University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Becoming Bulletproof
Book

Becoming Bulletproof

Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly

Evy Poumpouras
Atria Books, 2020
Buy book or audiobook

Read offline

Amazon Kindle

Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • Insider's Take
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Evy Poumpouras, a former Special Agent of the US Secret Service, shares her knowledge about how to protect yourself. You can become “bulletproof,” she says, if you practice courage, read people’s cues and learn to exert influence. Poumpouras won the Secret Service’s highest honor, the Valor Award, for her heroism at the World Trade Center in New York after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Summary

When you’re afraid, forget about yourself and try to help others.

When catastrophe strikes and leaves you feeling deathly afraid, deal with your fears by forgetting about yourself as quickly as you can. Help others who may be in danger. This is the first and best way to make yourself bulletproof. 

That’s what author Evy Poumpouras, a former Special Agent of the United States Secret Service (USSS), did on September 11, 2001, when she and her Secret Service colleagues helped disaster victims at ground zero of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. For their heroism amid the destruction of the towers, Poumpouras and her colleagues received the United States Secret Service Valor Award – the agency’s most prestigious honor. 

Bulletproof vests are made of many layers of fabric. To protect yourself, you need many layers of knowledge.

Many people think bulletproof vests are made of steel, but in fact they’re composed of multiple layers of Kevlar – a purpose-made fabric. The thicker the vest, the greater the protection. The most protective bulletproof vests&#...

About the Author

Evy Poumpouras, former Special Agent of the United States Secret Service, appears frequently on NBC, MSNBC and CNN. She served in the protective details for US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, William J. Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

Comment on this summary