to be able to share freely what they want to as well.

Absolutely. I think most of your leadership style is based on human-centric leadership. So expand a little bit. What does that mean in practical terms inside a security organization?

Yeah, fantastic question. So we're in a very hardened industry, and I think the walls are already built up before you're even able to have those conversations, what I was telling you about earlier. So I've always had this fascination for human-centric leadership, and I always look at what I call the human side of security. At the end of the day, it's humans all around the world that are what I call the fundamental and the key piece of security. We always look at processes, procedures, asset management, and so on, but it's the humans that create the errors in the first place. So I always say, like, why are you not talking to the humans? Why are you not understanding what those humans need? Because again, In business and anything that we do in life, if you don't know what your teammates or your employees are doing at home, how do you know how they're going to show up in the workplace? So human-centric leadership is built up on pillars. It's about communication, it's about curiosity, it's about caring, and it's about empowering those conversations so that everybody can be open, forward-thinking, proactive, even in events where you might have challenging conversations. I always say to people, set the table prior to that conversation. A lot of people go into conversations cold, and then all of a sudden it becomes very heated. Because you haven't prepared accordingly. So a lot of times when I do go into what may be a challenging conversation, I will send someone, what is the purpose of that meeting and what do we really want to achieve? Because that then allows that person to have a look at it and go, right, this is where the conversation is intending to go. Do I agree with that or is it something else I would like to say? So again, you're, you're affording them an opportunity to say something even before the meeting. And again, everything that I do, especially in human-centric leadership, is always set by curiosity. I always want people to ask questions like, why? But not in an annoying way, but through a curious lens, as in to say, why do we do it that way? We do it this way Because this is the result that we're looking to achieve. However, if you have a different idea, if you think that we need to achieve a different objective, let's talk about it now. I may have this fancy job title, but as far as I'm concerned, I want all of my teammates to sit around the table and we openly discuss what we're looking to do, what we're looking to achieve, what is, what is the objective. A lot of companies have mission statements, they have visions, right? And they have goals, but they never really sit down and say, well, how are we going to achieve that goal? What do we need to do to meet that number? You know, we want to hit a target of half a billion dollars this year. Okay, great. But then you keep hearing this every time on a meeting, on a strategic conversation with executives. For me, I want to ask a curious question. That's brilliant, and I'm on this train with you, and I will support you, and we will get there. But how do we get there? What do we need to do? Well, we need to get more business. Okay, that's great. That's pretty obvious. But how are we going to get that business? Who are we going to speak to? How are we going to do that strategically? What do we need to do? To get those conversations, to also empower those people that we're trying to get business from to say yes, we would love to do additional business with you. But I also again, it's coming back to the human-centric part of it is whilst I talk a lot, I'm also a very active and acute listener. So pretty much every conversation I go onto, I might do a quick five-minute intro. But I want you to talk. I want to listen to you. I want to hear what you have to say. Again, we're in this fractured world right now where we're basing an opinion on someone, on who they vote for. And if they vote for someone opposing to us, supposedly we don't like them. Supposedly because they believe in something else, we can't be friends. I don't do that with anybody, right? I don't base anybody on first impressions. I give everybody an opportunity. I give everybody a second chance. And that's why whatever I want, however I want to be treated, however I want to be spoken to, I do this with others. But I'm very curious, inquisitive. A lot of people sometimes say, hey, can you shut that off, Lee? You know, even when you're quiet, we can even hear you thinking. So I have to be very conscious of that. You mentioned my energy. Whilst it's amazing having so many people around you and being able to attract crowds, but sometimes I recognize that my energy might be too big for a certain occasion, and I have to learn how to turn that down to make sure that others that are in that room get the opportunity to be heard. So that's another thing that I focus on, on human-centric leadership, is making sure that others are heard before you.

You know, you're building and scaling security programs and businesses. There is always going to be— nothing is perfect. So what are the biggest lessons you've learned from your journey so far?

Yeah, great questions. I think, again, it's asking questions. Again, What are you looking to build in that program? Obviously, in this role that I have now as EVP Global Support with Concentric, yes, of course, I'm biased towards Concentric because we're a brilliant company, we're a thriving company, we're growing rapidly around the world, and we're becoming partner of choice to a lot of customers. But again, I would say that success is down to the great leadership that we've got, the great account managers, The people that really count, the boots on the ground, those guys and girls that deliver a fantastic service on behalf of us. So those are the lessons, those are the real lessons that I've learned, is looking after your people that are at ground level, looking after those guys and girls that are delivering for you. When I owned my own companies, that was so important for me. Because at the end of the day, if you don't have the buy-in, the support, or you haven't created an environment for people to thrive, your business will fail. The programs that we support, the programs that we build, you know, we have to get to ground level. A lot of times we're speaking to executives, a lot of times we're speaking to CEOs about their threat risks and vulnerabilities and what the associated consequences could be to them. But are you speaking to their carers? Are you speaking to the cleaner, the cook, the executive assistant? Are you asking them strategic questions? We often talk about their digital profiles. You evaluate what is the CEO and his wife doing, but at the end of the day, they are most vulnerable through their children because a lot of time You know, people, I would say, maybe in their 40s or 50s or older, they're not extremely active on, you know, social media. But guess who is? You know, their children, you know, the next generation down.

