Memos from Quarantine #32: "You Believed in Magic"

One of the side-effects of living on an old farm is that on weekends I can sleep as farmers did. I start my "first sleep" around 9 p.m., when it's dark and quiet in the house, and then I awaken around midnight or 1. Rather than toss and turn and curse insomnia, I embrace the opportunity to rise, stoke the fire and sit back for some free reading. Catch up on my books, magazines, news. Then, before I fall back to "second sleep," turn on TV and watch a show that catches my fancy.

Today, I watched the 1962 Twilight Zone episode "Kick the Can." Remember that? About the elderly people in a retirement home? They rediscover their youth by indulging in their childhood game of kick the can. At one point, the main character Charles is trying to convince his lifelong friend Ben to join the gang - to throw down their canes and walkers and go outside for some youthful fun.

"You believed in magic," Charles implores. "When we walked on different sides of a street lamp you'd say 'bread and butter.' And when your baby teeth came out, you put 'em under the pillow for the tooth fairy. Yeah, you believed in magic."

So, you know how this ends. All of the old folks - except skeptical Ben - slip outside for their game of kick the can, and suddenly they become kids again. And they run off to whatever new Neverland they've created, leaving Ben trapped in the old age of his creation. Then Rod Serling steps in to say:

"Sunnyvale Rest, a dying place for ancient people, who have forgotten the fragile magic of youth. A dying place for those who have forgotten that childhood, maturity and old age are curiously intertwined and not separate. A dying place for those who have grown too stiff in their thinking - to visit - The Twilight Zone."

What was this - maybe the 10th time I've watched this episode? But today was the first time it made me think of leadership. Hear me out …

As part of the "Profiles in Leadership" series of interviews I conduct for ISMG's CyberEdBoard Community, I'm blessed to speak to CISOs from so many sectors, so many varied backgrounds. We always talk about their priorities, accomplishments, the skills they draw upon. And then we discuss their specific passions - the focus that makes them unique. Sometimes it's an emphasis on privacy or risk, a foundation in technology, maybe an aptitude for partnering with business-side peers. But often the conversation comes back to mentorship - preparing that next generation of leaders to step up and tackle challenges we can't even envision yet.

It's funny. Every one of us can remember the wildest details of our first jobs and how young we were. For me, it was working in a newsroom where all the older writers and editors were sharing were they'd been when JFK was shot. I didn't dare say a word because I'd been a newborn.

And yet none of us really can pick out that exact moment when we transitioned from being the kid in the office … to being the seasoned veteran. Just suddenly you look up one day, you're the senior member of your team, and people are looking to you for answers. To paraphrase John Lennon, "Expertise is what you develop when you're scrambling just to answer all your own questions."

I had great mentors when I was young, and I've always valued any opportunity I've had to share advice and tricks. I love hearing the same from people in the CISO community, and here are three recent interviews I've conducted with leaders who are invested in the next generation of cyber leaders.

As CISO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Nancy Hunter has a defined role and priorities. But she also has a refined sense of responsibility for collaboration, mentoring and creating new career opportunities for women.

Dave Snyder of Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia has been in security leadership long enough to know: It’s not about whether you have a technology foundation or lean more toward leadership. It’s about having both, and about being a security evangelist, too.

Some people run from change. Arun DeSouza of Nexteer Automotive runs toward it. The veteran chief information security and privacy officer shares his leadership and technology insights in this exclusive interview.

In this last conversation, Arun said something to me that really stuck. We were discussing the dizzying changes of the past year - the remote workforce, adoption of cloud, exponential growth of the attack surface, and the enterprises that have responded with breathtaking resiliency. As one who thrives on the challenges of change, Arun said to me "Now is my time."

What a great way to greet life. "Now is my time." It takes me right back to this morning's Twilight Zone and what Charles said to Ben: "You believed in magic."

We all believed in magic when we started our careers, and one of the ways we stay vital and engaged is to tap into that magic - and show newcomers how they can harness it for themselves.

"You believed in magic" - pass it on.