Recap of the 2021 Bates Security Leadership Summit

“To Protect and Serve” is our motto. Those words formed the foundation of Sonny Bates’ career — first as a Dallas police officer and, later, when he and his wife Pat moved to Lexington and purchased a Sonitrol franchise and opened Bates Security in Lexington, KY.

Decades later, their sons, Bryan and Jeremy Bates, took that thriving family business and trans­formed it into one that enjoys national accolades and recog­nition, with multiple locations in two states. Today, they have taken that proud heritage and combined it with the elements needed to grow and rise to the next level.

The inaugural Leadership Summit had 30 partic­i­pants repre­senting Bates Security in Lexington, KY and Jacksonville, FL, ABCO in Prestonsburg, KY, Absolute Protection Team in Vero Beach, FL, and Central Security from Lake Placid, FL. The event gave everyone the oppor­tunity to create a shared vision for success through education, empow­erment, and honest, open commu­ni­cation across levels and across depart­ments. And the event was a huge success!

Bates Security’s President, Jeremy Bates, kicked off the first day with two large balls of yarn that were thrown from person to person across the conference room as an ice breaker activity and a great reminder that everyone in every department – shares a special connection and requires the strength of our entire team to succeed. If one person lets something slide, the entire organi­zation suffers and has to pull up the slack to resta­bilize the web we weave together. It was a powerful, welcome reminder of how inter­con­nected we are as a team, even across depart­ments and branches.

Tuesday featured presen­ta­tions by ADI’s Bruce Buickerood and Bob Appleby, the dynamic Barry Barrett presented the EOS/​Traction business processes the leadership team is working towards adapting, and an insightful AcuMaxIndex workshop that highlighted our individual person­ality traits’ strengths and weaknesses so we can work together at a higher level of cooper­ation and mutual under­standing. A highlight of the day was the first Breakout Session, where we split into small teams got to address inventive answers to ​“How Can We…?”

Following Tuesday’s sessions, everyone had a blast by busting out of different high-stress escape scenarios at Breakout Games (a high-octane version of the earlier Breakout Session). After disabling a bomb to save a train full of people, we were rewarded with amazing pizza from the Rolling Oven (go for the Pizza Bianca – it was divine!).

Wednesday brought us the second part of the AcuMaxIndex presen­tation, a discussion about safety sponsored by our insurance partner Encova, as well a presen­tation about Tools for Leaders and Managers from our HR lead Stacy Vogan. After a quick tour of the Lexington office, we headed for dinner and bowling at LexLive, sponsored by Enter­prise Fleet Management.

Special thanks to our Leadership Summit sponsors who made this incredible week possible!