In early June 2024, my friend David Malicoat graciously invited me to be a guest on The Professional CISO Show and, while I was incredibly honored, I was a bit hesitant as well. I had just begun working on a concept (partially inspired by my friend Dena DeNooyer Stroh, most immediately, but also by my friends Jay Johnson and Erin Stewart (in ways they still have no idea about – but will!), as well as many others over the years) and I was just getting started on it. The concept was to try and help encourage better collaboration between legal departments and technology / security teams, which has been a problem that I have consistently seen throughout my 25 years of working at the intersection of both of them.
On June 26, as we were meeting just before recording, I told David what I was working on and, while the episode we recorded definitely hints at the concept of what it was, I told him I did not want to mention it directly because, to be honest, I was still feeling very insecure about both the merits of the concept and, more importantly, whether I could actually get it done. The last thing I wanted to do was tell the world (of #THPC‘s listeners, at least!) that I was working on something like this and then never get it done.
My time spent with David was truly a blessing from God and, as God always does, the timing was perfect. I was exhausted and needed encouragement and at least some affirmation that what I was working on might have some value in the marketplace of ideas around the #CISO community. David provided both of those things and more and I will be forever grateful to him for that. But something else happened at that meeting as well.
A couple of years earlier I had met with my friend Jeff Crilley at Real News Public Relations about a new service they were providing of helping people with podcasts. While I had always loved the idea of having a podcast, especially since my buddies Rafal Los, James Jardine, and Michael Santarcangelo always so graciously had me on their Down the Security Rabbithole Podcast #DTSR, the timing was not right but I told Jeff that I knew that one day that would change.
While I was at the Real News studios to record #THPC, I just so happened to run into Jeff walking down a hallway and we visited for a few minutes. I told him about the book I was working on and, as we were talking about it, it hit me that this idea of the GC+CISO relationship just might be a great focus for not only a book, but also a podcast …
So, to get to the point, this past Thursday, Dena graciously agreed to join me as my very first guest on The GC+CISO Connection Show and record an episode that will be launching early next week!
Until then, go listen to The Critical Connection: CISOs and General Counsel in Cybersecurity, my episode of #THPC with David to get a flavor for where all of this was heading back in June, which seems like a lifetime ago!
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