466- Talk Business First, Then Tech w/Fletus Poston III

Fletus Poston III has worked in IT officially since 2006. He was an IT auditor at Wachovia before 13 years at Duke Energy, where he helped grow the security engineering team from 5 to 15. At his next company he built out the security program and left as acting deputy CISO. Today he is Director of IT and Cybersecurity at 3D Systems, with a team of 30, and he teaches an AI business cybersecurity class at Appalachian State. His rule for the C-suite: "I talk business first and then I introduce tech." Executives want the return on their investment and the effect on EBITDA, and they don't need to know you're blocking and tackling with firewall rules.

He gives the people he mentors an elevator test. A C-level turns to you in the elevator and asks what you do for the company, and you have 10 to 15 seconds to answer in terms of business value and business change. He also explains why board members and senior leaders have told him some deputy CISOs will never be CISO: they see them as operational leaders who can't yet walk into a room and just talk finance. And he shows how attackers come in through your providers, from the caterer to the HVAC company.

Then comes a game: hear the tech speak, translate it for the board. Fletus turns "we need to upgrade the network" into a business impact and a request to start at the small sites, and compares tech debt to the monthly subscriptions and gym memberships nobody looks at. He closes with the habits he relies on: come in with a problem and a solution, never go to the board asking for money, make friends with whoever has the checkbook, and don't make up an answer when you don't know. His last word: "Be a mentor, find a mentor, be a mentee."