It Takes One to Know One

Back when I was in retail, theft was my #2 problem. (#1 was employees – them not showing up, but I solved that permanently. I quit. Just kidding. I did solve it and my store became the model that was taught across the company.)

Back to the story…

Theft occurs from within and from without. Most people not in retail think shoplifting is the #1 area for theft.

It isn't. By a long shot.

The most “shrink” (another term for all types of losses) comes internally. Sometimes it's error. A cashier may ring something up incorrectly. Or a vendor may say they sent 10, you really got 5, but you don't realize it, and now you're “short” 5.

But a lot of that shrink comes from employees who steal from you.

At first, I didn't believe it. I didn't want to. I was in denial.

Why?

Because in large part, I hired everybody. Or at least I approved every hire. And there weren't many hires that occurred in my stores where I didn't play a major role in choosing them.

So, in my head, I didn't want to admit I hired “bad” people.

Right? I felt like it was a reflection on me. And maybe it was.

I didn't start believing that employees would steal until one of my favorite employees was caught red handed.

One day, as happened infrequently, one of the company's security officers came in. Next thing I know, my employee is walking out of the store, dejected, fired, and facing criminal charges.

Another time, when I was an assistant manager, my immediate manager was caught loading golf clubs into the back of a van, at the back of the store. You know, where merchandise is supposed to COME INTO the store…not leave it.

It happened more than twice. It probably happened a hundred times. Maybe more.

As time wore on, I got better at spotting it. I began to think like a criminal.

After all, that's what they were.

Hell, most of them took stuff, not because they couldn't afford it, but because they wanted a challenge.

Thinking like a criminal led to many discoveries. And I shared those with company HQ. And, surprisingly (I say in my most jaded tone), they took action.

The point?

If you want to discover how you're getting #%@^%, you have to become a better #%@^%er yourself.

The same goes for hacking.

Sure, you could try to lock down all your stuff with nifty apps. And you should.

But you also need to know how a hacker thinks. To do so, you, at the very least, need to get in his head. You may not want to know HOW to do it, but you still should know what CAN be done, both to hack INTO a system and to keep the hackers OUT.

I've never hacked jack. But I know enough to know what's possible.

This book bundle will help you learn more about hacking, how hackers think, and what you can do about it to keep yourself safe.