Wheels Up - Safety and Security for Business, Executive and VIP Travellers Podcast

For those who aren’t familiar with it, the task of hiring a bodyguard or executive protection agent can be overwhelming. Knowing whether you actually need one can be a mystery, let alone knowing what to look for. With that in mind, we recorded a couple of episodes of the Wheels Up Podcast where we covered what an executive protection agent or operative is, who might need one and how to go about se...

Google "shareholder meeting attack" and you’ll be amazed at the number of stories that come up. Most of them are about non-violent attacks - protest groups, people launching hostile bids or shareholders complaining about executive salaries or positions. But, violent or not, looking at the Google results (and reading this blog post or listening to this podcast episode) you’ll soon see why it's impe...

How do high levels of comfort and safety affect our attitude toward risk and how does this impact our level of preparedness and ability to respond to risky situations? In this podcast episode we interview Dr Gavriel Schneider, an expert on integrated risk management and safety and security. We take a deep dive into the psychology of risk and the influence it has on our planning and response mechan...

When most people think of executive protection, or bodyguards in general, they tend to think of VIPs, celebrities, and high net worth individuals (HNWI). Though they may not always travel to hazardous locations, their risk is enhanced by virtue of their position or status. For journalists and media crews though, travelling to hazardous locations is often part of the job, thus provision sometimes n...

In a previous podcast episode we discussed executive protection recruitment and more with Steve Albritton, a respected security industry consultant based in Florida, USA. In this continuation of our discussion Steve shares how to build a security team from scratch, how to factor medical issues into a risk mitigation task, why staff sometimes need to be at more risk than the principal client, what...

The executive protection industry isn’t one that has a clear path for those looking to get into it. In fact most people find themselves in the field almost by accident, usually after a career in the military or police. In this episode we tap into the brain of one of the long-term players in the industry. Steve Albritton served in the military and state police in the USA before taking on a role as...

The Philippines is becoming a more common destination for business travellers. As well as being home to the Asian Development Bank, the rising use of Filipino personnel for international call centres makes business travel to the area more frequent. We’ve also had the good fortune to work locally in The Philippines and internationally with a high-profile international Filipino sportsman and have co...

While a lot of travel security and safety advice is generic in nature, different locations often have specific conditions that make them worthy of special mention. Our area of expertise is the Asia-Pacific region and we’ll be discussing several different countries in this area in the coming weeks. In this episode we look at China. Episode Highlights: What are some of the diverse cultures and langu...

Show notes In our last post we ran through the essentials that business travelers should cover before setting out on a journey. I this post, we run through the safety and security essentials for during and after the journey. This is much shorter than the pre-travel section, which highlights how much value there is in being prepared. If you prepare yourself well, then the travel itself should go sm...

Show notes For seasoned business travellers the notion of safety and security while travelling may seem like an unnecessary concern. Safety demonstrations by flight attendants are for the benefit of ‘others’ and, beyond that, all you need to worry about is keeping your belongings safe. Perhaps not. That may be the perception - indeed 99% of travels do occur without mishap - however, the consequenc...

Show notes Welcome to the Wheels Up podcast, the resource to help business, executive and VIP travellers stay safe on the ground and in the air. Join travel security and executive protection expert Troy Claydon as he shares tips on how to give yourself or those in your care a safe journey no matter where your travels take you. Episode Highlights: Who is the Wheels Up Podcast for? Hint: safety and...