Episode 6 – Secret Spies with Doug Macy
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In this edition of TBAL Tim welcomes the founder and managing director of Trust 1 Security in Toronto. Doug and Tim have been friends for many years which is evidenced by Doug being one of the few people left in T.O. willing to come on the podcast!
Doug first moved to the city in 1986 and worked as a security guard and later founded a security company with his brother. Five years ago he founded Trust 1 which offers security cameras, card access and alarm monitoring services. Tim find that business painfully boring which he was quick to emphasize during his conversation with Doug.
“That sounds wickedly boring,” he says to Doug.
“It’s not,” Doug replies. “It’s technology and I love technology.”
Unperturbed, Tim continues this line of offensive questioning.
“But aren’t you in an industry that’s dying because of companies like Ring and Nest?” he asks.
Doug calmly explains that there is a difference between a Mercedes and a Hyundai. If you manage the Eaton Centre and you install Ring as your security camera you’re being grossly incompetent. There’s a huge limitation to those entry-level systems. There’s really impressive new technology in the security sector, Doug continues. There are systems that will alert a guard when someone walks into a section of the building that’s been flagged. And there are also sophisticated facial recognition systems that will alert security guards when a banned person enters the building. The conversation quickly veers from professional concerns to (as is often the case) Tim talking about himself.
“I think my reputation proceeds me,” Tim tells Doug. “I think people think I’m rough around the edges and eccentric and brutal.”
Doug assures him that’s not the case but points out that Tim has been incredibly visible in the industry for a very long time. Tim recounts the difficulties of booking guests for this podcast. Everyone at Stadia and Byrne on Demand hates the podcast, he says. But it’s not just Tim’s staff that think this show is a bad idea. Many of Tim’s clients hate it too. Just the other days a major client threatened to pull all their business if Tim ever mentions his company again. What’s even more disturbing to Tim is the fact that the CEO of that company has never met Tim.
“You should go and meet with him,” Doug advises. “Tell them you are different for any number of reasons but you aren’t a threat to him.
The conversation suddenly snaps back to Doug’s business when Tim asks him if he has ever lied to a client. “Never!” Doug replies. Tim is unconvinced but Doug goes on to explain that the only way to run a business is to speak truth to power. He means that you have to tell the client what they need to hear even if it’s uncomfortable sometimes.
Tim and Doug wrap up their lively chat with a conversation about clients.
“Who do hate working for?” Tim asks.
Doug deftly dodges the question but does answer the follow-up about which companies he loves working for. For the answer you’ll have to listen to the end of the episode! Tim ends this episode by thanking Doug for taking a big risk by appearing on the most hated podcast in the industry.