10 Minutes With: Sean Dettloff

Sean Dettloff brings a builder’s mindset and a calm command of complexity to RedCloud’s growing Physical Security Practice. As the leader shaping this new capability, he’s focused on standing up an embedded team that supports a Fortune 500‑scale data center program—from early‑stage design to on‑the‑ground delivery of physical security systems. His work sits at the intersection of construction, compliance, and client partnership, ensuring every project meets rigorous standards while moving at hyperscale speed. In this edition of 10 Minutes With, Sean shares what energizes him about the role, how he approaches balance in a fast‑moving environment, and the experiences that shaped the way he leads. 

Describe your role and what you do in a nutshell.

I’ve joined RedCloud to lead and support the development of our physical security practice area. At the moment, I’m focusing on building our embedded physical security design-and-delivery team that supports client data centers. We are in the early days of recruiting and developing a security practitioner team to support physical security design and the delivery of physical security hardware and systems in the data center environment. Much of our work supports new data center construction projects, but we are also embedded in other efforts, including retrofits and special projects. We are the spider in the web who helps manage on-time, in-scope security project execution while also ensuring projects comply with client expectations and standards.

What do you enjoy most or find especially interesting about your current project/role?

What’s not to like about supporting a globally relevant, Fortune 10 client?! The scope and scale of the work are awe-inspiring, the problem set is professionally challenging, and best of all, doing it with a team of stakeholders and vendors that are best in class at what they do. I’d like to think the work we are doing is important and meaningful in enabling the future of AI and future tech advancements, and we get to do it in a great environment with great people who help hold us accountable for excellence.  

How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance in your role?

I’m new enough in the role that I’m still working towards work-life balance at the moment. If I look back on past experiences, I’ve found the most success with triaging priorities between what must happen now that only I can do, identifying where I can deputize others to help to carry the water, and also remembering that not everything can/needs to be accomplished right now. Also important to me is protecting time for both family and personal activities, like exercise. I find that I’m a lot more at ease working outside of core work hours as long as I’ve also engaged in core family activities and got my workout in.

Tell us about something interesting you've learned recently.

I recently read that scientists estimate there are significantly more trees on Earth than stars in the sky. Apparently, calculations are for over 3 trillion trees on Earth, compared to roughly “only” 300 billion stars in our galaxy. Besides struggling to comprehend any of these numbers, I am fascinated with the idea that there could be 10x as many trees on Earth as there are stars in the sky!

If you could suggest a book for the entire team to read, what would it be and why?

I think specifically for this audience, I’d suggest “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. While the book is set against the backdrop of US Navy SEAL team operations, the core message that an effective leader leans into the problem and “owns everything” is very relevant to the multi-disciplinary client/vendor team environments we work in. It is too easy to blame missing a project milestone or deliverable on another dependency that didn’t meet its deadline. The book emphasizes that the best leaders don’t just take responsibility for their tasks or projects; they take an interest in and an ownership stake in everything that impacts their environment and their ability to succeed in the overall mission. I’d argue that the willingness to think outside your scope at core dependencies, and to anticipate and solve potential problems before they have an impact, brings tremendous value to our work and gets us invited back to the table as the problem solvers we want to be seen as.

What's a piece of obsolete technology you still have a soft spot for?

Not sure if this counts, but in a world where I walk into most meetings with 2 laptops and a smartphone, I still default to handwriting notes and tracking deliverables in my notebook. Additionally, I’m guilty of having multiple sticky notes on my laptop, helping me keep tabs on various action items or “great ideas” to follow up on at any given time. 

What's one thing people don't know about you that they would be surprised to discover?

I have a great interest in wilderness adventure, including extended backpack treks, motorcycle road trips, and overlanding expeditions. As examples, I’ve traveled the AlCan highway and backcountry roads from Seattle to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean twice over the past several years. The first time was a solo motorcycle adventure from Seattle to Seward, AK. The second time was an overland expedition with my son from Seattle to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, where we drove as far as we could in North America and dipped our toes in the Arctic Ocean. This was a 5000-mile road trip, over half of which was over dirt roads.  

What are you passionate about or enjoy outside of work?

I am an active member of the King County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Association, a 100% volunteer organization dedicated to locating and assisting individuals who are lost, injured, or in distress in wilderness, urban, and disaster environments. I participate in both the 4x4 unit and the Regional Specialty Vehicle Unit (RSVU), which includes ATV and SxS use in missions. It's my outlet to give back to the community while also getting me outdoors in the PNW with a fantastic group of dedicated, like-minded individuals.