The Problem With Performative Leadership
After nearly three decades as an Army intelligence officer and advisor to the NSA Director and USCYBERCOM Commander, I learned a hard truth: thought leadership that ends at the podium is performative. It signals sophistication without accepting responsibility. True leadership is not about diagnosing problems—it is about changing outcomes when the lights are flickering.
Ideas alone do not stop ransomware from locking a pipeline, a substation from going dark, or a water-treatment plant from dosing a city with poison. Insight without execution is entertainment.
Raising the Bar for Cybersecurity Leadership
If we want to move the needle, commentary is not enough. Here is the new standard for every “thought leader” and organization serious about defending critical systems:
- Attach measurable, time-bound actions to every insight. No more vague “we should consider…” slides. State the deliverable, the owner, and the date—publicly.
- Invest in efforts that produce usable artifacts now. If an event ends without working code, hardened playbooks, or signed commitments, it wasted calories that could have gone to the fight.
- Join persistent, hands-on environments. Build muscle memory before the adversary forces you to play for real.
- Prioritize voices that deliver results. Stop amplifying commentary without outcomes. Fund and invite those who ship results.
- Publicly commit to at least one cybersecurity hardening sprint in the next 90 days—and invite peers to hold you accountable.
From Spark to Fire
Thought leadership is the spark. Action is the fire. In cybersecurity, if your ideas never leave the stage and enter the fight, you are not leading—you are spectating. The grid does not care how eloquent your keynote was. It cares whether the next attack fails.
In my current role as CEO of Technology Advancement Center (TAC), we have made a deliberate choice: to reject the role of eloquent commentators without outcomes. We challenge you to embrace the same discipline – transform ideas into measurable action and move decisively from articulation to implementation. The next breach is already in motion—will your leadership be commentary or action?