Yeah.

So for me, it's more important to be talking to them. And again, as a father of 2 beautiful children, I have those skills and those ability to be able to connect with the younger generation, ask them the right question, you know, speak the, the right language that I'm then going to get an answer or reaction out of. So I think a lot of security professionals miss those parts, but I'd like to think that myself as an individual, um, and, you know, Concentrix specifically I work with, you know, we look at all of those elements, um, because Those are the things that I've learned where we've failed, where I've made mistakes, where I've made errors in the past. And again, those have been great learning and growth moments for me where I've been able to recognize, ah, that's what I did wrong. That was the point where we started going down the wrong road. And I think as most of us know that are in executive leadership that have had great and strong careers, you know, those failings and mistakes have made us better, right? They've made us more resilient, they've made us more understanding. Empathetic, I think, is a key word too, and that's what I don't do to my team is I don't ridicule them if they make mistakes. I sit down with them, you know, we talk it through, like, and we say, like, things like, at what point do you think you know, we created this issue. Or again, if my teams make mistakes, I don't let them dwell on it. I then say to them, hey, it's been done. How can we create a better outcome? You now have the opportunity to move through this. You've been accountable, you've taken responsibility, you've apologised. Now move forward. How do we create the best outcome possible?

You know, you mentioned something that I think is very key and is putting yourself in the position of others, right? And also, you know, understanding the risks that come with, you know, protecting someone or understanding how to protect someone, understanding that risk. You have now a global role, but your focus has been LATAM. What are the— Key risks, realities that organizations or individuals should be, should understand specifically in the market like LATAM. It's been a lot of movement here recently. We have this attack in the pyramids, which is almost unheard of in Mexico. Yeah, it's very tragic to see that with no, there's no preparedness because such a situation has never existed. Right. Uh, it's illegal to carry a firearm in Mexico, as far as I, I know. But, um, what are those, those, you know, specifically in this situation? I'm not sure how much awareness you have about the situation, but what, what, what are the lessons learned from that particular moment in time?

Yeah, thank you for asking that, Tino. And, and, and extremely tragic. And, and, and my heart goes out to, um, Nada. I think there was at least one person that was killed, uh, in that attack. And numerous other people were wounded. Me as an individual, I am emotionally invested in that because I live in Mexico. I call myself an adopted Mexican and half Mexican, really. I've been to the pyramids many times in Teotihuacan. I've taken many clients there. We've had some absolutely beautiful and sensational days. I usually finish. That tour of the pyramids in a beautiful underground cave restaurant called La Gruta, um, which is at the rear of the, the pyramids, um, which is just fantastic. So it really saddens me that an attack, um, like this occurred. Uh, as you mentioned, one thing that I would say, and I don't like to point fingers, you know, what we should be doing is How can we avoid an attack like this or a situation like this occurring again? I try to remember back the times that I've gone in and out of, you know, the entrance of the pyramids. I can't remember being searched, you know, patted down. I can't remember my bags being inspected. So those clearly are first points that need to be repaired and looked at. My advice would be that an assessment does need to be made holistically. Of course, it is a tourist location and you're going there for an experience. You want to feel comfortable. You want to have a wonderful time, but to be able to have a wonderful time, we need to avoid tragic events like this. And again, you have to look at, you know, how long did it take to react to that event as well? And again, what could be put in place To mitigate, you know, an event like this again, whilst at the same time still being able to create an environment where people are happy, where people are enjoying themselves, where people are absorbing the beautiful history of what Toitihuacan and the surrounding area is. So yeah, it was it really hit me hard. I, you know, I pray and I hope that we don't have an event like this. Um, I will say that an event like that is not normal. Um, you know, yes, um, we have, you know, activity, you know, with cartels and criminal syndicates ongoing in Mexico. Um, and, you know, that is known all over the world. Uh, the media is, is, you know, It does a great job in trying to communicate, you know, what's going on there. But I do want to repeat myself that this is not an event that normally occurs. You know, this is not the normal situation. So I don't want to fearmonger. You know, I want to say that Mexico is a safe place. It's open for business. And I know that the Mexican authorities. We'll look into this. We'll work hard, you know, to try and make sure that an event like this, you know, doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, globally as well, right now, the whole world seems to be fractured. You know, whilst as a, you know, security and risk management, crisis management, global assistance company, you know, we do do very well, you know, in these times, you know, a lot of us. You know, we're still emotionally invested. A lot of us are still parents, you know, husbands, wives. You know, we're still humans as well. So we do have feelings. But a lot of times is when we are in a crisis management event, we need to try and remove, you know, the emotional aspects of us and try and stay plugged in and focused to the situation that is unfolding. in front of us, especially if you think about on the global assistance side of the business, where we're dealing with evacuations, crisis events. It's very hard. A lot of people are going through very traumatic, stress-filled, and tragic events. So a lot of our advisors' teams Are very good. Again, I used the word right back in the beginning of disarming someone. So we have to do that. So we have to be in tune with them psychologically, thinking, putting ourselves in their shoes and trying to understand what must they be going through right now to reassure them that they're going to be okay. We're here to help. We're here to care for them. You know, and at the end of the day, any of us that are in the security industry, we're protectors at heart. We want to save lives. I think if I look back when I left the army, that was probably, apart from the financial aspect, that was the main reason why, again, I transitioned over into the private sector because I've always been a protector all my life and I wanted to continue that. I don't class this as a job, what I do, right? This is my lifestyle. This is my passion. This is what I love to do. And I love to step up to the plate for others to look after them and make sure they're okay. But coming around full circle again, yeah, the world is in a fractured place. And we, or me as an individual and we as the collective, we're trying to give our best. We're trying to look after organizations and give them the best advice. that we can. I think you asked previously, or it might have been in a second piece to this question, a lot of those threats happen digitally now, right? That's where you can really get caught out. I'd say like physical risks, we are very well prepared. We have a lot of mitigating measures in place. to try and stop those incidents, events, or attacks happening. However, digitally, we're very vulnerable. A lot of individuals and a lot of organizations are not as well prepared as they should be on that front. And again, myself and, and the company, we're in a great position to, to try and help those people and advise them. Again, what foundations that they should start building. And again, it's development. Yeah, we have to be proactive. It's not just a one fix fixes all.

