CIO Leaders Summit Australia, Melbourne 2024

Today I attended the CIO/CISO Leaders Summit Australia, Melbourne 2024. I was offered a complimentary ticket by reps at Focus Network. 

The event included both CIO and CISO streams, and we could attend sessions in either stream so I switched across a couple of times. 

This photo was taken after a session titled: "Closing Keynote Panel Discussion: Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Cybersecurity and Tech – Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Female Talent" - where the majority of blokes decided to leave the room. Which pretty much sums up the problem with women in tech right there. 

More info: 

CIO Leaders: https://focusnetwork.co/cioleadersaustralia.com/melbourne/

CISO Leaders: https://focusnetwork.co/cisoleaders.com.au/melbourne/ 

Program:

8:00 Registration, Badge Collection & Refreshments

8:30 Welcome and Introduction & Master of Ceremonies

8:40 Opening Debate: Balancing Innovation and Security: Who Should Have the Final Say in Approving New Technologies?

9:05 Keynote Presentation – Artificial intelligence and your business

9:40 Keynote Panel Discussion: AI in the Enterprise: Balancing Innovation and Security

10:15 Keynote Presentation: Accelerating Cloud Security to enable AI: How Security teams can adopt a new operating model to enable agile AI adoption?

10:50 Networking Break

11:10 Breakout Session: How REA Group Utilises Behavioural Data Science to Safeguard Against Email Borne Threats and Streamline Security Protocols

11:10 Breakout Session: Are You Ready to Adopt a New Cloud Security Operation Model?

11:10 Breakout Session: The Essential Eight & The Modern Threat Landscape

11:10 Breakout Session: Driving the Right Work to the Right Resource at the Right Time

11:45 Speaking Presentation: Unmasking cybercrime, the law enforcement response

12:20 Keynote Speaking Presentation: Reducing Risk with Modern Identity Management

12:55 Breakout Session: Identity Protection in an AI-Driven World

12:55 Breakout Session: The Essential Eight: Overcoming Your Challenges with PAM

12:55 Breakout Session: Balancing Innovation and Risk: Enhancing CX with AI and Quality

12:55 Breakout Session: A Practical Guide to Driving Digital/AI Innovation in Enterprises

13:30 Networking Lunch

14:15 Speaking Presentation: The Art and Science of Deception

14:50 Speaking Session: Empathy in Cybersecurity Leadership: Navigating Beyond Conventional Wisdom

15:25 Networking Break

15:45 Keynote Speaking Session: Australian Cybersecurity Trends and Initiatives Research

16:10 Closing Keynote Panel Discussion: Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Cybersecurity and Tech – Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Female Talent

16:40 Closing Remarks

16:45 Networking Drinks

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Digital Transformation, the latest buzzword

With news last week of a decade-old incomplete $340m federal government transformation, let's talk about Digital Transformation because it seems like every organisation is trying to do one these days. Talk about a buzzword! 

According to a 2022 McKinsey & Co study, a majority of transformation projects fall short of expectations, often with profound consequences. A similar report by BCG in 2020 showed similar findings. 

Putting aside my personal views around how innovations in technology automatically imply the need for an ongoing state of transformation that doesn't require a 21st century buzzword-y title - why do so many Transformation initiatives fail? 

In my experience, there are a few reasons: 

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This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on my business consulting blog. 

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Waterfall or Agile?

A couple of years ago I was asked by a client if they should "Go Agile". I just stumbled on this graphic which perfectly sums up my response at the time. Basically, if your organisation has a fixed budget, fixed timeframe and fixed set of deliverables, that's pretty much what Waterfall was designed for and it's worked well for decades. 

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This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on my business consulting blog. 

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What Leaders Really Do

I was having this conversation recently and mentioned this article, and low-and-behold this morning it appears in my feed. (This post isn't my usual complaint about algorithms although my issues there continue to be the same). 

This article was first written in 1977, when Harvard Business School professor Abraham Zaleznik published an HBR article with the deceptively mild title “Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?”, which caused an uproar in business schools. 

