Episode #51 From tech to exec with Stuart Harrison
“The skills shortage is a symptom. It’s not the root cause”
— Stuart Harrison
Stuart Harrison is a passionate and motivated Information Technology Executive with strong business acumen and deep understanding IT services across multiple disciplines. A career spanning two decades primarily focused on the Cyber Security aspect of Information Technology, Stuart's experience ranges from some of the most simplistic systems and management, to some of the most complex, from low level technical engineering through to business leadership.
Stuart is the CISO of Medibank Private Limited and in this episode he shares his story, including what skills he gained as he evolved from technical roles to more executive roles, as well as discussing his approach when hiring security teams.
Links:
Time Stamps:
00:55 Skills Stuart brought to his CISO role and how he stays current
02:56 That pivotal moment of moving from a technical leader to an executive
03:30 “It really taught me about how to run the business of technology, not just how to run technical aspects of a technology business”
04:45 Succession planning
05:56 “Becoming comfortable means you become complacent”
07:33 Stuart’s approach when hiring
08:44 “We've tried to be as consistent, yet adaptable over time with who we're hiring”
08:55 Medibank’s shift and the role security plays
11:02 “If you drive to do the basics, and you do them really, really well, you've covered a substantial part of your business risk, not just your security risk”
11:45 Stuart’s thoughts on the skill shortage in the security sector
13:40 “There are so many different facets of security, so many different things that you could do.”
17:06 Starting a security team from scratch, who do you hire first?
21:06 “Making sure that your hiring process is ultimately going to complement the strength of the team in the medium to long term”
23:27 What do you wish you had known when you first started as a leader?
25:30 “It's not what you're saying, it's how you go about saying it.”