Conclusion

The only metrics that will truly matter to my life are the individuals whom I have been able to help, one by one, to become better people.

— Clayton M. Christensen

When Rock and I first sat down to discuss this book, it was immediately following a Birds of a Feather roundtable on Security Budgets and Planning in a Cloud Consumption Era at the RSA Conference 2020. The roundtable discussion turned out to be a one-on-one chat.

I was incredulous that this complex topic wasn't a stronger draw. I was also thoroughly embarrassed that at a conference with nearly 40,000 people in attendance, my roundtable attracted just a single attendee. At first, we waited patiently for others to join us. Eventually, we began to consider reasons why we were there alone, just the pair of us. Our hypotheses included things like, I'm not a famous industry personality, I did a poor job promoting the session, I was in direct competition with other more exciting events at the conference, it was late in the day and the conference, many people are just not far enough along in their cloud adoption efforts, people have this all figured out already, etc.

Although I'll never know exactly why my session was poorly attended, I have since spoken with several CISOs at some of the most cloud-forward successful organizations in the world. I learned that they still don't have great answers for the questions we were slated to discuss. I also came to understand that as cybersecurity leaders we all experience imposter syndrome. Even the most notorious and well credentialed experts confront this experience. As people, we grapple with ethical dilemmas that are complex and multifaceted. Our stresses, frustration, and burnout are real. And the reasons we avoid sharing or share only with a small intimate group of trusted peers are endless. Sometimes we only feel safe enough to propagate frivolous cliches; even when our most genuine desire is noble.

Each of us have strengths and weaknesses, as well as a unique set of circumstances that affect our lives. Whether you are a charismatic leader with room to grow your business acumen or a technologist who needs to elevate your emotional intelligence; we hope that the frameworks, resources, and case studies offered within this book expand your capabilities.

Throughout the book we endeavored to share our successes and failures as they relate to the experiences many cybersecurity leaders are likely to encounter. We hope that the theories we reviewed offer predictive value in terms of the outcomes you achieve. We aspire to help you avoid the pain and mistakes we experienced in our journeys and savor the victories of your own.

We hope that the time you invested reading this book helped provide at least one resource or insight that consoled your heart, emboldened your courage, sharpened your mind, or enriched your career and family. Finally, we look forward to building solidarity within the cybersecurity community, and we eagerly anticipate the conversations with individuals we will cherish, one by one.

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