We interviewed CISOs from across the world and asked them to give their best piece of advice to aspiring CISOs.
Here’s what they said:
“Volunteer more and set up your own labs at home. The more experience you get, the more understanding you have and the better position you will be in at the point of interview.”
“You need to be inquisitive, curious and a good marketer. You need to understand how people think and you need the IT experience, tech understanding and soft skills.”
“A CISO should have held senior management roles in many industries, not just security. They should have held significant budget, be able to understand an operating model of a business, have grown-up conversations with a Finance Director, Technical Analyst and be able to explain security to the broader business. Qualifications are a bonus; I would pick experience over certificates every day.”
“The ideal CISO should be mature, have experience of walking in the shoes of other people who have held budgets, understand that you cannot seek perfection and that you will need to support the business and understand where it’s going, its constraints and then implement realistic robust solutions and work with the whole business to achieve it. They need to translate security into business terms and have strength, credibility and wisdom.”
If you have any advice for aspiring CISOs please join the conversation and if you would like a copy of our upcoming white paper focused on the evolution of the CISO please get in touch. 
