We continue our Best Advice Q&A series with Drew Levine, chief operating officer, East, for Allied Universal. He shares the best advice he’s ever gotten, how he boosts security industry newcomers and the voices who echo in his mind most often.
Security Sales & Integration: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Drew Levine: I was blessed to work for my father, Murray Levine, from 1988 to 1996 and then as an advisor for an additional 25 years. He was an industry icon and a key executive in the building of The Wackenhut Corporation, which was one of the nation’s largest private security firms founded in 1954.
In that journey, there was one constant: tell the truth. It sounds so simple and I’m not suggesting our industry doesn’t tell the truth. However, the truth includes what you can do, what you can’t do, what it would take to accomplish something, what frontline workers need and should have – the list goes on.
His demand was simply telling the truth to whomever you are trying to influence. Whether that’s an employee struggling or facing an impossible ask or a customer or potential customer with high expectations tell the truth about what it will take to accomplish the ask.
SSI: What advice would you give to those looking to achieve success in the security industry?
Levine: Success is defined by each individual and their ambitions and desires. My view of the effort to achieve success comes with three principles. The first is effort. You must be willing to put the work in and not get outworked by your competitors or peers.
The second is supporting employees. Employees agree to work for a company and we owe them everything they signed up for and more. If employees are motivated, mentored, entrepreneurial and focused, you win.
Finally, third is servicing customers at the highest level. A customer signed a contract and put their name on a document. That fact is sometimes lost. A representative of a company staked their professional reputation on your service; living up to that commitment is critical to success.
SSI: If you could point to one person in the security industry and tell up and comers, “Make sure to listen to what they have to say,” whom would you pick and why?
Levine: That would be two people and a group of people. The first is Steve Jones, the global chairman and CEO of Allied Universal. It’s not because I work for him (although that doesn’t hurt); it’s because of what he’s built in a short amount of time comparatively to the overall age of the industry. The pace and depth which Allied Universal has grown is due to Steve’s energy, vision, passion, work ethic and commitment to employees and customers.
The second person is Ron Rabena, our chief client cfficer. Why Ron Rabena? Because as I mentioned above, if taking care of employees and customers is an art form, then Ron is Rembrandt. Everyday passion for employees and customers to be successful is what makes him tick.
Finally, any middle manager in your company. The truest and purest benchmark of your efforts to be successful will come from this demographic!
Click here to check out the entire Best Advice series!
