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Interview with Gavin de Becker

Called the Slowest Pulse in Hollywood, Gavin de Becker has a cool style of executive and celebrity protection that has gained him the trust of Hollywood stars, CEOs and even U.S. presidents.

By Sarah D. Scalet

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CSO: Hollywood stars, CEOs and U.S. presidents have all put their security in your hands. What advice do you have for CSOs about gaining people's trust?

Gavin de Becker: The product of the CSO's work is not reports and proposals and procedures and methods. The core product is peace of mind. We run an Advanced Threat Assessment and Management Academy twice a year at the UCLA Conference Center, where CSOs and senior government security officials gather for four days. One of the classes that I give there is called "Managing Victim Fear," and the core question is: What can the CSO do to impart more confidence? I call it the four C's: care, confidence, communication and certainty.As in...?Well, first is care. The [client] wants to know, Do you care about me? Am I special, or am I just another case? Do you think I'm crazy? It might be your CEO, or it might be a woman who is victimized by a violent ex-husband, but this is one of the questions they will ask themselves.

Next is confidence. People are asking, in effect, of the CSO: Are you a vessel for my confidence? In general, we want to invest our confidence. When we see the pilot of a 747 walking down the aisle, we're looking to see how cool he is. [So to promote confidence,] I recommend that before you meet someone for the first time, you send them a bio. You say, "I look forward to our meeting tomorrow afternoon, and so that you'll be more familiar with my background, I'm sending you some general information." When you arrive, they say, "Oh, that's what a security expert looks like." That way, they fit you into their projection instead of the alternative. If a guy shows up and says, "I'm the bomb detection expert," and you judge him based on what he's wearing, how old he is, how tall he is, how he looks, how he speaks—he now doesn't fit your central casting idea. But if a person is sent a bio first, we will fit [the subject of the bio] into our projection.

Once you're hired, the CEO already knows your background. Is there a way to do this on a more ongoing basis?

If you know you're going to a meeting about a particular topic, it's great to send a memo that says, "I look forward to our meeting on Tuesday. I have some experience and insight on this topic because of my background in..." and you list the three ways in which you have relevant experience.