If you’ve selected IT as a profession, then you’ve chosen life-long learning as a discipline. Like so many STEM fields, the rate of change and advancement in technology is awe-inspiring. And if you hold or aspire to a leadership position in the cybersecurity profession, then the phenomenon of impostor syndrome comes with the territory. How can you possibly become and remain a master of ethical hacking (“MEH”) to provide ongoing value to your organization when the attack vectors and techniques are constantly evolving? Simply put, you can’t and shouldn’t.
The Sisyphean attempt to stay adept with emerging technologies and attack methods can be all-consuming. For many in cybersecurity, the moment we sense in ourselves a potential skill shortcoming, we double down on developing more technical expertise. And if you’re a member of an under-represented demographic in your workplace, you are likely defining your value by ensuring you have all the skills within the cumulative portfolio of skills in your department. You feel a need to prove to yourself – and others – that you are not merely a diversity hire, but deserve to be there. So, you take even more technical classes to boost your confidence, particularly as your negative self-talk magnifies missteps and missing skills that nobody else notices.
And the ironic part of all this? The skills you need to stop this vicious circle and emerge as a leader are not more “hard” technical skills, but “soft” skills – ill-named, since they’re often harder to cultivate. If you’re feeling inadequate in your position and seeking weaknesses to address, take a moment to consider how you could best contribute to your organization’s success. An EPIC leader has a balance of the following traits:
- E = Expertise
- P = Presence
- I = Influence
- C = Connections
Expertise will get you a gig, but the addition of the other three will make you indispensable to an organization.
Presence, the ability to communicate a strategic goal or vision in a compelling way, emerges from purpose. You understand the needed business outcome of an initiative and you embrace your role in driving that progress. Influence enables you to collect others’ perspectives on addressing a challenge and then steer a team to select an approach that achieves the best success given the time and resources available. With a well-presented and group-endorsed option, you can even obtain more resources for a higher level of success. When you establish connections with others, you find ways to support and promote their value by contributing your expertise to help solve their challenges and provide them opportunities to make your projects more successful.
You deserve and should expect more fulfillment in your career. To further explore these opportunities, start your day with me at my virtual session on 13 May at the ISACA North America CACS Conference Virtual Event. We’ll explore how to get past negative self-talk and self-limiting behaviors, and how to progress “From Surviving to Thriving as an ‘Only’ in Cybersecurity.”
