Why You Don't Need Years of Training to Keep Safe from Violence

The news is rife with reports of business owners and professionals being physically attacked and sometimes killed. Often by some grievance driven person they didn’t even know.

Today’s violence is like that. Only more so.

There’s still the risk of attack from clients, customers, patients, vendors, contractors, current and former employees, and people in the surrounding community.

One of the biggest misconceptions facing business owners and professionals who want to be safe from violence is that you need years of training to be able to do so.

Or that you need to be tough…

Or strong…

Or big…

But, let me let you in on a secret…

You don’t need years of training. Or to be tough, strong, or big, in order to keep yourself safe from a violent attack. And not just at work, but when you’re out in the community, or even at home, where grievance driven attacks often occur.

Instead, your safety ACTUALLY comes down to a little bit of knowledge covering a few different areas that when combined together form the basis of personal safety. And then to pattern and practice them until you can apply them in any given situation.

How do I know this is what it takes to be safe?

Two reasons. I investigated violent incidents for 30 years so I saw first hand how violence happens and how it could have been prevented. 

And.

During WWII, Allied forces trained women and men to work behind enemy lines working with the local resistance in places behind nazi lines. The allied forces specially trained these soldiers for months, including on how to blend in with the local population, including how to speak the language. They also learned the arts of sabotaging infrastructure, and working with the local resistance.

And that made sense. After all, one slip up that exposed them as allied forces could mean their death.

But, when it came time for training them for their personal safety, these women and men received ONLY 7 HOURS of training (plus their own time spent patterning and practicing what they learned).

And what’s more…These soldiers couldn’t carry any weapons with them. They had to cache them in safe places, since their weapons too would identify them as allied forces.

Yet, because they faced life threatening situations every day, what they learned had to be EFFECTIVE, and something that could be used by ANYONE regardless of size or strength. 

And they worked. These women and men were invaluable to the war effort helping local resistance groups across Europe sabotage the nazis’ war efforts, while also providing critical intelligence on their troop movements. And when necessary dispatching nazi personnel that were a threat to their safety.

I adapted these personal safety approaches to meet the safety concerns that come with modern living and the threats that business owners and professionals face today. 

I’ve taught hundreds of business owners and professionals, lawyers, doctors, nurses, judges, teachers, and engineers just to name a few, these same skill sets. And they've been able to keep themselves safe.

Among other things, keeping safe now requires:

• Understanding how violent attacks actually happen. So that you’ll be better prepared to deal with safety threats.
• The personal safety mindset. So that you have the confidence to protect yourself without relying on others, no matter the type of safety threat you face.
• The 4 key elements of personal safety. What you really need to know to keep yourself safe from an attack, and  how to match the right elements to a given situation. And of those elements, what the #1 most important element is to keep safe while you’re out in the community.
• Debunking the myths surrounding self-defense. It’s not about fighting, but creating the opportunity to exit safely. Why carrying a weapon can backfire on you.
• Parking area safety. Parking lots and garages are the 3rd most common location for violent attacks and homicides, and how all 4 elements of personal safety are needed to keep safe when you are in one.

And that’s exactly what I cover in my Business Owners and Professionals Personal Safety Workshop. This live, online, step-by-step workshop on November 6th is for business owners and professionals who want to keep themselves safe from violence starting right now, without relying on others for their safety. 

And if you’re a business owner looking for a step-by-step process to protect your employees and bottom line from the harm of workplace violence without having to resort to trial and error check out my Protect Your Employees and Your Bottom Line with an Effective Workplace Violence Prevention Program Workshop.