Right.

Again, it's continuously moving forward, developing, transforming, and looking at new ways. Because guess what? The criminals are always trying to find new ways that they can get at you. So We in this business, we need to stay one step ahead. We need to employ extremely clever people, certainly cleverer than me. I'm blessed to be able to work with such a talented team, and a lot of times I definitely feel like I am the dumbest person in the room with some of these fantastically talented people who are doing some extremely wonderful services to giving them to our clients. So yeah, I hope that answered everything that you wanted to hear.

Yeah, and you know what, you touched on a very important point. It's a fractured world, it's a fast-moving technological time. You know, for the longest time we talk about physical and cybersecurity and the convergence, but the reality is with AI Things have shifted tremendously, right? You're talking about risk online with fake videos and disinformation. How do you see that convergence? And of course, AI, we're past the convergence, I feel like.

Yeah. Oh yeah, we've definitely gone past convergence.

Yeah. So with AI and the fast-moving agentic AI, How do you see that changing the role of the security leader?

Yeah, so we have definitely adopted AI at Concentric, and a lot of things that we do is that, yes, the humans are the talent and the humans decipher the information and analyze it. But again, AI can be a great tool to help you get to somewhere quicker. Then it's then the humans that then insert themselves into that information and look at it and say, is that correct? How do we then utilize that information to remedy certain situations that we have? Um, on the other side, as, as you mentioned just a minute ago, AI is being used as a weapon, and many people are weaponizing it to disinformation, fake information, fake news, as a certain person uses all the time around the world. There's a lot of it. And because AI is so good, guess what? It looks so real. So you have to really study those videos, those pictures extremely well to make sure that If you're using that, that that is the correct information that you're putting out there. So again, you know, me as an individual that's got a lot of experience and the great teams that we've got and the great tools that we've got within the business, we're at yeah, we're able to find out is that actually real. So again, in in the intelligence world, you know, there's a lot of open source OSINT. You know, now what we use a lot is is human. So You know, human intelligence personnel on the ground. So I think you know in the past cameras can be moved in different angles to make it look like there's actually more people there, or the situation is worse than what you know it truly is. What we would then do is get on a phone, get on the phone to a specific person that we know. Is either at that event or in the area to verify what is going on. So whilst again, as a business, we've adopted AI, we're refining it, we're creating new kind of AI systems ourselves, we also need to recognize that AI can be used by criminal actors and also people that are trying to influence minds, you know, to the detriment of others. So we really need to be extremely careful of how we use it, how we position it, and again, when we receive that information, of again, without repeating myself, is it actually factual and what do we need to do with it?

