CISOs Make Great Board Members, Unlock Your Leadership Potential, and 10 Keys to CISO – BSW #292

Even as first-timers, successful CISOs make for successful board members. In the last few years, the best CISOs have pushed their organizations outside of their comfort zones, resulting in high-ROI projects that contribute significantly toward the digital transformation of the organization. The spirit of this relentless pursuit to transform is highly impactful at the board level, and the practical knowledge those CISOs bring is very valuable.

If you want to be at the top of your game becoming a next-generation Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) requires a combination of technical expertise, such as cloud security, application security, AI, and other managed security services that the top hyperscalers provide. In addition, leadership skills, and a deep understanding of the business is also mandatory requirements.

While the emotional work you do as a leader may go unrecognized and undervalued, it is more vital than ever in today’s work world. This labor is often a selfless and prosocial act, allowing you to care for and positively impact others even when you’re not feeling it. However, it should not come at your personal expense. In this piece, the author offers four techniques to try the next time your feelings and emotional expectations are discordant, so that you can preserve your health and ensure your high performance over time.

Looking to improve your leadership skills in 2023? Look no further than these 12 must-read books!

1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
2. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink
3. The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries
4. “The Power of Intentional Leadership” by John C. Maxwell
5. “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek
6. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
7. “The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
8. “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek
9. “Daring Greatly” by Brené Brown
10. “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell
11. “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen
12. “The Leadership Challenge” by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

Cybersecurity is regarded as a highly technical field that’s replete with expert certifications, renowned for those who can identify the next zero-day bug, and requires hard skills and practical know-how above all else.

But Robert Wood, the chief information security officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wants to challenge some of those assumptions. The cybersecurity field now more than ever, he argues, needs people with soft skills like creativity, teamwork, and communications chops.

There can be many reasons you are not being listened to. Most of them fall into one of two categories. First, people may have a hard time hearing you. Second, your listeners may not engage with what you are saying. 

Thankfully there are ways to work on both of these areas!