Category: Blog

Both bribery and corruption are terms we see in the newspaper every day. They have become so common that politicians not accused of it are rarer than the ones who are not, whether the accusations are true or not.

But what do they mean, really?

Bribery is a fairly straightforward term, in that it means to accept money or favours to influence, for example, a piece of legislation, the public opinion or a vote. The rules of what counts as bribery vary greatly from country to country. In many European countries, for example, only money or physical goods or gifts count as bribery. Things like dinners, donations or indirect favours don’t count. In some Asian countries, bribes are so common that it can be difficult, to, for example, see a surgeon without giving a sizeable donation first.

While most of us would agree that this is wrong, it is common practice in other parts of the world. The lines of what is a bribe and what isn’t are blurry and vary from case to case. That is part of the reason why corruption is so difficult to stop and sometimes even to spot.

Accusing others of being corrupt or taking bribes without providing evidence is a tool that is often used during elections and campaigns to drag the opponents through the mud. Hearing or reading such an accusation is hardly shocking anymore. At most it elicits a sigh and shake of the head rather than the outrage or indignation that one would expect. And, in fact, more often than not, these accusations are proven to be faulty as well. That is part of why we don’t take the accusations seriously anymore, albeit we should.

Corruption and bribery are serious offences that benefit very nearly nobody but the one giving and receiving the bribe. In many western countries, where we feel that ‘true’ corruption has been mostly eliminated, we no longer consider it a priority. In countries in South America corruption is running rampant and since, in comparison, the Western World is relatively corruption free, we look for other problems to solve.

Due to this blind spot we have inadvertently created ourselves, it is possible for true bribery to still take place. Just last year an EU official admitted to regularly taking dinner with lobbyists that had a less than vested interest in certain topics they were set to vote on. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that that did not ‘count’ as bribery, but that future votes would be looked at closely.

Art Collection Protection of course doesn’t refer to making sure nobody steals the kid’s drawings off the fridge-not that those aren’t precious too-but to the protection of valuable pieces of art. Generally the first two things that come to mind in this scenario are paintings and statues or busts.

While there are other forms of art, those two are certainly the most popular. They are also relatively easy to steal. With smaller pieces it is simply a question of pocketing the piece and leaving with it. With bigger paintings, sometimes the painting can be cut from the frame and taken away without it. Larger and especially heavier items are much more difficult to steal and hide, therefore protecting them is easier.

For easier to steal items, there is a variety of art security measures that can be taken. For paintings, it’s possible to lock them to the wall, like it’s often done in hotels. Small busts or statues can be put in display cases with alarms. In a similar way, larger paintings can be set up with an alarm that goes off when the frame is moved.

A far more simple method of art protection is, of course, to simply make sure that the surroundings of the art are secure as well. Simply storing art in a safe may not be much aesthetically, however it minimises risk of theft.

The same principle applies to a secure front door and window locks. Granted, most homes that have pricy art would already have fairly good security measures, however improving them can only be an advantage in the long run!

Generally, art is stolen in one of two situations. The first one, a robbery or a break-in means that the thieves need to break in to gain access to the house. The other one is a much more veiled threat to art security. In the second scenario the thief gains access without breaking in, for example through a party or a ruse. That makes accessing it much easier and reduces the risk involved in the theft. Surprisingly enough it is just as easy to defend against the second as the first. For the most part being very cautious about who is allowed into the house will go a long way. That may not always be easy with parties, however, asking unfamiliar faces about who they are there with will reduce the risk of sticky fingers significantly.

When we think of what special protection Board Members or CEO´s need, most of us will draw a blank. We’ve all been on some kind of board before … be it a club, school or anything like that, and usually that’s all there is to it.

However, that obviously can’t be compared to say, the CEO of Microsoft or BMW or Henkel or Google or Facebook or Daimler, it’s quite different. Personal security, bodyguards and armoured cars aside, there is another often forgotten about area of security and protection. While personal protection is obviously very important, from the viewpoint of the company, there is something else, just as important … the protection of confidential information, classified data and intellectual property.

So, when a big company draws up protection strategies for its corporate board members, or rather, has a security firm do so, this particular topic will feature rather heavily. After all, companies, especially in say, the technology sector have to trust their employees to treat their data smartly. Obviously, if an employee wasn’t trusted, they wouldn’t be allowed to advance to the position of Board member in the first place, however accidents happen.

