Book Review: Leadership Safe & Secure

Leadership. Safe & Secure. By Anton Doerig. Castle Mount Media; castlemountmedia.com; 228 pages; $32.95. 

Leadership. Safe & Secure is a true leadership book—both theoretical and practical. The author, Anton Doerig, begins with a universal truth: to lead others, you must first learn how to lead yourself. He refers to this skill as presence and essence.

Doerig uses personal examples of successes and failures to reiterate his points. At times, this book might make readers take a long hard look at themselves, and they may realize they have made some of the mistakes he speaks of, but do not let despondency keep you from reading on and finding solutions to the cause. The author effectively uses his military experience and vast security background to ask some pointed questions about leadership that make the reader think effectively about how to integrate leadership into safety and security. Personal responsibility is a key component of this book, and the author drives this home on almost every page.

To emphasize the lessons of the book, the author uses another universal truth: for any organization to be successful, leaders need to do the things necessary to make the team he or she leads successful. Doerig focuses on how the team you create through proper leadership has a tremendous effect on the organization, not just your business unit.

The principles written and discussed are broadly applicable and business-unit agnostic, but the true focus of the book is leadership, management, and the link to safety and security. This book hits the mark and would be a great read for anyone in a leadership role or someone wishing to move into one in the future.

Reviewer: Ernie Van der Leest, CPP, is a security management leader and a retired law enforcement officer. Most recently he was the director of safety and security at a Level 2 trauma center hospital. His law enforcement roles included patrol operations, field training officer, SWAT/sniper, and more.