Our Best Advice Q&A series continues with Steve Van Till, founder and chief executive officer for Brivo. Check out what he says is the best advice he’s ever heard, what he tells young security industry pros and whose voice carries the most weight in the sector.
Security Sales & Integration: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Steve Van Till: “The first time you thought about firing someone, that’s when you should have fired them.”
It may sound harsh at first, but ultimately, it’s kinder to the individual. They should be aware that their career is unlikely to take off from their current role within your organization. I’ve had people come up to me 10 years later and tell me it was the best thing that ever happened to them, even though it sucked at the time.
It’s also obviously better for your organization. It’s your job in management to make sure that everyone is a higher performer. Good managers can sense when it’s not going to work out, but many struggle with confronting the situation.
The alternative is that you agonize for months (or longer!) and finally make the move after a long and costly stretch of “bad fit.”
SSI: What advice would you give to those looking to achieve success in the security industry?
Van Till: Know the channel, grasshopper. Know the channel.
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?
Van Till: That person would have to be Lee Odess. More than anyone else, he is a voice for the future of the industry. He has advocated passionately for breaking with the past, expanded our collective horizons on what security can be and created a real community where none existed before.
His Access Control Executive Brief and Access Control Collective are just two of the forums where you can hear his vision and participate in the dialogue.
Click here to check out the entire Best Advice series!