Files get lost, briefcases are forgotten, and laptops are stolen. There is nothing anyone can do to completely eliminate any chance of that happening, after all, humans aren’t perfect, however they can make sure to minimize and contain the damage done by having a good protection strategy. Step one for that is to not let employees take home any kind of hardcopy of data, print-outs or anything like that.

For electronic data, the measures need to be a bit more sophisticated as it is much harder to prevent someone from carrying out, even accidentally, a file on their laptop. Company laptops and very sophisticated security services come into play here. The standard password protection has long since ceased to be enough. Nowadays, facial recognition, fingerprint scanners and voice pattern recognition systems are used to protect even the seemingly most mundane offices and computers in large corporate offices, as there is no such thing as too much security.

Employees will also be tested by metal scanners and bug devices before going into important and confidential meetings as corporate espionage is growing ever more sophisticated too, along with the protection devices and measures against it. The fake spy pen that makes for a nice laugh in a movie can be a threat to companies worth billions-though in the real world it wouldn’t be shaped like a pen of course.

A panic or safe room is something most of us only know from movies or what we imagine is located under the White House in Washington. That is, of course, most likely true. However, panic or safe rooms aren’t exclusive to the President of the United States of America. They serve a variety of purposes, the primary one revealed in the name itself ‘Safe Room’. Generally, it’s a safe-like room that can be locked from the inside only, for protection purposes. There are several variations of the theme, though the ones displayed in the media are usually fairly unrealistic. While it isn’t impossible to have, for example, a room that locks down completely on the press of a button, it is incredibly impractical. More common are underground rooms with one or two possible exits that are closed mechanically.

A good safe room will have necessary facilities, water and rations as well as a phone connection outside. Similar to a bunker, they can be used to protect oneself from threats like robbers, kidnappers, terrorists or the like. While they don’t come as standard equipment with most houses, they are certainly popular in certain circles, for example with politicians, celebrities, HNWI´s and UHNWI´s.

Large organisations like the U.N. have panic rooms too, in case of, for example, a terrorist attack, for the protection of the visitors. While the benefits of a safe room seem relatively self-explanatory, there are certainly drawbacks as well. First of all, the costs of having one installed, even if there is sufficient space, can be incredibly high, since it requires special planning permission, and resources.

Generally these rooms are built to be very sturdy and strong, able to withstand a theoretical attempted break-in. Ventilation, storage and facilities have to be planned and accounted for, upping the price of construction even further. In today’s day and age, this kind of bunker-like room is hardly necessary for an every-day home, panic rooms have a long history. During the Second World War, a variation of them, bunkers, were very, very common and used during bomb alarms. They were only used for short time stays until the alarm and immediate threat was over. As such, they were much simpler and often intended for use by several people at once.

Modern panic rooms can usually hold between one person and a family, as they are more built to last for time rather than space, for example until help arrives in the form of police. These rooms often have an actual safe in them as well so that small items of value can be taken to safety as well.

By now, most of us will know what SEO is and, at least roughly, how it works. Personal SEO isn’t as well-known or as popular, even though it is something that can and should be relevant to a great number of people.

We will all agree that maintaining a good reputation in the business world is key to a successful career and lucrative job. For many, that means not to post any drunk pictures on Facebook and to keep embarrassing posts to a minimum, however in today’s world that isn’t all there is to it anymore.

Positive storytelling, as it is called, is the art of reputation management on a personal level. The same way a company will try to gear its website and articles towards the best possible search engine placements, the same thing is possible on a more personal level and it should definitely be done.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone, but to younger people, people active in the IT sector, or any kind of leading personnel and managers as well as exposed people, this should be considered a functional skill. As we all know, as far as the internet is concerned, once something is out there, it’s out there forever, which means that we should not only avoid negative content to be spread, which essentially leads to a void of information, no, instead we should actively spread and confirm positive things.

If for no other reason, then because employers, more often than not, google potential employees before hiring them. Now, them finding nothing is still better than finding negative things, however in an ideal situation, the applicant’s reputation management skills will have allowed them to create a positive image that will reinforce the employers intent to hire them rather than not giving them anything at all.

After all, lack of information is also lack of positive things to find, and that should be avoided. Simply having a website with a personal ‘about me’ section and perhaps a few mentions of past projects or awards, successes or jobs will kick-start a personal SEO campaign. That doesn’t necessarily mean that a full scale web page needs to be bought or developed-although if that’s possible that’s a great thing to do as well, no, a front or landing page with a few personal details and a nice smiling picture will, in this case, really tell more than a thousand words, by giving a positive impression to anyone who stumbles across it.

Reputation Protection, Reputation Management, Positive Storytelling, Personal SEO