Episode #9: Tuning In with Karen Worstell
“In order for us to be successful in the long term, we have to have people that are really good at change.”
— Karen Worstell
Karen Worstell is the CEO of W Risk Group, a Denver based cybersecurity consultancy focused on helping companies demonstrate due diligence to a defensible standard of care. Karen has also been the CEO of AtomicTangerine, a Silicon Valley startup, and tenure as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Microsoft Corporation, AT&T Wireless, and Russell Investments.
During this episode, Karen will share how leaders can build and cultivate a successful security team through her diversity and sourcing plans. Follow the discussed core principles when building and aligning your security team. Learn how the ‘skills crises’ is effecting the hiring process and the impact the ‘Be an ally’ program has on the tech industry.
Links:
Time Stamps:
00:31 - Karen’s background and introduction
04:30 - Why there are so few women in cyber security
09:05 - “A personal resilience, level of confidence, and ability to do self-advocacy outside of a formal environment are very important to women for being able to advance their career.” - Karen Worstell
11:18 - The role diversity plays in hire practices and sourcing plans
12:57 - “We want to create an environment that’s welcoming for everyone.” - Karen Worstell
15:01 - Core principle to follow when building and aligning security teams
17:57 - “In order for us to be successful in the long term we have to have people that are really good at change.” - Karen Worstell
18:53 - Which roles you may want to our course verse in-house employees
20:23 - How the ‘skills crisis’ affects the hiring process
23:06 - The impact that ‘Be an ally’ has on the tech industry
27:12 - Karens best advice to her younger self