Kevin Henry: Adding Value and Making a Difference

By Kevin Henry - Senior Instructor Readynez

I feel so very privileged to be an instructor and have the opportunity to impact and improve the professional lives of so many people and organizations. Do you realize how amazing that feels and that you can make a real impact as well?

Just leave your comfort zone. You´ll be happy that you did. 

Life is short

Life is good and has an incredible amount of potential and room for growth, enjoyment and laughter.

Work makes up a large part of our life and it is important to use that time well – to add value and make a difference. We who work in the Information Security and Audit fields have an excellent opportunity to make the world around us better a little bit every day.

It is important to seek out ways to make lives better through the development of an effective information security program.

Many organizations struggle to understand and implement security controls that will protect the assets of the organization. I believe that this is often because they really do not know where to turn.

Sales will encourage them to spend more money on technology and tangible solutions. Management often runs after the latest fad or bandwagon. We will never have enough money to do everything we need to do. So where do we turn?

As security and audit professionals we need to seek out solutions. We need to seek to understand the business and its constraints and issues. Only then can we add value. We need to become better at recognizing threats, understanding vulnerabilities, and encouraging the adoption of best practices.

The problem is that, as the old saying goes, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks unless you know more than the dog!

So we need to push ourselves- to be on top of developments. To expand our knowledge. To be creative and solutions-oriented and not just passive, lethargic and stagnant in our comfort zone.

You can make a difference – you have the opportunity to make small changes every day that can improve the reliability of your systems, protect data and protect the interests of your customers, managers, fellow employees and suppliers.

How? Stay hungry. Keep learning. Keep asking questions and thoughtfully considering how to move a few meters or yards towards the goal.

Do not accept the status quo just because it is the way things have always been done. I sit in a class this week with several students over the age of sixty. I could not be more proud of them – instead of settling into retirement they know the value of passion – and are even paying their own way for the class.

They add value to their organizations and to the many others around them that they inspire and motivate. So let’s all see the value of learning and contributing to society and the welfare of all people.