Russell Grey is the Director of SSI, Security Services International. He has spent decades protecting diplomats, royal families, sporting stars and celebrities in over 60 countries and in that time has gained an extraordinary reputation as the most-wanted man in the Family Office Community.

Russell speaks to Agreus in this Lifestyle Blog about why security encompasses so much more than physical protection, why Emotional Intelligence is key and what a typical year in his life looks like including super yachts, private jets and trips on the orient express.

How would you describe your role?

Although I am often seen as or referred to as a bodyguard, the modern role goes far beyond the old-fashioned stereotype of a 6ft 6in man-mountain squeezed into a tuxedo.

The modern role is very different and a lot more involved. We are known as Close Protection Officers (CPO’s), Executive Protection Officers (EPO’s) in the US. Dare I say, we are more respected these days for the role we play as an integral part of a client’s support team. I believe there is a large value in being involved in daily discussions with the family, be it holiday itineraries, social activities or travels abroad. The more involved I am, the more informed I am and the more informed I am, the more effective I can be.

Why do Family Offices require security?

That's an easy one. With greater wealth comes greater risk but despite that, I regularly hear representatives from Family Offices tell me their client does not need security as nobody knows who they are or what they look like. This is the most frustrating part of my role and incredibly naïve. Criminals do as much homework as an investor or a lawyer would, the only differentiator are their motives.

Just pick up a Forbes and you can see a list of the wealthiest people in any country and any continent. You will see the wealthiest women, the wealthiest under 40 and a whole host of different categories for every and any type of wealth. It is then easy to dig deep and find photographs, physical assets, their lifestyles and their homes.

I don’t want clients or potential clients to be paranoid about their safety and security. But in this information age, it’s naïve to think you’re hard to find.

And crime has a nasty habit of following wealth wherever wealth goes.

What does security mean in the UHNW community?

The complete protective role will include consideration and review of a whole host of things, this includes their public profile and how this could endanger them, their cyber security and where they might have weaknesses and residential security which will depend on the property itself. A townhouse in Kensington, while beautiful, is technically on the street which offers little space from the place they call home to the public. It requires a very different approach to a countryside manor that has acres of land as a protective barrier.

We’re sometimes requested to carry out technical surveillance counter measures which we do frequently for one particular client before sensitive meetings. This essentially involves “de-bugging” and sanitising a space before use. We’ve been asked to carry out due diligence, embed social media policies for household staff and consider everything from the nature of their business, their political affinities, their reputation, cultural background and so on. Once I understand all of these areas, I am much better placed to offer a full protective service to my UHNW clients.

I need to point out here that I’m not an expert in all these areas. I have a team of trusted operatives and contacts that support me with some of these requests.

What does a day in your life look like?

Apologies to Hollywood but scaling buildings, stealing helicopters to facilitate an escape and leaping in front of an assassin’s bullet have yet to feature in my day-to-day working life. But it’s certainly not your regular 9 to 5.

Over the course of a year my working life can involve what many may regard as glamour. For example, time spent on super yachts and private jets. I’ve even travelled on the orient express with a client family. However, most days would seem quite mundane if I described them. Being individually tailored to the specific needs of a client, like most days in the Family Office world, each one can be very different. Because the fact is, so are my clients.

They have different characteristics, priorities, demands, interests and families, each of which necessitates a different approach. It will also depend on the location of the day. Is the person at his or her residence or on travel, are they in hotels or private homes, is it business travel or for leisure?

Whichever idiosyncrasy is in play, every day requires the same level of planning. From carrying out basic checks on the environment and speaking to drivers, housekeepers, hotel security managers and nannies, to flying to a country to verify that it’s safe for a family’s arrival. Every day is different but ultimately, it always involves logistics planning and while that might not sound glamourous, it is what keeps families and their principals safe.

Of course, the possibilities for change are endless and they can change fast. But fundamentally, planning is the everyday priority.

How did you enter the UHNW community and how does it differ?

The industry was much smaller when I entered it. At that time, it was referred to it as “The Circuit”. People would be on the circuit and if there was a vacancy somewhere and you were thought to be suitable, you would get a call. My background and training is what first introduced me to it and my reputation has kept me there ever since.

The principles of security will always remain the same but the main difference with the UHNW community is the spread of responsibility. With corporate clients, we are often dealing with a chairperson or CEO. The responsibility begins and ends with the principal themselves. There will already be corporate policies and strategies that will help in maintaining privacy or secrets. Also these protective details are often short-term. Sometimes only the duration of a business trip.

With Family Offices however, the whole family has to be taken into consideration. Things like keeping information on a need-to-know basis, controlling leaks, social media usage, it is often more difficult to control and has to be discussed at length. People have to buy-in to it too. More often than not, this type of security detail will involve an extended period of service, it could be going on for weeks if not months or even a permanent position.

