CISO as a Business Executive, Mastering Effective Leadership & Communication Skills – BSW #311

Because of the impact of cybersecurity across the business, we can’t wait 20 years for CISOs to start thinking and acting like business executives.

In today’s digital landscape, cybersecurity has become a priority for business executives, including the CISO. As CISOs, their skills translate into running a business by overseeing cybersecurity operations, providing strategic direction, and making critical decisions. They engage in strategic planning, develop cybersecurity strategies, and ensure competitiveness in security.

The constant battle to keep cybercriminals at bay has become a board-level concern in recent years, with defence expenditure trending ever upwards. In a tough trading period for most companies, cybersecurity budgets have largely been spared the axe, but business leaders won’t keep throwing money at the problem without a clear idea of the return on this considerable investment.

It’s therefore down to data security chiefs to explain the risks clearly and make the case for continued investment clear to their boards and C-suite colleagues, most of whom won’t have in-depth knowledge of the subject.

The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the National Cyber Director released a memorandum on Tuesday outlining five cybersecurity budget priorities for federal departments and agencies for fiscal year 2025 consistent with the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The five in the memo are the same as the National Cybersecurity Strategy: defend critical infrastructure, disrupt and dismantle threat actors, shape market forces to drive security and resilience, invest in a resilient future and forge international partnerships to pursue shared goals.

As a CEO, your role is pivotal in driving the success of your company. Effective leadership is not only about making strategic decisions but also about maximizing your productivity to inspire and guide your team towards achieving goals. In this article, we will explore strategies and habits that can help unleash CEO productivity, enabling you to lead with efficiency, focus, and effectiveness.

Communication is one of most important pieces of cybersecurity. Good communication is also multifaceted. Cyberattacks do not happen in a vacuum, and this is an industry where technology is common across all users and most service providers are integrated at some level during major live events.

This is not about sharing secret sauces or opening the kimono; this is about sharing knowledge and information to help each other reduce the risk potential of a cyberattack and communicate awareness in the unfortunate circumstance of an incident. Working together as a community on cybersecurity can only help mitigate the threat situation and help reduce the impact of an attack.

In my pursuit of optimal efficiency, I have come to appreciate how powerful effective communication skills can be. Not only do they reduce stress and increase productivity, but they also lead to greater sales and success. The most important is that it is a skill that can be learned following communication training methods. There are many ways to improve communication skills, but perhaps the most well-known and respected method is the Dale Carnegie approach.