As we head into 2013, we will be asked to review what we contributed to our organizations in 2012. Some of us will also ask ourselves what we contributed to our teammates and the people we managed. And, finally, some of us will ask what we contributed to our industry.
This is also the time we begin to budget and plan for the new year. We know that budgets are tight. We know the risks continue to escalate and compliance to industry and government regulations can be burdensome. And we know that we are being asked to define our contribution in a way that is meaningful to our organization's mission. Max Dupree, the ex-CEO of Herman Miller, and the author of the book “Leadership is an Art,” once said that: “We cannot become what we need to be, remaining what we are.”
Leadership is an art and one that all of us must learn. It requires self-awareness, knowledge, diplomacy, courage, and it also challenges assumptions.
Today, more than ever, the security industry needs leadership and there are efforts to provide more guidance and instruction to the industry in this area. The Security Executive Council has teamed with the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of International Business on their Next Generation Security Leader Development program. It provides instruction and content that has been approved and tested on six continents. The program is presented in a webinar format and will be offered the day before The Great Conversation in Security event in Seattle on March 4, 2013.
Leadership also requires knowledge; knowledge that can be transferred via curriculum such as the SEC's program, but also real-time and persistent data. 2013 promises to be a break out year where more leaders will demand a new information management architecture that collects data from the devices and software applications that drive their operation, but also from the processes, or workflows, that use these tools.
The ability to identify the right metrics and measure them will determine how an organization optimizes its budget spend, measures its value to the organization, and how it becomes more predictive and proactive in its response to risk. "Resilience" will become a word more closely associated with this activity because it has a cross over meaning to both business and security.
Leadership, resilience management and metrics; did you have the means to measure and improve these key elements in 2012? If so, extend the value in 2013. If not, begin to reach out to establish these program elements in 2013.
