Leadership 3/4

Oct 22, 20214 min read

Conferences and the Wider Security Eco System Culture - Toxic or Not?

This could be part of another whole series on the curse of binary thinking so please read this in that tone. In other words, I’m trying...

927 views

Aug 14, 20219 min read

Risk = Hazard + Outrage

There are four major insights that, above all others, have influenced my approach to security and risk management over the past decades....

4,892 views

Jul 16, 20218 min read

Cybersecurity - The Board's Perspective

How Boards, especially public company Boards, oversee cybersecurity is a crucial but difficult topic. This previous post discussed how...

8,681 views

Jul 3, 20216 min read

Cybersecurity and the Curse of Binary Thinking

Working in information/cybersecurity and technology risk is a fascinating and challenging career, as I’ve covered here. There is, mostly,...

23,800 views

Jun 19, 20217 min read

The Actual Cybersecurity Workforce Challenge

We continuously hear about the millions of unfilled cybersecurity roles, although I’ve yet to see a study that actually supports that...

5,597 views

Jun 5, 20216 min read

Relationship Management for the InfoSec Program

A key part of any security leader's role is relationship management. In my experience this is another one of those leadership skills that...

2,495 views

Apr 24, 20211 min read

Leadership, Business, Security and Risk Reading List

This is my list of favorite books across the various professional disciplines I’m interested in. I have a set of favorite books that are...

3,097 views

Feb 27, 20213 min read

"Hell Yes, or No" vs. "Soft Yes, and Fast Quit"

I am a big fan of the concept of saying, “Hell Yes, or No” to decide whether to do something or not. Derek Sivers has written well about...

3,764 views

Dec 6, 20206 min read

The Seat at the Table: Integrating Security into your Business

The success of a security program is largely determined by how well it is integrated into the fabric of the organization, in terms of...

2,040 views

Nov 29, 20203 min read

Simple Rules of (InfoSec) Career Success - Updated

Over the years I've noted the behaviors I’ve seen from consistently successful people. In this context I define success as a balance of...

1,640 views

Nov 15, 20206 min read

12 Step Guide on Escalating Risk and Security Issues

Escalating issues is part of the foundation of any good risk and security program. Unfortunately, human nature is such that most people...

4,139 views

Oct 10, 20204 min read

Building Balanced Security Teams: The Rule of Thirds

As an industry we spend a lot of time talking about workforce development and skills shortages. We tend not to talk about how to organize...

3,036 views

Sep 27, 20205 min read

The Most Important Mental Models for CISOs - Simple Steps for Outsize Effects

There are lots of problem solving techniques across many fields. These are often represented as mental models or behavioral short-cuts....

2,240 views

Aug 29, 20205 min read

Security Budgets - Supply and Demand Thinking

How you obtain and manage a budget to drive an adequate level of security is immensely important. Yet, it is one of the least discussed...

2,103 views

Aug 22, 20203 min read

Cybersecurity Workforce Development - Updated

It is still somewhat frustrating that most of the dialog about the skills shortage in cybersecurity focuses, perhaps inevitably, on the...

1,217 views

Aug 16, 20206 min read

Tips for Running a Risk Committee

In any sizable organization it is important to have some form of management steering group or committee to oversee your risk program. The...

2,675 views

Aug 1, 202010 min read

Cybersecurity and the Board : A Fresh Perspective?

How to represent cybersecurity (or technology / information risks more generally) to the Board is an ongoing subject of discussion in...

5,971 views

Jul 12, 20203 min read

Security Leadership: A-grades vs. Pass/Fail

The underlying secret of most great security leaders and teams is one thing: the ability to know what needs to be done really well vs....

1,982 views

Jun 28, 20202 min read

A Simple Manifesto for Leading Security and Risk Teams

I’ve been using variants of these principles for many years in many contexts, both for security and broader risk management teams. I have...

2,202 views

Jun 21, 20206 min read

A Security Professionals Guide to Dealing with Disagreement

Disagreement arises in many situations. It is an inevitable part of any work in any organization, or life in general. It is especially...

3,103 views

RISK & CYBERSECURITY

Thoughts from the Field

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