Leading Change/Achieving Results

Experience developing and implementing an organizational vision that integrates key national and program goals, priorities, values, and other factors of that organization. Examples should include experience implementing change in their organization, exercising leadership, and motivating managers to incorporate vision and strategic planning into business processes.

As a CISO, Leading Change and Achieving Results is critical to ensuring that an organization’s information security posture evolves to meet emerging threats, aligns with strategic objectives, and supports organizational success. Cybersecurity is a rapidly changing field, requiring the ability to anticipate, adapt, and lead through transformational initiatives to protect organizational assets and drive mission-critical objectives.

Developing and Implementing an Organizational Vision

Successfully implementing an organizational vision requires integrating key national and local program goals, priorities, and values into a cohesive strategy that supports both security and business outcomes. For example:

Strategic Alignment: Our vCISO’s have developed numerous comprehensive cybersecurity roadmaps aligned with organizational objectives, such as supporting digital transformation initiatives or achieving compliance with federal mandates like NIST, FFIEC, ISO, HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC and FISMA. By doing so, we ensure that security measures are not seen as obstacles but as enablers of innovation.

Stakeholder Engagement: Our experience includes building cross-functional teams to ensure buy-in from executives, managers, and staff. We leverage their insights to shape a vision that balances risk management with operational efficiency.

One notable instance is when leading an organization-wide shift to a Zero-Trust architecture, specifically complying with EO14028, and the emphasized adoption of the M-22-09 Federal Zero Trust Strategy and CISA's Zero Trust Maturity Model Version 2.0. This requires extensive collaboration, training, and clear communication about the long-term benefits of adopting these mandates and models, which includes reducing insider threats, privileged access management and securing remote work capabilities.

Implementing Change, Exercising Leadership, and Motivating Managers

Change is often met with resistance, especially in cybersecurity, where implementing new technologies or processes can disrupt established workflows. To address this, we employ several leadership strategies:

• Creating a Shared Sense of Purpose: During a recent engagement and major initiative to consolidate and modernize legacy IT systems, we articulated a clear vision: enhancing security while reducing costs and complexity. By presenting this as a win-win for the organization, we motivated managers to see the strategic value of their contributions.
• Empowering Leaders: We establish a Security Governance Council composed of departmental leaders to oversee the integration of the security strategy into their business units. This empowers managers to take ownership of the vision and made them key drivers of change.
• Communicating the Why: Change initiatives often fail due to lack of clarity. For example, when implementing mandatory phishing simulations to reduce susceptibility to attacks, we communicate not just the “what” but the “why,” linking the initiative to real-world examples of breaches and emphasizing how it protects employees and the organization, real-time.
• Recognizing Success: We believe in celebrating milestones to sustain momentum. When a security awareness program we spearheaded achieved a measurable reduction in phishing incidents, we highlighted these successes in company-wide communications, fostering a culture of shared accomplishment and the celebration of a collective “win”.

Achieving Results

Leadership and vision translate to measurable organizational success when executed effectively, for instance:

• Reducing Risk: Through the implementation of a risk-based approach to cybersecurity, we successfully prioritized critical vulnerabilities, reducing overall risk exposure by 40% within 18 months.
• Driving Efficiency: By integrating security into the software development lifecycle (DevSecOps), we reduced time-to-market for new applications while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Improving Culture: An enterprise-wide security awareness program we led increased employee engagement and reduced security incidents caused by human error by over 25%.

Conclusion

Leading change and achieving results as a vCISO involves not only technical expertise but also the ability to inspire and motivate teams, align security goals with organizational priorities, and deliver tangible outcomes. By fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and forward-thinking, our vCISOs consistently drive transformational initiatives that enhance both the security and overall success of the organizations we’ve been privileged to serve.