Defense By Design

Defense By Design Defense By Design offers professional and personal defensive training.

Elements of both the psychological as well as physical aspects of defense are incorporated for a more comprehensive approach to the topic of personal defense. This page serves to help educate everyday people as to the things happening around us on a daily basis that too often go (a) without notice or (b) unquestioned. Defense By Design primarily works with those in the HR, Risk Management and Prop

erty/Casualty Insurance arenas, but also assists the average business and business owner in helping to create and maintain safer work environments for employees. We also work with various public and non-profit organizations who interact with families, particularly youth and children, to help them maintain higher standards of protecting those under their care. These could be schools and school districts, churches, youth organizations, early childhood learning centers, and the like. Our goal is to help you "spot trouble BEFORE trouble spots you" through educational programs that can better allow you to predict, prevent, and protect.

JUST LAST WEEKEND I wrote an article here on LinkedIn about a question we may not ask often enough when considering data...
09/04/2026

JUST LAST WEEKEND I wrote an article here on LinkedIn about a question we may not ask often enough when considering data security:

"Was the vulnerability the position this person held—or was the vulnerability created by something that 'CHANGED' in that person's life while the organization's trust and access remained unchanged?" An unsettling thought for and alike.

Then THIS article crosses my screen. Full story linked below in comments section.

groups are reportedly recruiting/compromising employees, contractors and other insiders who already have LEGITIMATE ACCESS to organizational systems. Think about that for a moment...

What if the firewall worked? What if the access controls worked? What if the credentials worked? What if the technology did exactly what it was designed to do? And what if, despite all these measures and investments, the person legitimately holding that access 'BECAME' the vulnerability?

Cybersecurity is obviously important -- no doubt! But sometimes the way AROUND the “cyber” security is actually a HUMAN. Which is why one of the more important questions may not simply be: “How secure is our technology?” But also:

“What may have 'CHANGED' with the people we've authorized to use it?” Because the vulnerability isn't always the control that failed. Sometimes it's the assumption we made about how people would interact with that control.

Physical. Data. Reputational.

Risk is rarely as neatly compartmentalized as our departments and technologies may suggest.

I know someone who can help.

09/04/2026

Yes, I know. It’s SEPTEMBER. 🎅 And no, I’m not trying to rush Christmas.

But this old video made me smile this morning because the joke underneath it is still pretty relevant: What we post, say and do in a moment can sometimes outlive the moment itself on

We make decisions every day while tired, frustrated, angry, excited, embarrassed, pressured—or simply convinced that what we're doing “isn’t that big a deal.” And increasingly, those decisions don’t disappear when the moment passes. They can be captured, shared, revisited, forwarded, screenshotted, or interpreted by people who weren’t there when the decision was made.

Which is one reason I’ll be speaking next week about DMUI or "Decision-Making Under the Influence" —not merely alcohol or substances, but the many influences that can affect judgment in real time. Because sometimes the question isn’t: “Why would somebody do that?” It's...

“What was influencing the decision when they did?”

So yes…Santa may be early this year. But perhaps it’s never too early to think about the decisions we’re making before somebody else gets to decide whether they were Naughty or Nice. 🎅

I know someone who can help.

“The warning signs had been out there for a long time.” That is how an Associated Press story today begins regarding Wed...
09/04/2026

“The warning signs had been out there for a long time.” That is how an Associated Press story today begins regarding Wednesday's deadly shooting at a Minneapolis apartment building.

According to current reporting, the alleged shooter had reportedly threatened neighbors, openly displayed a fi***rm, had previously been investigated by police, was facing eviction and had been the subject of at least one restraining order.

Perhaps most concerning, AP reports that a resident says the man had recently talked about shooting his ex-girlfriend and two building managers—and that the resident reported that threat to management. What happened after that report remains unclear.

The investigation is still developing, so I think we should be extremely careful about hindsight. Warning signs do not give us a crystal ball. The presence of concerning behaviors does not mean someone could have predicted with certainty what this individual ultimately would do. Nor does it tell us, at this point, what every person or organization involved knew—or when they knew it.

But this tragedy raises an important question for anyone responsible for the safety of employees, residents, customers or communities: "At what point should the information available to us change the way we manage the circumstances surrounding a potential threat?"

That's very different from trying to predict violence.

In the work I do around threat prevention, I often make this distinction: We aren't trying to predict whether the person WILL act. We're trying to change the conditions that could SUPPORT the will to act.

There will undoubtedly be much more to learn about this tragedy in the days and weeks ahead. For now, perhaps the appropriate response isn't to claim we know what should have happened. It's to pay attention to what we can learn about what happened 'before.'

“What do you really DO?” I've been asked that question more than a few times over the years. My answer is actually prett...
09/03/2026

“What do you really DO?” I've been asked that question more than a few times over the years. My answer is actually pretty simple...

PHYSICAL risks. DATA risks. REPUTATIONAL risks.

Those are my three lanes — and I STAY in them. I don't claim expertise in things I don't do simply because someone happens to need them. But 40 years in business has introduced me to a lot of very talented people who travel in OTHER lanes.

So knowing my lanes doesn't mean ignoring the rest of the road. Sometimes being valuable means recognizing that YOU aren't the answer — but knowing who might be.

