Taking Advantage of the "Special Opportunity"

Letter From
Kevin West, CEO

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE “SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY"

This issue of our magazine envisions the future of Information Security. It might seem premature to talk about the future when our industry is just emerging, but in today’s business environment, innovation moves at such a fast pace we must evolve even as we emerge.

Our industry is as young as computer programming was when Bill Gates was a student at Lakeside, a private high school in Seattle that happened to be one of the first to have access to a new generation of computers that shared processing power. As a result of this access, Gates was one of the first people to do computer programming in a way that was not painfully slow and arduous. Of course, Bill Gates is also exceptionally bright, extremely driven, and innovative. However, he made his mark on the computer industry because of a special opportunity that presented itself to a very small group of people. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, the combination of his skills, work ethic, and a special opportunity made Bill Gates an “outlier”, an exceptional person who changed his industry.

The technology revolution started by Gates has transformed business, creating vast opportunities but also a new set of risks that must be identified and addressed to ensure positive business outcomes. As a result, today’s CISOs stand at the intersection of business innovation and Information Security. This is our “special opportunity”.

CISOs are increasingly asked to come out of the IT department and participate in executive conversations. CEOs and CFOs are not going to give anyone additional business influence without first being confident in that person’s ability to positively contribute to the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. Like Gates did for the computer industry, our industry’s “outliers” will seize this special opportunity in front of them, and do the hard work to understand their value and deliver on a vision that aligns with business goals.

James Bradley, the best-selling author of Flags of our Fathers, spoke at our recent CISO Leadership Summit about value and vision. Bradley told us that more than 30 publishers turned him down before one publishing house agreed to sign him. His book became a national best seller. Through all the rejection, Bradley never lost focus. He strongly believed in his vision and the value his story would bring to all those who had seen the image of American soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima. While he was absolutely committed to his vision, he was flexible in adapting his story to achieve success. At each of his first 30 meetings, he left with a “no”. But many of those “no’s” came with advice or suggestions. He took those suggestions and perfected his work. As he evolved his story its value increased, but his vision remained steadfast. As a result, the 31st publisher said, “yes”.

Bradley asked the CISOs gathered at our summit to assess their own value to their organization and to define their vision. He encouraged them to seek feedback on their plan from other executives inside the company, and to be open to incorporating the suggestions to ensure their vision comes to fruition. Those who succeed at this endeavor may just be the “outliers” who advance Information Security.

In this issue we look out to the horizon and ask what is next for our industry. What skill set will our future leaders possess? How will they fit into the enterprise organization of the next ten years? In the following pages leading voices from our industry and academia posit to define our future.