Happy Sunday Friends! Here is 1 quote I’m musing, 2 Ideas, 3 of my favorite things from the week, and 1 question. If you find it useful or interesting, please feel free to forward this along to some friends or others!

One Quote I’m Musing

“I cannot call somebody ‘hard-working’ knowing only that they read and write. Even if ‘all night long’ is added, I cannot say it – not until I know the focus of all this energy.”

-Epictetus, Of Human Freedom

Quality Is Better Than Quantity (mostly)

The pace of humanity has been ever-increasing. The allure of quantity often overshadows the significance of quality. And there are some good cases for it. For example, I can buy a button-down shirt from Walmart for six-times less than those I like from Hockerty. If I need a shirt that will suffice to be worn only a couple times in a year and looks just ok, that makes a ton of sense.

This tendency is also evinced in our Cyber domain where an immense quantity of security sensors, alerts, and technologies create a false sense of security. That quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to safety, just as an overabundance of possessions won’t ensure happiness or peace of mind.

In the Cyber domain, the multitude of tools and layers of security can lead to a complex and unmanageable security posture. When organizations deploy this tactic to guard against threats, they create vast amounts of data that require detailed analysis, making it difficult for security teams to bring actual threats above the noise level.

Epictetus would tell you about the importance of concentrating on what is in your control and what is outside your control. What is in your control: Baselining your network, identifying what inside your organization is worth targeting, prioritizing the valuable and vulnerable elements, focusing on high-quality security practices over merely accumulating vast quantities of tools. What isn’t in your control: Who, what, when, where your enterprise may be attacked, or Zero-Day vulnerabilities, and hundreds, thousands of other things.

A focused approach, grounded in quality, allows your organizations to allocate resources effectively, ensuring each security measure is well-implemented and understood by your team makes a huge difference.

The Human Element

Quality extends beyond the “things” of cybersecurity and into the human element as well. Marcus Aurelius, and many of the Stoics, often reflected on the impermanence of life and the importance of holding close what truly matters. People, friends, partners.

It’s 2024 and Phishing is still the most prolific and effective attack. In a leadership sense, this applies to quality training and developing culture. Those two things are far more effective than a barrage of security tools.

Investment in high-quality cybersecurity training and a culture that effectively communicates the why we exist as a corporation, why we are the best, and why we do what we do with security, compliance, and protocols inculcates an understanding of the significance of each person’s role in protecting our organization’s assets.

This approach, emphasizing quality, enhances security while also building cohesion and camaraderie among our people. This also builds a culture that values connections and collective responsibility over a rigid focus on numbers.

Beyond the Job

This career field, this calling, it is such a dynamic, diverse, and all-consumingly fascinating area. It’s easy to, in fact, be completely consumed by it. I would be remiss if I didn’t also remind us all (myself especially) to reflect on quality time with loved ones, another area where quantity is great, but quality is of immense importance.

With my background, I’ve absolutely experienced the demands of duty and the value of finding those meaningful moments. Focus on relationships and the quality of our interactions. Just as our organizational security is improved by a high-quality approach, so too is our personal life enriched by quality time and deep connections with those we care about.

I’ve been traveling a lot lately. When I am home, doing things like date nights, cooking together, and spending a day away from everything else by just being together as a family out at (and in) the lake creates tiny, perfect moments in time. Moments that, I hope, will stand out vibrantly in memory.

-e

Two Ideas From Me

Largely, we do social things outside of our working hours. When libraries are closed and the bars are open, why are we surprised when social life follows suit?
It is unlikely we will reach quality on our first attempt; we have to put in the reps to reach our goals.

Three Favorite Things From Others

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs
“All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people. What this means is that if you want to be a great company some day, you have to eventually build something so good that people will recommend it to their friends—in fact, so good that they want to be the first one to recommend it to their friends for the implied good taste.” - Sam Altman
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” - Bruce Lee

One Question

There is both good and bad momentum. Both propel you in their respective upward and downward trajectories. Where do you have good momentum and where do you have bad momentum?

Back to the shirt example…Now, when I have a shirt made from Hockerty, it’s tailored to my body (not just my size), it looks great, and it’s meant to be a staple piece in my wardrobe for several years of use (phases of fluffiness willing).

I’m not sponsored by Hockerty. But if one of you all are reading this… let’s chat ;)

Have a wonderful week,

I’ll see you Sunday.
-e