What is your company’s vision? It’s a simple question, yet still one that many entrepreneurs are unable to effectively answer this question in a cohesive manner when asked. Although the answer to this question will be unique to every leader, the premise behind the answer is that it must be written in ink.

When it comes to identifying the traits of a visionary leader, one individual is always front of mind: Dr. Oleg Konovalov. Following a career spanning nearly three decades of operating businesses and consulting Fortune 500 companies, Dr. Konovalov has also been recognized as the #1 global thought leader on Culture by Thinkers 360 as well as a #1 Global Leading Coach and international speaker. He is also the author of 4 best-selling titles including his latest book, “The Vision Code,” that was released in early 2021 on Amazon.

Oleg was given the nickname of “the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership” due to his ability to create and execute a compelling vision for businesses while also identifying a manager’s strategic needs in corporate culture and leadership. Oleg’s wisdom transcends industries and experience levels, capturing my attention and leaving me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next great sound bite. I’ve spoken with Oleg once before and have been clamoring to get him back on my podcast after hearing many of his incredible stories of perseverance and determination which continue to reverberate through my life to this day.

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In Episode #208, Bill talks with Mark Sangster. Mark is the VP & Industry Security Strategist at eSentire Inc., an award-winning speaker, and the author of the new book, No Safe Harbor: The Inside Truth About Cybercrime and How To Protect Your Business.

As a CIO and Business IT Leader here are some wins you will get by listening:

– How remote work and employees bringing their office home have created new hurdles for IT leaders to deal with. (18:30)
– The root causes of cyberattacks and how bad actors are able to carry out such attacks as ransomware. (7:00)
– Why cybersecurity is not just an IT problem to fix and why it’s a business risk to manage. (4:00)
– Why enterprises should create a risk registry to rank the risks they face. (21:00)
– Why compliance is not the same as security or privacy. (33:00)
– Why some companies are ill-prepared for cyberattacks and the importance of having measures in place to protect your data. (12:00)
– Why complacency and a set it and forget it mentality are dangerous things for a company to have when it comes to cybersecurity. (15:30)
– How much easier it is for a bad actor to virtually rob a bank rather than physically. (40:00)
– The reputational hit that companies take after data breaches and cyberattacks. (26:30)
– Why modern compliance often lags behind other aspects of the business. (37:00)

Mark Sangster is the Principal Evangelist and VP of Industry Security Strategist for eSentire Inc based in Ontario, Canada. He is an award-winning speaker at international conferences and on prestigious stages, including the Harvard Law School, and an author on various cybersecurity subjects.

Mark has a fascinating perspective on shifting risk trends, and his work has influenced industry thought-leaders. He is the go-to expert on data breaches, and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Mark also hosts the Cyber Insider Podcast. He interviews experts from across various industries to explore data breach litigation, cyber insurance claims, crisis communication, the rise of gray zone threats, and the risks of interconnected technology.

He is a contributing author to several leading industry publications (CSO magazine, SC Magazine, LegalTech News), an invited speaker at 40+ conferences a year, and a regular guest on many well-respected podcasts.

His most recent book, No Safe Harbor: The Inside Truth About Cybercrime and How To Protect Your Business, tells the story of cybercrimes and cyber-attacks that never made the headlines but are equally important for companies to understand what they need to do to protect themselves.

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In Episode #207, I talk with Bill Jensen. Bill is the CEO of the management consulting firm, The Jensen Group, and is a world-renowned thought leader who has been given the nickname, Mr. Simplicity.

