In security, your garden is your company, community, network, customers and everything around you.
In the novel Candide Voltaire wrote: “We must cultivate our garden.” I’ve used that passage many times throughout my life to ‘right’ myself. At its very core it suggests we occupy ourselves in our everyday lives, rather than on the things we can’t understand or change.
So just what does “cultivate your garden” mean in the security space? In security, your garden is your company, community, network, customers and everything around you. In the business management sense of the word, it means to nurture and work with your employees toward common goals. You have to be able to connect with your personnel, because they are in turn the connection to your customers. They have to know your philosophy and you and they have to live it and breathe it. Remember to talk to your staff regularly about what they hear about the company in the field and at meetings of groups-- don’t put down any one person or a suggestion they may have. If you do, chances are they won’t offer anything in the future and you could miss the boat on what a customer wants and needs. Don’t force your philosophy on employees with a “that’s just the way we do it” because that’s not good enough. You will never get any creativity from them with that attitude. Take stake in your business and work as a team in a positive manner, no matter what’s happening with the economy or other outside forces.
In the field and with customers, listen more than speak. Find out what their needs and concerns are, rather than just trying to ram products down their throats. Act in a consultative manner, even if you don’t expect to get the business, because when you can add value to your work as a professional you are in essence tilling the fields for the future.
My ‘garden’ is this magazine. My job is to cultivate the resources I have so I can provide you with information you can use to grow your business. In this issue, we have the resources you need to deploy video management for education customers, just like integrator Galaxy did at the University of Rhode Island (our cover), page 50, or the school security update starting on page 44. Also in this issue, we’ve got the scoop on optics and IP, page 36 and the lowdown on high-def as it applies to surveillance cameras, see page 64. Want the truth about video analytics? Check out the story on page 54. Don’t miss our exciting new products and product focus, starting on page 70, plus much more.
In security, we can all learn from the protagonist Voltaire and cultivate our gardens so our world is safer and more secure
Deborah O’Mara, editor
SECURITY Dealer & Integrator magazine
Did you Know?
Twitter has grown by over 700 percent in the last year alone. It’s quickly becoming THE most powerful marketing tool in history. – Randy Schrum, director of Strategic Accounts, Sales & Marketing Trainer, Twitter
Editorial Advisory Board Members:
George P. Gunning, USA Alarm Systems Inc.
Michael Horgan, H&S Protection Systems Inc. Alan Kruglak, Genesis Security Systems LLC
Richard A. Penney, VISCOM Systems
Adam C. Thermos LL.B., MA, Ph.D., Strategic Technology Group
