RSI Security recently hosted our third Executive Development Series webinar, Cybersecurity Management, on September 18, 2024. Our founder and managing director, John Shin, began with brief introductions to get audience members comfortable before leading into a recap of the previous Modules—to catch up on the series, read our Module One and Module Two recaps.
Shin established the main focus of Module Three: channeling awareness and attention into effective management, both in general business operations and in cybersecurity specifically.
Authenticity, Intentionality, and Management
The discussion began with an extended recap of important topics covered in the previous sessions. Shin reminded returning attendees about the inflection points over the course of our human lifespans (around ages 53 and 66) and how improving capacity is the key to life-long success and fulfillment. He also briefly reviewed the methods for improving capacity, like prioritizing vertical development and skill-building over horizontal knowledge accumulation.
Other important lessons for returning guests and newcomers alike included the importance of deliberate practice in the right methodologies and with full attention. The master approach means showing up and bridging from drama to empowerment to avoid unproductive cycles.
Beyond self-improvement in terms of consciousness and attentiveness, this Module would dive into the ways that these principles are key to managing effectively in any business context.
Execution and Management Fundamentals
Shin transitioned into an activity in which audience members were asked to fill in sentences beginning with “If you knew me, you’d know…” and get into progressively deeper levels (i.e., “if you really, really knew me….”). Participants offered insights about their personal lives, their families, and more. Then, Shin explained how this activity is a way to model the trust-building that’s key to effective communication, community-building, and overall management.
This led to a discussion of execution as the end goal of management. Rather than being an end in itself, management is a means and a necessary condition for consistent, effective execution.
To that effect, Shin noted that there are four pillars of execution:
- Prioritization (or Deliberate Trade-offs)
- Project Management (or Disciplined Process)
- Effectiveness (or Personal Productivity)
- Accountability (or Committed Action)
Three of these pillars (prioritization, project management, and accountability) would form the basis of the rest of the Module, with the others to be touched on in depth in later instances.
Prioritization and Deliberate Trade-Offs
Prioritization is what makes execution possible, and it’s absolutely essential to effective management. Managers are often overburdened with responsibilities—their own and others’—and need to make a concerted effort to target the right ones in the right order.
Shin illustrated a method for categorizing tasks using a 2×2 prioritization matrix plotting cost or effort on the X axis (high to low) and relative value along the Y axis (low to high). For reference:
Shin then plotted common initiatives for managers across the matrix, as follows:
Then, Shin explained the journey that an initiative takes over its lifespan. While tasks in the bottom left (highest costs, lowest values) should be ignored, others follow this progression:
- Delay – Initiatives in the upper half of the high-cost, low-value quadrant that begin to approach equilibrium may be good ideas, but there is not enough time for them—yet.
- Work In – Initiatives in the low-cost, low-value quadrant command some attention as managers learn more about them and start to prioritize the less risky among them.
- Selectively Invest – The high-cost, high-value quadrant is where major initiatives live; these are tasks that demand high intensity and quality (if not quantity) of attention.
- Drive Daily – Initiatives in the low-cost, high-value quadrant should be focused on such that they become habits across the organization. They’re the “low-hanging fruit.”
Sound prioritization paves the way for effective project management.
Project Management and Disciplined Processes
Shin led into the next discussion by bringing up the importance of systemization. Managers need to support their organizations with structured plans that position them for success.
In practice, this means taking up the concepts of Kaizen and Kaikaku from Japanese culture. Shin explained how Kaisen, or constant incremental change, has been key to the success of companies as large and influential as Toyota. But Kaikaku, or radical disruption, is also critical.
Staying prepared for change and managing processes effectively comes down to six steps:
- Organization – Maintain visible and accessible places to store standardized information.
- Structure – Operate in a consistent way following formalized, written processes.
- Systemization – Establish systems and protocols and stick to them consistently.
- Delegation – Assign tasks to other resources to deliver consistent results effectively.
- Prediction – Know how successful outcomes will be with accurate goals and metrics.
- Simplification – Increase efficiency and scalability while maintaining quality.
And, returning to initiative lifespans, Shin laid out five main considerations for framing them:
- Purpose (Why) – Explicitly state the purpose or reason for the project.
- Objectives (What) – Clearly define and articulate objectives.
- Brainstorming Relevant Details – Bear all pertinent details in mind.
- Framing (How) – Categorize work into specific priorities and activities.
- Action Plan (Who & When) – Create action plans outlining responsibilities.
Moving ahead, Shin bridged over effectiveness and personal productivity (to be discussed in a later Module) to focus on arguably the most important part of execution: committed action.
Accountability and Commitment to Action
Ultimately, committed action is deeper than just accountability; it’s about attentiveness coming together in targeted practice. Leading this way, managers create a culture of consciousness.
Securing commitments requires effective, intentional communication from managers, including:
- Making effective requests with clear expectations and deliverables
- Enrolling others, ensuring understanding and buy-in from team members
- Requiring committed responses with explicit, actionable statements
- Managing commitments and communicating proactively about adjustments
- Managing and learning from breakdowns rather than denying or downplaying them
To illustrate how important the very first step of this process is, Shin first displayed a couple of vague and ineffective requests alongside their more specific, pointed, effective counterparts.
Then, rounding off the main portion of the webinar, all audience members were sorted into breakout rooms and encouraged to practice effective requests amongst each other, providing feedback and exchanging practical advice on how they’d use this skill in their respective roles.
Looking Ahead: Effective Management
Wrapping up, Shin asked audience members to reflect on their takeaways from the hour and a half of learning. Responses varied from the importance of organization to the critical need for clear procedures and communication. One element that all participants agreed on was how critical structure is to effective execution and management—in cybersecurity and everywhere.
As noted above, future Modules will continue the discussion about execution and management, along with focuses on intentionality, consciousness, and cyber risk and assessment plans.
Shin encouraged all attendees to share their insights with the broader RSI Security Executive Development community by messaging executive-development-series@rsi.simplelists.com.
To learn more, request access to our recording of this event here. Catch up on previous sessions with our recaps for Module One and Module Two on our blog, and be on the lookout for an invite to our next event. And don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you have!
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