Making Good Business Decisions Is Hard. Getting Better At Making Them Is Necessary.

Leadership requires good decision-making. As an experienced, well-trained, and (of course) thoughtful technologist, you probably believe that you have the answer. And even better, you know the questions which of course are consistent with the answers you have.

Some decisions are easy because there are policies, guidelines, scoring rubrics, etc. and as long as the decision to be made fits within the parameters you have at your disposal, cool. As a cybersecurity leader you also have a team -- most of whom you probably hired -- you can get input from, and you have peer leaders who can provide perspective.

Easy, right?

As we constantly say here, you get hired for your skills and fired for your personality. When you were hired into this job, you were considered the best possible candidate. There was a process that you aced -- credentials/certificates, degree(s) from the right 'elite' university, enough experience, recommendations. Maybe there was even a test battery that you did well (enough) on. That's all good.

Maybe you survived your first 90 days on the job without major issue. It takes work to be successful in a new role, after all.

All of that shows you have good judgment. You had good advice and you made good decisions in a timely manner. You executed on your plan.

Organizational reality can be hard. Sure, there are vision and mission statements and core values. Then things change. New team members. New technology. New markets. New executives. Oh yeah, you changed too. 

In cybersecurity, your skillsets go out of date in probably 3 years. Maybe you have less time. Are you just as keen on the new realities your organization faces, and that you face, or are you maybe a bit of a blowhard now because you keep going on about how things used to be?

Let's get to it: you will fail as a cybersecurity leader by attempting to solve today's challenges with yesterday's thinking. While the previous you on Day 1 of this job was pretty awesome...would the current you get hired in this new environment?

"You get fired for your personality" means that you don't adapt quickly or effectively. Estimates are that 50% of leaders fail. That means that maybe 50% of leaders cannot adjust and adapt. That's a coin flip.

Whatever else you think, do not imagine that you are immune to the coin flip.

There is a process involved in making better decisions. It takes working with people who know the process and can hlep you learn it.

Ask us how we can help you turn the odds in your favor though staying current, adapting, and thriving as a cybersecurity leader.