If you’ve seen me speak about helping executives and technology teams better understand cyber risk and build a stronger organisational culture, and want to learn more, you’re in the right place.
Above are the 10 tips I share.
You’ll also find below a collection of phrases, concepts, perspectives, and practical wordplay that I use when discussing leadership, business, cyber awareness, and cultural change. On their own they might not all make sense, but trust me these all offer value. Let’s be clear, these are not mine, it is just a list of things I have picked up over the years. Some a famous quotes poorly translated. I don’t wish to be corrected. I have made them my own, as you should too.
If you’d like to explore these ideas further, feel free to get in touch with me via the contact page.
Motivation.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.
Try, there is no try. Do or do not, there is no try – Yoda.
You are never wrong doing the right thing.
Sanity.
Influencer what you can, document what you can’t.
There is no such thing as stress, just poor management of something.
The definition of stress is the obligation to do something without the resources to do it.
A lot of people confuse stress with unfamiliarity.
Efficiency
An organisation is the most efficient when the highest decision is being made by the lowest role possible.
If two people agree all the time, then one of them useless. If they disagree all the time, then both of them are useless.
Communication.
Entertain people long enough for them to learn something.
Cyber reporting should be split into, how hard did we work, what did we achieve and what does it mean.
Influence is getting others to willingly do what you want.
If you and your manager are not getting along there is one of two things going on. You are not communicating in a way that works for them, or there is context you are unaware of.
Focus
Thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become outcomes.
When skiing in trees, focus on the gaps between the trees, not the trees.
You get what you inspect not what you expect.
Prioritisation.
Sometimes you are better off sharpening the axe than chopping the tree.
Know the difference between important and urgent.
If nothing else, just do the first thing.
Pragmatism.
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.
Done is better than perfect.
There is no point being right in the back of an ambulance.
Resilience.
It’s not about how many times you fall down, its about how many times you get up.
If you can’t prevent it, prepare for it.
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Security.
Complexity is the enemy of security.
The biggest problems of the world come from saying yes too soon and no too late.
Your job is often just to keep the bad guys out, let the good guys in and keep the lights on.
If it is in the news, it is because it is new. Keep an eye on the mundane, that’s the thing that will get you.
Other.
God was able to make the heaven and the Earth in 7 days because there was no legacy.
Planes don’t crash for one reason.
The sky is not the limit, the ground is.
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
To prove the existence of a unicorn you either need to find a unicorn, or go to every possible place at the same time to prove there are no unicorns.
Email is a “to do” list written by someone else.