Security

Yesterday’s carnage at the Boston Marathon is another chilling reminder of the fragile nature of our security in public places. The senseless death and destruction has unfortunately become more commonplace, although, here in the United States we have been spared some of the extreme violence that has occurred in London and other cities in Western Europe. However, I fear that we are increasingly ripe for more violence that occurred yesterday, and the real estate industry is in the middle of this issue because one way or another commercial buildings and their public places, are often key targets of sick, deranged, and political or religious zealots. Alas beefed-up security is not the total answer because if a terrorist wants to do harm, nine times out of 10 they will be able to achieve their goal. In my view, the public needs to be trained to be more aware of, and quickly react to unusual behaviors and lonely packages without an obvious owner.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International’s Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.