A CSO Career Change: Anders Noyes, CPP

Anders Noyes, CPP, started his career at age 19 as a municipal police officer. An injury forced him to retire out of the police service at 31, and he started exploring options for a second career in private security. He was hired to work in loss prevention at the Sony Corporation by reserve police officer and VP of operations and loss prevention Mark White, who took Noyes under his wing and mentored him through the transition from public service to private security.

“He was able to translate, essentially,” Noyes says. “I was coming out of a world where there was definitely a specific language of how you did work and what was involved in the work that you did. Then, coming into business is a whole different language. That was the most important transitional piece that he gave me—the language of business as opposed to the language of law enforcement.”

In law enforcement, officers tell people what to do, and people comply because of the innate authority police officers have through their badge and uniform. “Whereas when you come into the corporate world, everything you say is a suggestion,” Noyes says. The imperative “you will do this” becomes more of a recommendation, especially where security serves in an advisory capacity and seeks to influence organizational decisions. That mental switch between command and persuasion can be a challenge.

In law enforcement, “you get it drilled into your head every day that you have to be in charge,” he says. “You have to make those hard decisions without much counsel, without much else than your experience, your knowledge, and your training. When you come into the corporate world, it’s more fuzzy—there’s a whole lot more than you need to consider before you open your mouth in a meeting.”

In addition, the person with the most influence at a private organization is not always the person at the top. Often, people working two or three layers down from the CEO have more authority in operational decisions. Noyes had to learn how to build relationships with executive assistants, who often have the most influence over what time personnel get with leaders and can lend insights into what messages land best.

Now, Noyes has a storied career in security, including managing property and security at Skywalker Ranch for nearly 20 years. He now serves as the chair of the ASIS International CSO Center and works as head of security and safety at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Many U.S. military personnel live in Hawaii, and some apply to join the museum’s security team. Noyes has seen a wide variety of résumés come across his desk, and many make some key errors—focusing on tactical explanations about firing range accuracy or military tactics rather than strategic skill sets.

“People aren’t going to be as impressed by that as you might think they will be,” he says. “What they really want to know is what skills you bring, not what you’ve done from a specific standpoint.”

That was the most important transitional piece that he gave me—the language of business as opposed to the language of law enforcement.

In addition, the applicant needs to be ready to transition their public-facing posture, especially if he or she is applying for a customer-centric position such as museum security.

“The first thing is you don’t look at the people as an enemy,” Noyes says. “That was my mental block [when changing careers], that the public is not the enemy. The public is actually the reason you’re here.”

The public-facing role and customer service mindset also factor into being budget-conscious and aware of how the organization operates, Noyes says. Everyone from the CSO down to the frontline security team needs to be aware of those pressures and operate accordingly.

“I tell my officers, especially the ones who work the front door, that you have no idea who’s walking through that door,” he adds. “You don’t know—it may be our next million-dollar donor… Our goal is to make everybody feel welcome, because otherwise you might offend the person who was going to donate a lot of money to this museum, and that’s how the museum survives. Treat everybody with respect.”

This is where influence and executive skills come into play for CSOs and security managers within their teams. Leaders need to adequately explain to employees—especially those from public sector backgrounds—the value their work brings to the organization and the “why” behind their post orders.

“If you go into a position where you’re budget related at all, and you have public-facing or even internal stakeholder-facing people, you better make sure that those people understand that your financial livelihood is based on the impression and the influence that you're able to build as a security organization within a larger organization,” Noyes says.

“If you’re coming out of the military or law enforcement and you’re going to be a line-level officer dealing with the public, I think that it has to be emphasized how important that role really is,” he continues. “Even if the pay doesn’t necessarily reflect it at that level, the role is important, and give some reasons why it’s important.”

Claire Meyer is editor-in-chief of Security Management. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email her directly at [email protected].