CISO Julie Chatman wants to help you take control of your security leadership role

My message to cybersecurity professionals is: Remember, you are not always a cybersecurity professional. You have learned this over time. So, meet people where they are. Skip the jargon. Explain things in simple language. If people don’t understand you, they won’t be able to help you protect the organization.

Tell me about your mentoring experience.

Chatman: I have taught and coached many people, both one-on-one and in groups.

For example, in 2021, I created a free five-part series called Cyber ​​Career Differentiators, basically business skills and professional soft skills. There are boot camps all over the place teaching people how to set up firewalls, but no technical experts to teach them how to make eye contact with business people and have real conversations. So, I created that curriculum and put it out there and 516 people took the class.

Additionally, I do ongoing one-on-one consulting, and I now run a coaching firm that focuses on developing cybersecurity leaders.

What are you proud of in your work?

Chatman: Earlier I said that Internet professionals are shying away from the CISO role. It is getting harder and harder to convince people to sign up for this job. But here’s what I’m most proud of: People tell me that I encourage them to get into cybersecurity. The answer I get is that I am connected, active, and human.

I think people can see that I care about the people behind the technology. That’s why I never held ‘office no.’ ‘No’ is the first word most children learn, and it’s a favorite word in cybersecurity. But it doesn’t occur to me. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up — I ask tough questions, dig up details, challenge ideas. However, I always start by listening.

What I am proud of is being an example for people who feel threatened by this industry. I started in medical diagnosis. If I could be a CISO, anyone with the right combination of curiosity and commitment can build a successful career in cybersecurity.

That’s more important to me than any technical achievement, any FBI project, anything else I’ve done. Encouraging others to see this as possible for themselves – that’s what I’m proud of.

Is there a quote that inspires you?

Chatman: ‘Strength is not found in unsuccessful plans. But for those that are built to recover with skill, speed, and strength.’

Are there any books you’ve read that you’d like to recommend to others?

Chatman: World War Z by Max Brooks. A collection of short stories set during the zombie apocalypse, but the zombie part is just a stand-in. What makes it valuable is how it examines different aspects of society under pressure – government, military, finance, global supply chains and logistics, medicine – including organ donation and transplantation, medicine, and more.

This book isn’t really about zombies. It’s about how systems break down when infrastructure fails. What happens when we lose basic services – grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, law enforcement – all the things we take for granted?

Every time I read it, I see something new about how to think like a professional. For example, the logistics chapters: How do supply chains fall? How do people become vulnerable when travel plans fail? I need to understand these dependencies because they are all enabled by technology. This book is a fascinating look at how things work when they work and what breaks first when they don’t.

I’m interested in this genre because it shows what happens when technology doesn’t scale. We got a taste of that with the CrowdStrike incident. People couldn’t access their bank accounts, they couldn’t fly home. That’s an idea of ​​what a system failure looks like.