I know it’s officially the end of summer because I start missing my trips to the beach (yes, I’m a Florida Beach girl) and I know by how much I long for the school bell to ring again calling my pre-teen BACK TO SCHOOL!!
Anyways……..
As I sat in my beach chair this summer watching the surfers catch their waves, I started thinking about the principles of surfing. Granted, I don’t know what these are officially, but I feel like I made up some pretty good ones. More specifically, I was thinking about how these principles apply to loss prevention professionals navigating the treacherous waters of retail leadership….much like the surfer sitting on their board, scanning the horizon. That moment of stillness before ocean chaos comes crashing in – you get to decide: Ride the wave like a pro and earn your seat at the executive table or take a nose dive into the salty abyss wondering what you’ll run into.
Reading the Water
Watch a seasoned surfer and you’ll notice they don’t just paddle out and grab the first wave that comes along. They sit. They watch. They read the water like a business leader reads market conditions. The good ones can tell you which opportunity will be worth pursuing, sometimes before it even forms.
The best LP executives I know have that same intuitive sense about their organizations. They’re not just responding to shrink reports or reacting to the latest security trend. They’re watching for shifts in company strategy, budget cycle patterns, and departmental dynamics that create opportunities to position loss prevention as a strategic business partner.
Take the LP director who noticed her company’s push into omnichannel retail six months before the official announcement. While her peers focused on traditional store security, she was already building relationships with IT and operations. When the C-suite finally needed her expertise, she wasn’t scrambling to catch up. She was positioned perfectly to stand up easily when the circumstance presented itself.
Waiting on the Water
Here’s where the surfer analogy gets uncomfortable: surfers wait. Sometimes for hours. In a corporate environment where every meeting feels urgent, patience isn’t just undervalued, it’s often career suicide.
But here’s what I’ve learned covering this industry: the LP leaders who try to insert themselves into every business conversation exhaust their credibility and accomplish nothing meaningful. They’re burning through political capital, constantly pitching new programs, making themselves irrelevant because they mistake visibility for value.
The real players understand that timing is everything. They know when to hold back on budget requests until the CFO is in the right mindset, when to propose initiatives during strategic planning cycles, when to stay quiet while other departments struggle with problems that LP could solve.
Following the Rhythm of the Ocean
Corporate dynamics follow rhythms just like the ocean. The best LP professionals have learned to read these shifting conditions with intuitive understanding. They know that Q4 conversations differ from budget planning season, that new CEO transitions create different opportunities than established leadership, that economic pressures change how other departments view risk and investment.
I remember interviewing an LP executive who transformed his role during a major company restructuring. While other security leaders worried about budget cuts, he stepped back and studied the bigger picture. He noticed the company struggling with supply chain visibility and customer experience metrics. By repositioning his team’s analytical capabilities to support these broader business objectives, he didn’t just survive the restructuring. He emerged with expanded responsibility and a direct report relationship to the COO.
The Point of No Commitment
Surfers call it the “point of no commitment.” It’s that moment when you’ve paddled for a wave but can still back out. After that point, you’re committed whether you like it or not.
In corporate loss prevention, these moments happen constantly. The decision to champion a new technology investment. The choice to challenge another department’s strategy. The moment when you decide whether to support a risky business initiative or voice concerns that might label you as “difficult.”
The LP leaders who consistently advance their careers have developed an almost supernatural sense for these moments. They know when they have enough organizational support to move forward and when they need to build more coalition.
When Your Wave Comes
But here’s the thing about surfers: when their wave comes, they don’t hesitate. All that patience, all that careful observation is preparation for the moment when action becomes essential and delay means missing the opportunity entirely.
The same goes for exceptional loss prevention leadership. When the right business opportunity presents itself, when the perfect moment to propose a strategic initiative emerges, that’s when all the patience and preparation pay off.
I’ve watched LP directors become Chief Risk Officers because they recognized the right moment to expand their influence. I’ve seen security managers transform organizational cultures by waiting for exactly the right business cycle to demonstrate their strategic thinking. A fantastic example is Scott McBride of American Eagle, take a listen to my podcast with him for specific examples in, “Is it a Tank or a Farmer?”
Wait for Your Wave
Surfing teaches you to think in sets, not individual waves. In loss prevention leadership, this translates to thinking strategically about your career and your department’s evolution rather than just tactically about today’s security challenges.
The LP leaders who build real careers in this industry, who earn genuine respect from the C-suite, are the ones who learned early to play the long game. They understand that some organizational battles aren’t worth fighting because they distract from winning the bigger strategic positioning war.
Twenty years of covering this industry has taught me that the difference between good loss prevention professionals and great business leaders isn’t about security expertise. It’s about judgment. It’s about knowing when to engage and when to observe, when to lead and when to support.
The next time you’re facing a complex business challenge, try thinking like a surfer. Read the organizational conditions. Watch for the patterns. Wait for your wave.
When it comes, you’ll know.