Today, leadership is formally taught in a distinct way from management in MBA degrees and other courses, so it appears the answer to this 40+yo question is "yes". 

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This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on my business consulting blog. 

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Coastrek 2024 bucket list challenge completed! ✔

Six months of training + fundraising while completing a Masters degree were almost thwarted by a +Covid test less than 2 weeks before the event, but team "Are We There Yet?" made it! Thanks to everyone who has supported me/us on our journey. ❤

An awesome day of walking, chatting & fundraising for Heart Foundation supporting research for heart disease, specifically for women. Apparently most previous research has been done on men, and heart disease impacts women differently so more research is needed.

Tally Day is this Sunday 2 June so there is still time to donate!

Donate to Nicky 

Donate to team "Are We There Yet" 

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Gen AI vs Human content

It's getting really easy to pick out generative-AI-created content, vs content with a human touch. I'm just setting out on a new job search post-study and some of the job ads I'm seeing are blatantly AI-generated. Some of the marketing material out there is so cookie-cutter that I have to question if these organisations are considering the unintended message they are sending, when the content they are pushing out isn't actually demonstrating that organisation's point of difference. 

In the comment of this post the author has written the "ultimate email" which sums it up perfectly:

"I hope this email finds you well. Ready to delve into the realm of transformative writing?

Imagine embarking on a journey to not just navigate but also revolutionize the landscape of communication. In the world of writing, we're thrilled to harness AI and human insight, unveiling a tapestry of dynamic narratives. It's all about utilizing this blend to elevate our stories, ensuring they're not only multifaceted but also intrinsically relatable.

Dive into this game-changer, foster a curious spirit, and voilà, discover the ultimate power to supercharge your writing 🚀. Got questions? Remember, it's daunting yet exciting to unlock this secret source, akin to embarking on a journey that's insightful and conducive to revolutionizing how we connect.

Embrace this opportunity, and let's embark together on this transformative adventure."

 This was first published on LinkedIn

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Gen-AI for job ads

The most blatantly-AI-generated job ad I've seen to date. Got the giggles, but strangely little desire to apply. 🤣🤣

(Looks like it has now been removed, probably for the best)

This was first published on LinkedIn.

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"The Magic of McDonald's"

I've just finished reading "The Magic of McDonald's" by former CEO and Chairman of McDonald's Australia, Pete Ritchie. I was lucky enough to work in the Melbourne office from 1990-1996, and even for a young female who hadn't come through the store system, training and performance management was a very high priority across the organisation - Macca's basically trained me into an IT professional. 

It turned out the 90s was a truly great time to work there, and I'll always be grateful for the friends I made, the opportunities I had and the lessons I learned. Reading about the performance appraisal system made me giggle - how could I forget?! Growing up with a Dutch Oma, my interpersonal approach was somewhat "lock and load" just like hers, at a time when young women weren't quite so forthright. My first 3 appraisals went along the lines of "you're doing this, this and this well, but we need to talk about your tact and diplomacy skills". At the 4th year appraisal, I asked "are we doing tact and diplomacy again?" and the response was "we weren't going to this year but you've just spoiled it!" 😂 

I like to think I've improved in the tact and diplomacy department since then. And reading the book made me realise some of the other skills I learned from my time at McDonald's which I perhaps hadn't consciously credited them for. As a leader, I've always focused on people, training and personal development because I reckon that's how you get the best results, and I learned a lot about business, operations, marketing, retail and a bunch of other things just by working there. And I learned the value of having fun at work. Without going into detail - Friday drinks, Christmas party, Store manager events, trips to the Sydney office and weekends with friends, paintball, horse-riding, Chevron Island, starting work at 7am and leaving at 2 to go to the MCG Members for day/night cricket, Donovans, canoeing up the Goulburn River from Mitchelton to Tahbilk, dressing up as Hamburglar, dressing up as the Village People (don't ask), and let's not forget donning an apron for "Back to Store Day" - I can rock a drive-thru headset with the best of them! 

So many good memories. Thanks McDonald's. One of the best times of my corporate life. ❤️

This was first published on LinkedIn.

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