As a CIO and Business IT Leader here are some wins you will get by listening:
You need two kinds of mentors- one that makes you feel comfortable, and one that pushes you to get outside of your comfort zone. (27:30)
Storytelling is the most impactful way to simplify an idea. (7:30)
The most important asset that everyone has right now is their time and attention. (8:00)
The way you focus on time is to respect the fact that everyone only gets 1,440 minutes in one day. (9:30)
Only 9.8% of people surveyed said they can achieve their dreams where they currently work. (21:30)
The two components of simplicity are empathy and storytelling. (7:00)
We can teach anybody anything. We can give anybody any problem if we give it to them at their level, not ours. (4:30)
Three years from now, you will have a lifetime worth of change to deliver. What is the legacy you want to leave behind? (18:30)
2020 has taught us that we need to focus on personal impact. (25:00)

Bill has spent the last 30 years studying the best ways work can get done. He is a passionate simpleton who is against corporate stupidity that wastes people’s time, attention, and dreams. Some of the biggest topics Bill covers with his work are the top essentials for leading people into tomorrow, creating cultural agility with digital transformation, and developing focus, speed, and clarity in today’s crazy world. Bill has worked with numerous large corporations on these topics, including American Express, GE, IBM, and SAP.

Bill’s competitive advantage is his work ethic and passion for making it easier for everyone to work smarter, not harder. He has interviewed and surveyed over 1 million people and always has an eye for the future. This eye for the future prompted IBM to invite Bill to be a part of their exclusive Futurist think tank community.

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Akshay Bhargava is the Chief Product Officer at Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is described as the leading advanced malware prevention and remediation solutions provider. In this role, he leads product organization, guides all Research and Development activities, and drives the company’s technology vision/product road map. He previously served as Vice President for Oracle’s Cloud Business Group, as a product executive at FireEye, and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Akshay is a board adviser to several tech startups and was named one of The Software Report’s Top 25 Software Product Executives of 2020. A proven thought leader, Akshay writes for Forbes Technology Council and is a frequent speaker at industry events. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Some of the takeaways you will get from listening to this interview with Akshay are how to apply a purpose-built framework to product innovation. Akshay is using this for security innovation, but this is a framework that you can apply to any innovation. On LinkedIn, he has a really nice interaction with the CIO and CISO community about this innovation framework.

You will also learn about how to remove luck from the innovation process. He is a big proponent of removing luck in the innovation process.

Another takeaway is how to align customer pain, feature requests, and customer empathy with purpose in building your products. How to stop responding to endless feature requests and build products.

Also discussed is how to prioritize and choose what to do and what not to do with product development. We also talk about the mindfulness and Zen approach to security. There is research that is done that compares users that have been trained in mindfulness versus users who haven’t been. There is a stunning 38% decrease in hitting inadvertent malware.

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Roger Grimes‘  expertise in the field of computer security is unparalleled. He describes himself as the best in the world when it comes to computer security defense- and he has the credentials to back up this assertion.

He works with Kevin Mitnick who he calls the best Offensive Security guy in the world, but he calls himself the best when it comes to Defense.

As all of you know by now I love Offense and Defense Innovation so this interview falls squarely into the category of Defense Innovation for sure.

With more than 40 computer certifications and twelve books authored or (Co-authored) on computer security, Roger has spent over three decades imparting his knowledge to audiences worldwide.

His current title is Data-Driven Defense Evangelist at KnowBe4. He is the author of the new book, Hacking Multifactor Authentication.

Roger is a 33-year senior computer security architect and cybersecurity veteran specializing in general computer security, identity management, PKI, Windows computer security, host security, cloud security, honeypots, APT, and defending against hackers and malware. He has worked at some of the world’s largest computer security companies, including Foundstone, McAfee, and Microsoft.

In this time of remote workforces and distributed endpoints, Roger advocates for Multi-Factor Authentication. However, MFA is not the end all be all for security. The vast majority of hacking doesn’t care about your MFA. It’s all about reducing your risk, according to Roger.

Throughout his many years in the industry, Roger a universal mission that drives all of his actions- to make the internet a safer place. Roger says if he leaves the Earth without accomplishing that feat, he has failed.

I also provide how you can connect with him on Linkedin. He has over 25k followers.

We’ve been sold by the industry that MFA is a Warm Blanky and Panacea for all security ills.

Learn more deeply about this topic as it is critical to your distributed security architectures moving forward

I’m excited to share this conversation with such a distinguished and world-renowned Security Defense Specialist.
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