So the question is, what are YOUR lanes, and who do YOU know that complements the lanes YOU don't occupy? Because sometimes the most valuable thing you can say is:

“I know someone who can help" -- even when it's not YOU. 😉

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!Next Thursday, September 10, I'll be spending time with the City of Crowley for a staff development ...
09/03/2026

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!

Next Thursday, September 10, I'll be spending time with the City of Crowley for a staff development program on DMUI: Decision-Making Under the Influence. And no...we're not talking about "that kind" of influence. 😉

We're going to look at something every organization deals with every day:

What’s REALLY driving the decisions we make? Experience, assumptions, emotions, relationships, authority, urgency, familiarity, and the people around us. If you don't want to deal with a issue in your ranks, 'THIS' is where the conversation needs to start.

Because somewhere between HAVING the thought and SHARING the thought — or acting upon it — is a decision. And sometimes the greatest opportunity for reducing physical, operational and reputational risk exists in that little bit of space BEFORE the decision gets made.

Looking forward to spending some time with the City Of Crowley team next Thursday — and having a very different kind of conversation about risk, judgment and decision-making.

See you next week!

Just BOOKED!Looking forward to returning to Cypress Waters on October 20 for another tenant education event with Billing...
09/02/2026

Just BOOKED!

Looking forward to returning to Cypress Waters on October 20 for another tenant education event with Billingsley Company!

It's been more than a year since my last opportunity to provide this program for tenants across the Cypress Waters community, and I'm looking forward to bringing it back for another audience.

We'll be talking about everything from personal and workplace safety to the stories criminals use to influence our decisions, along with some of the reputational risks that can follow us well beyond the workplace.

I always appreciate organizations that look for ways to provide their tenant communities with "value that extends beyond" the physical spaces they occupy. And I am well aware of their ongoing commitment to this approach.

Thanks again to Billingsley Company for the invitation back. See you October 20!

Two attorneys. Two decades. Two very different dollar amounts. One remarkably similar story.In a recent North Texas case...
09/02/2026

Two attorneys. Two decades. Two very different dollar amounts. One remarkably similar story.

In a recent North Texas case, an attorney is accused of convincing clients to invest in what authorities describe as a Ponzi scheme involving property-tax liens. Roughly 20 victims allegedly lost about $1.45 million.

More than 20 years ago, I personally knew of another attorney in Atlanta who similarly convinced his high-net-worth clients to invest money with him. Their losses exceeded $10 million before he was eventually caught.

Different people - different amounts - different decades - but the same underlying question: "Why were they trusting their ATTORNEY with an INVESTMENT?" What happened with their or firm? Where were 'they' in the decision-making framework? Or, more specifically, "how/why were they left OUT?"

There's nothing inherently wrong with an attorney introducing an investment opportunity. But in both stories, the person presenting the opportunity already occupied a position of TRUST and AUTHORITY. And that's worth remembering:

Sometimes we aren't merely evaluating the opportunity. We're evaluating it through the trust we already have in the PERSON presenting it.

Intelligence is not immunity from influence.

I know someone who can help.

09/01/2026

Desperation can change the way people make decisions. And that's worth remembering when assessing risk.

We often evaluate what someone did without considering what may have been happening around them—or TO them—when they did it:

Financial pressure.
Personal pressure.
Professional pressure.
Fear.
Loss.
Urgency.

The person may be the same, but the circumstances surrounding the person may not be. And changing circumstances can create changing behavior. Certainly, it is something to think about...

And I know someone who can help.

08/31/2026

A background check can tell you something about a person's PAST. It cannot necessarily tell you what may have CHANGED with that person since...let alone their future.

Financial pressures. Relationship issues. Personal difficulties. Changing circumstances. The person you originally hired may still be the same person, but something in that person's LIFE may no longer be the same. This is a cautionary word to and alike.

So when we consider the people who have access to our facilities, information, systems, processes and other people, perhaps the question isn't merely: “Did they pass the background check?” But also...

“What may have CHANGED since?”

By the way, what about the vendors, suppliers and contractors that ALSO freely enter and exit your operations every day? What about “their” employees and the same?

Background checks absolutely have value. But access DECISIONS shouldn't necessarily last longer than needed or warranted. Such decisions should have a shelf life -- if not an expiration date.

I know someone who can help.

Yesterday I posted about ACCESS—and who we allow into various areas of our businesses. Here’s another reason that conver...
08/30/2026

Yesterday I posted about ACCESS—and who we allow into various areas of our businesses. Here’s another reason that conversation matters...

Full video linked in comments section below. It's worth the watch, but for more reasons than the obvious information/entertainment value.

Hidden cameras continue to become smaller, cheaper and easier to disguise. And while the obvious concern may be what they can SEE, depending upon the device, what might they also be able to HEAR?

Confidential conversations. Personnel matters. Client information. Financial discussions. Business strategies. But perhaps there’s another question worth asking: "WHO had—or once had—the ACCESS necessary to put it there in the first place?"

Employees. Contractors. Vendors. Cleaning or maintenance personnel. Visitors. Even disgruntled current or former employees—the latter of whom may no longer have access, but may still possess valuable knowledge from the access they once had. For those in and , let all this sink in for a minute...

Because ACCESS isn't only about what someone can TAKE from an environment...

Sometimes it's about what they can LEAVE BEHIND.

I know someone who can help.

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