Absolutely. You know, for someone who's been in the industry for the time you've been, I've been you know, for a few years now. Uh, 20 years goes fast, right? And, uh, what, what's next? I mean, we, we're talking about AI, and it seems like to me this is the one thing, right?

But yeah.

Uh, so, so first, what's next? What do you see your focus in the next, let's say, 3 years? Uh, you know, as a professional, and maybe not so much as an organization, but as a professional and leader in the industry, what What do you feel in the next few years is going to be your focus?

Yeah, my focus is probably the same as what it's always been, is the people. I'm loving my role at Concentric. I love the teams that I work with. I love the people that I'm able to have conversations with every single day. I love to be there in a mentor role. I love to coach people. I love to guide. You know, where do I where do I want to keep going? Is I want to keep going on this journey. I feel that I'm extremely blessed to be afforded the opportunity that I have, not just at Concentric, but we know, for example, with the ASIS Foundation, where I sit on the board of trustees. I'm the chair of the fundraising and marketing committee. I want to raise as much money as possible so that I can create more scholarships, more grants. Um, you know, do more security research with my fantastic team that is supporting me, you know, to create better opportunities for others. Um, I'm now getting close to that magic 50 mark. Yes, yes, I said it. I am going to be 50 years old, um, in a year's time. And I believe that I'm in a place now where I've got the things that I love. What I want to do now is I want to share that. I want to give back. I want to, you know, nurture the next generation of leaders. I want to help them. I always train and coach people to take over me. People say, well, that means that you'll be out of a job. And I'm like, I don't think about it like that. I'm looking at like what's next for me. And how can I make the person under me even bigger and better? And you know, leaders out there that are listening to that is I would always encourage and invite you to do that. You should always get your team to be pushing you and challenging you positively. Get them hungry, get them tenacious, get them passionate just like you are. So for me. I've never changed. I never will change. I'll keep being who I am. I'll keep being the positive bundle of energy. Um, I love to give back. I want to continue to give back. I want to be there for the betterment of others. I want to create bigger and better opportunities for all. Um, you know, and let's just keep moving forward and doing great things. The security industry is a fantastic arena Um, you know, for thriving professionals. And those of you that are at university, um, at school deciding what career that you want to get into, I'd love to speak to you because I have nothing but great things to say about the security industry. Um, you know, as we mentioned right at the beginning, I was a soldier. I'm now sitting here with a fancy job title and as an executive, thriving, loving life. You know, you can get so much out of this, but a key, key point there is how much do you want to put in? Me, I wake up thinking about it, I go to sleep thinking about it. I really love what I do, um, and it's an honor, uh, to be able to serve others.

Well, you're a very generous guy. We make that an obvious point, so I appreciate you sharing. If someone wants to get in touch with you or wants to connect at a professional level, what's the best and easiest way to connect with you?

Well, it's difficult to connect with me on LinkedIn now because unfortunately I've hit the capped 30,000 connections, but you can—

Is it unfortunate or fortunate? Yeah, it's like, you know, we were earlier talking about this and it's like mind-blowing, 30,000. You know, for all the social media is one thing, but for a professional network, social media, it's impressive. So congratulations on that.

If not through LinkedIn, yeah, I mean, they could— they can, uh, send me an email. Um, you know, I'm happy to share my email, you know, through you, Tino, and, and you can share that out to, uh, interested parties. Uh, again, I'm always willing to talk to anyone and everyone. I love to, again, like I said already, share my experience and give guidance. So yeah, please feel free to come and follow me on LinkedIn. I want more followers on there, which sounds mad, but I really do because I hear so much goodness from people when they see my post. I get these really random messages sometimes where they say, Lee, we met you a couple of years ago. You know, I haven't spoken since then, but I just want you to know, like, I see every one of your posts and every one of your posts impacts me, and that feels really good to me. I'm not doing that to receive accolades or a medal around my neck or a pat on the back. I'm really doing it so if I can really just reach that one person and help you, you know, if you're having a a bad day, or even if you're having a good day, you know, just to remind you to keep your feet on the ground, you know, don't get too egotistical or arrogant or, you know, let your emotions run away from you. Like, always try and be that, that humble human, um, that is there to serve others. Again, you know, that's the mission that I continue to be on. And, and Tino, thank you so much to you for inviting me onto your show. It's been my absolute honor, my friend.

Thank you so much, Waleed. This has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you for sharing your journey, your leadership philosophy and perspective where security and, you know, someone not even in security can take that and really run with human-centered leadership resilience. Thank you again. I'm sure we'll connect somewhere, someplace around the world, right?

I hope so. Hopefully GSX this year.

Yeah, GSX. Yeah, absolutely. Of course. And for everyone turning in, thank you for joining us on this episode of Executive Checkpoint. Until next time, stay informed and stay secure, and we'll see you on the next Executive Checkpoint.