SANS Technology Institute: Leading from the Front

Leadership Laboratory

Leadership Lab: STI Degree Candidates' Leadership Essays

SANS Technology Institute's mission is to develop the leaders of the future for the information security industry. One of our admission requirements is that an applicant complete an essay describing leadership qualities they have demonstrated in the past.

Leading from the Front

May 4th, 2007
By Dwayne Edwards

Lead From the Front
Lead from the front is taught to many officer candidates in all branches of military service. This premise works well in the very vertical and well defined command hierarchy that is required by military organizations. I have learned it also works well in the open ended peer relationships typical to sales teams. For me, lead from the front, means:

1. Take the Initiative
2. Be Decisive
3. Lead by Example

Take the Initiative
Stop periodically and examine your schedule and your style. Many of us get mired in the details of our job. We need to break these habits and focus on doing our best work. The questions to ask yourself are:

1. Am I doing anything proactive, or is it all reactive?
2. Where can I apply my talents to make a difference?

One important skill in being an effective leader is to understand where to concentrate your efforts. How can you effect change? Put a little differently, it means deciding WHEN to act. Look for the right opportunity to lead. Trying to lead in areas you are not suited for is a recipe for frustration and failure.

Be Decisive
The ability to act decisively is an important leadership quality. Too many of us are quick to go with gut feel. Time invested up front in intelligence gathering and building a strategy will pay off in the long run. Decide the critical information you need and collect the data and your teammate's opinions, but make the decision your own. Show you have confidence in that decision. This inspires others to have confidence in your decision as well. This doesn't mean you won't have to sell your ideas to others, but a well thought out plan with solid foundations and reasoning help move the process along.

Lead by Example
Set a bar for excellence in all you do. Do not expect others to perform to a standard that you are not willing or able to meet. Leadership is about creating solutions (see #1), not lamenting over problems. Make a conscious decision to interact with others positively. When you act, look at the action from outside, would you regard the action in a positive light?

An Example
I work as a systems engineer in the field sales force at a company that manufactures computer networking gear. The sales force was previously organized in a fairly typical fashion with an account manager (AM) and a systems engineer (SE) working as a team. With changes in technology, marketplace and products, AMs and SEs have become increasingly specialized. This has resulted in a more matrix driven organization, breaking down the traditional "joined at the hip" team. Changing AM/SE partnerships, as well as multiple specialties has created scheduling and communications issues.

Recently, we were faced with the following competitive threat. A group of our customers share some common funding sources and work collaboratively in a number of ways. One of these larger customers had purchased a competitive solution and the competitor was touting this win widely. A number of changes in a statewide network were driving new purchases in many of these customers' networks. To complicate matters, 4 different AMs covered these accounts and were spread out geographically and across organizational boundaries.

Next, a key customer with high standing in the group started outgrowing some of our gear and was looking for a replacement. Things came to a head when a competitor was invited to demonstrate their solution. This problem presented an excellent opportunity to exercise some leadership.

Take the Initiative
With the account teams spread out there was no clear point person for this issue. I looked at the problem and saw a place where my skills would clearly add value. I inventoried the equipment at each customer I knew about and added some qualitative commentary on each one. I sent out a survey to our account managers that included this information. I asked them to fill in the missing pieces. Some collaborative work ensued and additional intelligence was collected. This work showed us the resources and content needed to put together a compelling presentation. Our team pulled it together well, but there was one more opportunity for leadership.

Be Decisive
About two weeks before an important meeting with these customers I recognized an important problem. Our competitor was positioning the speed and ease of use of their IPS/IDS in this area as vital. They had the customers looking at this one technology as the salvation to all their security woes. They knew we had some pricing disadvantages on this particular piece of the solution. With a short time frame I determined a risky counter to this tactic. The key piece of information here was the manpower and training costs for this technology was out of reach of most of these customers. I brought in a third party to educate the customers on the reality of running an effective IDS/IPS system

In the end, it worked out to everyone's advantage. Not only did we win the business, we helped the customer make some important operational decisions. I was also honored to be recognized inside our company for this competitive win.

“SANS provides top instructors; that is what separates SANS from all other learning opportunities.”
Todd Greenlaw, Telus

The SANS Technology Institute

Leadership Laboratory

Leading from the Front

May 4th, 2007
By Dwayne Edwards

“SANS provides top instructors; that is what separates SANS from all other learning opportunities.” Todd Greenlaw, Telus

The SANS Technology Institute

Leadership Laboratory

Leading from the Front

May 4th, 2007By Dwayne Edwards

“SANS provides top instructors; that is what separates SANS from all other learning opportunities.”
Todd Greenlaw, Telus

May 4th, 2007
By Dwayne Edwards