Leadership Laboratory

Leadership Lab: Management Competencies

Leadership Essay - Updated April 6th, 2010
Effective Communication Leads to Understanding - May 27th, 2010
Making Time Zones Work For You - March 5th, 2010
Applying the Pareto Principle to Information Security Management - March 18th, 2010
Trust and Leadership - February 24th, 2010
The Erosion of Personal Privacy - Updated March 3rd, 2010
Situational Awareness Advice for Security Managers - February 4th, 2008
Temet Nosce - January 29th, 2008
Waking Sleeping Dogs: Information Security Ethics - March 29th, 2009
Using Key Competencies to Manage Career Development and Direction - May 30th, 2008
The Meeting before the Meeting - September 17th, 2008
Leadership in a Technical Role - September 17th, 2008
Motivation Mistakes Inexperienced Leaders Make and How to Avoid Making Them - March 10th, 2008
Improve the performance of a project with a good start - January 11th, 2008
Project Management for Security Managers: Develop a Plan - January 29th, 2008
Resolving Performance Issues Caused by Lack of Skill or Ability - December 24th, 2007
Living Life on Purpose - Personal Branding - Updated September 6th, 2007
Positional and Personal Authority - Updated September 6th, 2007
Cross-training: A Case Study - July 27th, 2007
How to "Pushback" - July 17th, 2007
Should I Apply for this Middle Management Position? - Updated June 13th, 2007
Groups in Conflict: How to Manage their Relationship - June 8th, 2007
Creating the Next Generation of Cyber Security Leaders - May 8th, 2007
How To Budget Time - Updated February 10th, 2010
The Security Manager and Business Situational Awareness - Updated May 17th, 2010
How to Address Shortcomings in Employee Evaluations - January 1st, 2007
Conducting an Exit Interview - Updated October 6th, 2009
Measuring Employee Performance - Updated April 29th, 2009
Coaching to Improve Performance - Updated November 19th, 2009
Google Power Searching for Security Managers - December 3rd, 2007

Temet Nosce

January 29th, 2008
By Stephen Northcutt


Temet Nosce Leadership Lab Temet Nosce, meaning "Know Thyself," was the sign above the door in the Oracle's kitchen in the movie The Matrix. As a popular blogger on that subject wrote:

"Life, it seems to me, is a series of choices. Constantly we have to make choices and decisions…and the quality of our lives and often the direction it takes is decided by the quality of the decisions we make. As Neo rightly guessed in the Matrix Reloaded, “ Choice. The problem is choice.”. I have been faced with choices, often life-changing ones, and had to make the decisions by myself. Most people would prefer to leave the decision in someone else’s hands or postpone it until the decision matters no more or their hands are tied and they are forced to choose one over the other."[1]

As computer security managers, we need to honestly understand our capacity for effecting change. We need management skills, security skills, and a track record of putting them to use. Our chance of effecting change in ourselves is much higher than with others, so let us each start at the beginning. So, please, stop everything; if possible, get to a quiet place. Take out your pencil, not pen, these values should change over time, and answer the questions below; be as brutally honest as you can, you are the only one seeing your answer:
In SANS Security Leadership Essentials For Managers, we will give you a jump start into learning or remembering your basic management and security skills, so now the application is up to you. Understanding the ebb and flow of money is a critical skill, and a large part of business situational awareness comes down to budget and finance. As a manager, one of your priorities is to extend your personal self awareness to the team around you. This makes alignment and team based situational awareness possible, so that all members of the team have shared expectations for performance and results, and also understand each other's roles.

The problem is choice
We can help you while you are in the course, but as soon as you leave, life will close back upon you. Whether you make the time to do the important things is up to you entirely! Many people ask me if they should sign up for the GIAC certification for this course, the GSLC. If that can help you study, then make that choice. This course has everything you need to become a more effective security manager, but the information cannot jump out of the books into your head. Choose well!

1 http://nissimnabar.blogspot.com/2006/06/tenet-nosceknow-thyself.html
2 http://www.sans.org/training/description.php?mid=62
3 http://www.giac.org/
4 http://www.giac.org/certifications/Management/gslc.php