Conversations With Cybersecurity’s Undervalued Workforce – Part 1

Peggy Smedley is the Editorial Director Connected World and Host of the Peggy Smedley Show

What advice would you provide to a women thinking about a career in cybersecurity & technology?

Always have an open mind, understanding that there is no magic to success, just passion, determination, and perseverance when everyone simply wants to call it quits. Never stop learning and stay connected with others. Have the confidence in yourself and wisdom to know that you can make a difference. Most importantly, enjoy the journey and just take it one chapter at a time.

Are there any particular challenges that you have personally faced in your cyber career??

For some companies, it’s hard to understand the need to balance time across family and work. But for me it was always important to have the right balance between faith, family, and business. This is why I launched my own firm; I wanted employees to recognize their career was just as important. But to be great employees, they needed to give back to their community and family to be truly good at what they do in their career.

What are current diversity employment and training initiatives missing??

It’s essential for the more tenured employee to share that wealth of knowledge with the newer employees. It’s truly invaluable. Most of us have a penchant to help the next generation become the best they can be and to share what we learned and how we’ve learned it. There is no better way to innovate then to continue to inspire subsequent generations. Unfortunately, we get so focused on doing our daily jobs that sometimes we forget that the biggest accomplishment we can offer future generations is sharing what we’ve learned; the education we can share with the next generation is so powerful. It’s our responsibility to encourage the next generation to be as excited for the future as we are and to innovate and be even smarter.

Are your role models found within or mostly outside of your industry??

My mother imparted one clear expectation: if I want it, I would be successful. It was this belief that has carried me through some of my greatest challenges. Since then I have had an amazing support system in my family and other men and women who have inspired me with their tenacity and desire to change the world around us. It’s these entrepreneurs who have taught me that through collaboration and communication almost anything is possible with disruptive technologies and a passion to change things.

Back to Introduction from Magda Lilia Chelly and Scott Schober

Continue onto Part 2 featuring Jane Frankland

Continue onto Part 3 featuring Deidre Diamond

Continue onto Part 4 featuring Rebecca Herold

Continue onto Part 5 featuring Julie Cullivan

More about Peggy Smedley:

Peggy has spent her career helping companies understand how innovative technology will help them navigate the flood of change so they can remain viable and competitive. She launched one of the most formative media companies more than 20 years ago. As a speaker, strategist, and futurist Peggy has been very fortunate to be part of ushering in the M2M/IoT (Internet of Things) and security era and taking a leading role in helping companies grasp how technology will alter their direction. She has enjoyed a career as an award-winning journalist with a long history of covering IoT, manufacturing, and construction technology. In 2008, and now 500-plus episodes later, The Peggy Smedley Show has become a must-listen-to broadcast for industry execs every Tuesday at 12 noon central.

Scott Schober

CEO | Author | Speaker | Cyber Security & Wireless Expertat Scott Schober LLC

Scott has presented extensively on cybersecurity and corporate espionage at conferences around the globe. He has recently overseen the development of several cell phone detection tools used to enforce a “no cell phone policy” in correctional, law enforcement, and secured government facilities. He is regularly interviewed for leading national publications and major network television stations including Fox, Bloomberg, Good Morning America, CNN, CCTV, CNBC, MSNBC and more. He is the author of "Hacked Again", his latest book as well as a contributor for Huffington Post and guest blogs regularly for Tripwire’s State of Security series. Scott also writes for Business Value Exchange, Fortune Magazine and IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub.