Who I Hire: Why Ongoing Training Matters in Executive Protection

A résumé tells me where you've been. Training tells me where you are today.

By Michael Blake Founder & Owner, Offshore Kinetics LLC

There is a question that has to be answered before any protective professional is placed in front of a client:

Would I trust this person standing next to me?

Not five years ago.

Not simply because they served in the military.

Not because they worked in law enforcement.

Not because they completed a certification.

Today.

That distinction matters.

Executive protection is a profession where experience matters tremendously. Military service, law enforcement, prior protective assignments, specialized training and professional certifications can all contribute to making someone a capable protective professional.

But none of them should become an excuse to stop learning.

Professional competence isn't something you obtain once. It is something you maintain.

That belief is fundamental to how Offshore Kinetics operates—and why our alumni have become an important part of our talent pipeline.

A Protective Professional Should Never Be Finished Training

The threat environment changes.

Technology changes.

Clients change.

Travel patterns change.

Protective methodologies evolve.

And the expectations placed on executive protection professionals continue to increase.

In 2025, ASIS International published its first Executive Protection Standard, establishing a structured framework for developing, managing and improving executive protection programs. The standard recognizes executive protection as a specialized discipline built around risk assessment, planning, threat mitigation and professional program management.

The broader security profession also recognizes the importance of continuing training. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than 99.5% of security guards required on-the-job training in 2025, while many states recommend additional annual training; armed personnel face additional weapons-training requirements.

Those statistics aren't specifically about executive protection.

But they reinforce an important principle:

Training is not a box that gets checked. It is part of maintaining professional capability.

Why We Hire From Our Alumni

At Offshore Kinetics, we hire from our alumni because the Protective Skills Workshop gives us something a résumé, LinkedIn profile or list of certifications cannot.

We get to see the professional work.

Over four days, instructors can observe how students communicate, respond to instruction, perform under pressure, interact with other professionals, approach unfamiliar problems, handle firearms, move, think through arrival and departure procedures, consider motorcade operations and medical contingencies, and interact with a client.

Perhaps most importantly, we get to see how someone conducts themselves when nobody is standing over them.

That's valuable information.

A résumé tells us what someone has done.

A training environment allows us to see how that person performs today.

The Workshop Is Not Just About Teaching

The Offshore Kinetics Protective Skills Workshop is designed to establish a practical baseline for working protective professionals.

The objective isn't simply to teach a collection of techniques over four days.

Students are exposed to protective movement, firearms proficiency, arrival and departure procedures, motorcade considerations, medical response, situational awareness, communication, client interaction and the decision-making that connects those skills.

But there is another objective that may be even more important:

Self-assessment.

Where am I strong?

Where am I weak?

What needs additional work?

A professional who can answer those questions honestly is already moving in the right direction.

That is a much more valuable outcome than simply walking away with another certificate.

Companies Send Us Their People

One of the strongest indicators of the value of the Offshore Kinetics training model is that we don't only train individuals who are looking to advance their own careers.

Companies send us their personnel.

Organizations have sent their agents to the Protective Skills Workshop to expose them to a practical training environment and, in some cases, to receive an outside assessment of their performance.

Those companies aren't simply looking for another certificate for an employee's training file.

They're asking for feedback.

Where is the agent performing well?

Where can the agent improve?

What skills need additional development?

That creates a responsibility that we take seriously.

When another organization entrusts us with one of its personnel, the purpose isn't to tell the company what it wants to hear.

It's to provide an honest professional assessment.

If an agent demonstrates strength, we'll identify it.

If there are deficiencies, we'll identify those as well.

The objective isn't criticism.

The objective is improvement.

Because better-trained professionals contribute to better protective programs.

Our Alumni Come Back

The same philosophy applies to our own alumni.

We've had professionals return to our workshops after completing their initial training because they want to find out where they stand.

They want to know:

Have I improved?

Where am I still weak?

What should I work on next?

That is exactly the mindset we want to encourage.

Completing a workshop shouldn't mean professional development is finished. An alumnus who returns months or years later is demonstrating something important: a willingness to be evaluated again.

Come back.

Train again.

Let the instructors find the next area that needs work.

Then go back and improve it.

Train. Perform. Evaluate. Improve. Repeat.

That's how professionals develop.

We Are Not the Only Training Program Worth Attending

There are highly reputable training organizations and instructors throughout the executive protection industry.

Offshore Kinetics is one part of that professional development ecosystem—not the entire ecosystem.

My own professional development has included training through organizations such as Executive Security International (ESI) and ICON Global, among others.

ESI, for example, has been providing executive protection and security training since 1980, with programs covering executive protection, surveillance, tactical medicine, protective driving and related disciplines.

Experiencing different instructors, methodologies and training environments has reinforced an important lesson:

No single school has all the answers.

Every reputable instructor brings a different background.

Every program has different strengths.

Every training environment exposes professionals to different problems.

That is a good thing.

Professionals should seek out quality instruction wherever they can find it.

If an Offshore Kinetics alumnus attends another reputable executive protection program, that's not a failure of our training.

It's evidence that the professional is taking their development seriously.

Keep training.

Experience Gets My Attention. Performance Earns My Trust.

Military and law enforcement experience deserve tremendous respect.

Nearly two decades in the Army, followed by law enforcement and subsequent work in private security and protective services, have provided a firsthand understanding of what those environments can teach: discipline, leadership, decision-making, communication and the ability to operate under pressure.

But experience alone doesn't guarantee success in executive protection.

I've seen highly experienced professionals struggle when transitioning into a different professional environment.

Executive protection isn't simply about being able to shoot, fight or react to a threat.

It is about protecting a person while simultaneously understanding the client, the environment, the schedule, the team, the public and the business requirements surrounding the assignment.

It requires discretion.

It requires judgment.

It requires communication.

It requires professionalism.

And it requires the ability to continually adapt.

Experience gets my attention. Performance earns my trust.

Physical Readiness Is Part of Professionalism

Protective work can be physically demanding.

Agents can spend hours on their feet, move continuously with a client, work long days, travel, respond to emergencies and perform physically demanding tasks when circumstances change.

Physical readiness isn't about looking like an athlete.

It's about being capable of performing the job.

Our personnel are expected to take their physical fitness, appearance, communication, attitude and conduct seriously.

These aren't superficial requirements.

When standing next to a client, an agent represents the protective program and the organization that hired them.

Professionalism matters.

Why Other Companies Hire Offshore Kinetics Alumni

Our goal isn't to create a closed ecosystem where the only path forward is Offshore Kinetics.

The opposite is true.

We want our alumni to become better protective professionals and to create opportunities for themselves throughout the industry.

When another executive protection company sees Offshore Kinetics on someone's training history, we want that to mean something.

Not that the person is automatically qualified.

Not that they are automatically the best candidate.

And certainly not that our workshop replaces experience.

It means the professional has spent four days in a practical training environment, has been exposed to our standards, has been evaluated by our instructors and has demonstrated a willingness to continue developing professionally.

That's valuable information for an employer.

And when companies send us their personnel specifically because they want an independent assessment and professional feedback, it demonstrates the value those organizations place on our training methodology.

We Don't Hire Blind

A strong résumé will get someone's attention.

It shouldn't be the end of the evaluation.

We want to know how a professional communicates.

How they receive criticism.

How they respond when something doesn't go according to plan.

Whether they can work as part of a team.

Whether they can interact professionally with a client.

Whether they're physically prepared.

Whether they're willing to learn.

Whether they take ownership of their mistakes.

And, perhaps most importantly, whether they hold themselves to the same standard when the instructor isn't watching.

Those are the things that matter.

Our Protective Skills Workshop provides an opportunity to observe those qualities firsthand.

That's why our alumni become our talent pipeline.

The Standard Is Continued Improvement

No protective professional knows everything.

After decades in the military, law enforcement, protective services and training environments, there is still more to learn.

That applies to instructors as much as students.

Good instructors should remain students themselves. They should continue attending training, listening to other instructors, identifying weaknesses and looking for ways to improve their own skill sets.

That is the standard we expect from the professionals we train.

The best protective professional isn't necessarily the person who walks into a room believing they're already the best.

It's the person who walks into the room understanding that there is always something left to learn.

That's the professional we want on our team.

That's the professional we want standing next to a client.

And that's the professional we want representing Offshore Kinetics.

Train continuously.Seek honest feedback.Identify your weaknesses.Improve your skill set. Then come back and do it again.

That's how professionals become better.

And that's why, at Offshore Kinetics, we hire from our alumni.

About Michael Blake

Michael Blake is the Founder and Owner of Offshore Kinetics LLC and serves as the company's lead instructor and project manager. He is a retired U.S. Army senior noncommissioned officer with extensive military experience and a professional background spanning military service, law enforcement training, tactical response and high-net-worth protective services.

Michael also served as a county-level law enforcement officer and as a sniper team leader with a regional tactical response team in New England. During his career, he trained alongside professional snipers and tactical personnel from organizations including the NYPD Emergency Services Unit, U.S. Secret Service and New Hampshire State Police SWAT.

Following his military and law-enforcement career, Michael transitioned his experience into private security, executive protection and risk mitigation. He founded Offshore Kinetics to provide practical training and professional development for individuals transitioning into or advancing within private security and protective services.

His own professional development has included training through established executive protection and security organizations, including Executive Security International (ESI) and ICON Global. He believes instructors should remain students themselves and that professional development should never stop.

Through Offshore Kinetics, Michael trains protective professionals with an emphasis on judgment, professionalism, communication, physical readiness and continual improvement.