“Knowledge dispels fear.”
Area Head of Security, Middle East, a multinational FMCG corporation (2015 to 2017).
“We had business operations across thirteen Middle East markets. With commercial teams deployed in every country, manufacturing operations in some and an extended supply chain that linked the Middle East to operations in both Europe and Africa, there were frequent opportunities for disruption, both real and perceived.”
“Darren was based in Beirut, looking after six markets that we grouped as Levant and Yemen. However, many scenarios reach across the arbitrary boundaries that businesses define, so Darren’s deep regional experience was an invaluable asset. Problems exist in different contexts, and staff of different backgrounds can have different cultural perceptions of threat and risk. How they relate to situations, how they may under- or over-react, and the factors that trigger their awareness and concerns: all of this was key. Darren helped us to understand the different views of challenges, helping to shape the messages that we used to engage personnel, and his insights helped us to identify and anticipate the real issues.”
“We were able to build better, more trusted relationships with teams of different backgrounds who worked in different markets. It would be easy to be fearful or over-confident. Understanding context meant we could adapt our security programme to be better aligned for each condition, reducing concern and enabling more confident operations. Further, when there was a real incident that warranted real concern, we could navigate the situation more confidently and avoid inflicting unnecessary disruption on our operations.”
“Knowledge dispels fear. Working to understand the environment, not just from a geopolitical perspective but from a cultural perspective, is a very effective strategy. Doing it well builds confidence among teams and allows a business to maintain operational continuity when others would simply cease in the face of an uncertainty they cannot understand.”