What are you a force for?

I love to hike – it’s my therapy and way to recharge. When I’m out in the woods I am in awe of the power of the wind, the power of water, the power of fire. Forces of nature can do amazingly beautiful or wildly destructive things.

I’ve come to appreciate that human beings are forces, too. Each one of us in our own way. We don’t need to be heads of state, principals of schools, or leaders of companies to be a force. We all are a force in the world through every movement, and through every word we speak or write – thousands in a day. With great intention, these moments can have a dramatic impact on people’s lives.

Those of us who work in B2B (business to business) can lose sight of the fact that our “business” is actually people. We can slip into the illusion that we’re dealing with entities vs. human beings. But in fact, people are on the other side of every building, contract, and screen. And behind each of those people are families and friends – people who are doing their best every day to make a difference.

Similarly, in cybersecurity we don’t just protect organizations, data, and systems; we protect the people working in those companies, as well as their customers’ people – their patients, students, moms, dads, retirees, etc. We protect their livelihoods. We protect the college savings that a single mother saved after working three jobs so her son can have a better life. We protect your social media feed so that you engage with posts from people, not bots. We protect the micropayments that a craftsman in Kenya can accept with his mobile phone and send to his village 100km away.

We need to protect our digital world with passion and integrity because the security of one impacts the security of all. Cybercrime might harm organizations, but the true victims are people. This is what makes security personal.

As an F5er, I am proud that creating a better digital world is our purpose. We are a passionate and leading protector of billions of transactions and pieces of data because of the potential impact on people. We are an ally to the people transforming their businesses so they can secure, simplify, and innovate; so they can deploy anywhere with confidence; and so they, too, can be a force for good and a force for people.

Which brings me to my ask of you and your organization. With all that’s going on in the world, we can get bogged down with what we fear, what’s destructive, or what we’re against. Or we can choose to rally together and focus on what we value, what we’re passionate about protecting, what we’re for. Knowing the magnitude of the impact you could have...what are you a force for?

To learn more about how F5 is making security personal, visit www.f5.com/security.