Transitioning Into CISO And The Initial Challenges

Becoming the head of any department, and having all that responsibility on you can be very intimidating at first. Going from more behind the scenes to front and center can be uncomfortable, but reflect back on all your experience and let that guide your decision-making. Delegation is important in leadership roles, so get the team together and put your minds together to build a great security team. Identify the top priorities for your position, focus on those, and identify what can be delegated. 

Mentorship Advice To A Younger Self

When you are able to put yourself in other’s shoes, you can understand their motivations and how to work well within their realm. Understanding people and their professional wants and needs can make for lasting and reliable partnerships. Being transparent with your needs can many times lead to seeing you have similar professional goals, now that both parties see the end goal they can now work together much more smoothly.  Building trust with other members of the organization before an issue arises can also make solving these issues much less intimidating in the future when something does come up that requires their attention.

Collecting Feedback & Continuing Improvement

The security industry is constantly in flux, so the need for continuing improvement is pivotal to the success.  Have a conversation about the constraints your team is working within. Look outside your direct colleagues, outside of your team, go to other departments and ask them the same questions you ask your team. Having a fresh set of eyes on an issue at hand can lead to progressive solutions that may have been overlooked by those directly working within security.  Moving specific test from manual to automation based can free up time and capital that may need to be invested in another area of security. The frequency of security patching may need to change, as well as the speed of the testing process. The feedback events can be so helpful, getting the organization together to solve the issues being faced. Going into these events there needs to be a focus on the problems that need solving, look to the experts in these areas, and having these conversations in-person, and if possible hosted by an outside unbiased party. 

Celebrating Success

Security teams face a plethora of issues and problems constantly. This is a taxing industry that takes dedication and focus to be successful in. So when there is success we need to all be better at celebrating it. Giving credit where it’s due, having conversations about the successful methods used to achieve this success, and keeping team morale high can make for a more pleasant work experience. 

Resources & Links:

Steve Moore: Linkedin

Steve Person: Linkedin

Exabeam: Website

Cambia Health Solutions: Website

Speed Of Trust Book: Website