Una reported in our July 2001 print edition from the American Society for Industrial Security Regional European Conference in London in May. There she met Bonnie Michelman, ASIS President, a woman with one of the toughest security jobs in the States.
At the ASIS conference in London in May, Bonnie was awarded the first Honorary Overseas Membership by the Guild of Security Professionals, presented by Steve Neville the Deputy Master of the Guild. The Guild has two awards, which it bestows upon worthy recipients: the Honoury Member Award, recently presented to Lord Imbert; and the Honorary Overseas Award (HOA) that Bonnie Michelman deservedly received. Neither award is offered on a regular basis, only on the rare occasion when it is deemed appropriate considering the recipient’s contribution to our industry. Bonnie, a woman at the top of her profession and president of a worldwide network, was making history of her own – becoming not only the first person to be presented with the prestigious HOA award but also the first woman. Bonnie Michelman, CPP, CHPA has a resume as impressive as she is in real life. I have met many people in this industry, men and women, but Bonnie has an air that exudes the calm of the truly proficient. I am sure that her personality has been of great benefit, both dealing with people and handling contentious issues. Bonnie is currently the Director of Police, Security and Outside Services, at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The hospital has more than 14,000 employees and is a world renowned Harvard Teaching Institution. I asked Bonnie: what the set up was regarding the day to day arrangements of such an operation’ She said: ‘We are one of the largest hospitals in the US. We have been licensed by the State as ‘State Special Police Officers’, so we have the rights and responsibilities of a State Police Officer.’ I must say flashes of the hectic Channel 4 TV drama ER came to mind. She continued: ‘We have all the privileges of the police, we have powers of arrest, we go through the Police Academy but we only have those rights within the hospital.’ I had read that Bonnie had also been involved with IAHSS (International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety), serving on its International board for six years, eventually becoming President of the group in 1995.<br>
Since 1988, Bonnie has served as an instructor at her alma mater, Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice. Teaching in both the under-graduate and graduate programmes. I asked her about the specifics: ‘What I do is a variety of security and management related courses. I present courses on basic security management and advanced security including concepts and theory. I have also done work on physical and technology security. In fact some years ago I was a guest speaker at Cambridge University.’ I went on to ask about her published articles, and asked whether she aspired to becoming a writer. Bonnie smiled and replied: ‘I love writing and I have enjoyed producing various articles. I have probably produced close to 50 now, around the topical areas of security, criminology and management. I am currently working on my first book, co-authoring on a title, Workplace, School and Domestic Violence, but I don’t think I would want to do it full time. I find that writing can be lonely and I love working with people.’ I went on to ask about her ambitions. ‘You know, I’m not one of those people who knows what’s ahead of me. I don’t plan it as the theorists show you to always have a plan in the forefront, I haven’t done that and it has always worked well for me. I love what’s known in our country as ‘portfolio careering’ where you do multiple things. I will probably do some consulting, well, more consulting than I do now, in areas of managing aggression, workplace violence, excellent security operations and hate crimes. Those are some of my areas of speciality. So that’s one thing I’ll do more of.’ I am sure that Bonnie will have enough to be getting on with, but in the important area of the workplace, I went on to discuss women that have made it into management, and the American articles that are written about the profile of ‘the female boss’. I asked if in her expert opinion women were worse than men when it came to being aggressive. ‘Do I think that women abuse their power more, act more aggressive or assertive’ I think that they have to be assertive appropriately for sure, in order that they are successful. As for the other things like being more aggressive that usually doesn’t work. Credibility takes longer to achieve in any field as a minority’and being a woman in this particular field is definitely being a minority.’ She laughs. I have to agree but I asked about the profile that is being applied to the female ‘boss’. ‘Women obviously get stereotyped more when they are passionate about issues and if it is communicated a lot it is becoming emotional. Yet when men are equally, if not more passionate, it is considered brilliant and profound. That irritates me a great deal. I don’t appreciate it when women or anyone else who’s in a minority position, use that position to further their career. That is very counter-productive to everyone. On the other hand I think that women in general are stylistically different to men in some areas, and those differences make a beautiful union to get the best outcome. Women tend to be very collaborative, logical in their communications, loyal and focused on achieving consensus. I have worked with both men and women and there is a remarkable difference in their styles but having them both together is really what organisations have to do.’ I can only agree, but as we discussed things are getting better in all aspects of business where men and women are working together with shared ambitions and goals. Time was running out but before we concluded I asked Bonnie if she thought that she could contribute to the Guild. Bonnie replied enthusiastically. ‘Oh, I would love too, in a variety of ways, to help create some areas to help the Guild from the vantage points that I bring. That would be my biggest pleasure.’ Bonnie assured me that she would be back in the UK for the prestigious ceremony of being granted Freeman of the City of London which she is now entitled to attain as a member of The Guild of Security Professionals. ‘I just want to say how honoured I am, I will certainly be coming back to England to support the Guild on all relevant occasions and will fulfil my obligations to the best of my ability.’ All I can say is that the Guild could not have bestowed the honour on a worthier recipient.