On these extended periods of service, it is vital that you understand the psychology of the household and use emotional intelligence to balance the whole family dynamic. Emotional Intelligence is vital when dealing with relative strangers in what becomes a very personal and private environment. It is a vital skill for longevity in the role and one you either have or you do not. It can be understood but not learned. You need Emotional Intelligence to understand your clients’ mindset, their stresses, their reactions and comfortability with a certain situation. You need to be trusted as part of their inner circle. It’s a hard battle to win, and Emotional Intelligence is the key.

What is the riskiest situation you have ever been faced with on the job?

If the world was not a dangerous place there would be no room for me.

I have been shot at in Nigeria, been involved in a serious altercation in Miami and targeted for kidnapping in the Republic of Georgia but in all of those situations, you feel that you have an element of control and things happen so quickly that you do not have time to think about the consequences. By the time you do, it is over and so the riskiness is gone. Adrenalin gets you though it and then the risk is long over.

The riskiest situation I have ever been in might sound less dramatic than the others but a colleague and I were taken away by police in central America. It was the day before my client was due to arrive in the country and they seized our weapons, claiming they were unlicensed which of course was false but at that stage, irrelevant. The reputation of police and security services in that country at that time suggested that they were going to do whatever they wanted with us whether we’d done anything wrong or not.

Luckily it had only lasted a few hours when our client’s representative in the country turned up with all of our documentation (and a large handful of cash) and we were released. It was the riskiest situation I have ever been placed in because unlike the others, it was entirely out of our control.

How do you separate the personal from the professional in risky situations and still put the lives of your UHNW clients first?

It’s an instinctive ability and while I have a background and regular training to enable me to do what I do professionally, how many times have we seen a story on the news that involves a passer-by and a child in danger? A person who, in that moment, risked their life and limb to save a child from being hit by a vehicle or to pull an animal from a lake?

When it happens, when things get a little “edgy”, you are already in the zone and do what is required. You do not think of yourself or your family and friends back home as it is a quick, instinct reaction. Given time however, that is when you offer thoughts to your own life and your family which is exactly what happened in the Central America example I offered earlier. But in the moment, you do everything you can and are trained to do to keep your client safe. It is my job. It is my responsibility. It is a moral obligation.

What does your training regime look like?

I train whenever I can. It’s difficult to maintain a routine, as there are times where I am required by a client’s side for 24 hours a day. But when I do have the time, I train incredibly hard to continually sharpen my skills. I have spent tens of thousands of pounds over the years on adding to or improving my skillsets. These courses will range anywhere from emergency first aid to defensive driving courses. Or from sitting in on a lecture on Cyber security, to travelling overseas to attend live firearms training.  I have a strong background in martial arts and I repeatedly practice typical situations under fabricated stress to best prepare me to be able to react effectively in a given situation.

How does your family life prepare you for your work life in Family Offices?

My home life is my grounding. It is where my values derive and while of course, values exist in the reality of Family Offices, it is a different reality to my own and so I always enjoy spending time at home with my family.

We all need to relax; it makes us better at our jobs. It makes us better people. Although I’m not  always the best at unwinding. When my children were younger and we used to travel they used to say it was a nightmare. My wife still reminds me that going through the airport was like being on a route march. I’d say do this, do that, follow me, don’t show that, show this, hold your bag like this.

Even today, I simply cannot sit with my back against a glass window in a coffee shop or sit in the window of a restaurant. If I go out for dinner with my wife, I need to be able to see what is going on and cannot totally unwind. I have a “buzzword” that I’ve used for much of my life, which is “awareness”. It’s the key to survival.

I may, when working be looking at a potential attack on my client and that will be very different to potentially slipping on ice in the park when I go for a run. But the principles remain the same and the word to summarise all of it is awareness.

You talk about the importance of ‘being human’. What does this mean in a role like yours?

I take my role and its requirements incredibly seriously but I try not to take myself too seriously because in spite of the success and wealth that my clients have, they are human beings. As humans, we are genetically wired to want to connect and they cannot build that connection with someone who is aloof or stand-offish. I try to show the human side when appropriate, going back to Emotional Intelligence, if I feel the timing is right, I may crack a joke or make a light hearted observation. Of course, it has to be at an appropriate time, and I have to gauge that very carefully. It is not about us, it is about our clients and we need to make them feel comfortable, in every sense.

A good friend and mentor of mine once said; “Through our jobs we get to witness and touch the edges of a life we would never have otherwise got to experience. It is like being invited to the best party in the world. But never forget we are only guests. It’s not our party.”