Being totally honest
During my career, I have been well known to be straight, perhaps too honest. I recall a CISO scenario where I had joined a new company and was asked by senior executives to share my observations.
It became clear that they didn’t want to hear negative observations. Of course, I had assumed that the senior executives that I spoke to were bona fide in their request. In different forums, I tested this and found their contradictions to be the culture that they had created.
A culture of blind loyalty and not being data-driven can be dangerous. As a CIO and CISO, you will come across these examples unfortunately too frequently. How you manage them defines your own leadership impact.
I find honesty to be an easy way forward, as the only real alternative is the opposite – to be dishonest. In truth, there are a few shades in between, but this still includes an element of deceit. As a CIO or CISO, it is just easier to be honest and direct. It otherwise...
