It was 1 a.m. and I was neck-deep in SOC 2 auditor questions, frantically searching Notion/Google Drive for the third rev of our access review spreadsheet. “Where the hell is the evidence again?”
Then it hit me: manual chaos today = manual chaos forever.
I pushed the laptop aside, fired up Goland, and wrote a Go script to auto-pull user access logs, diff them against Github access, and spit out a clean CSV with audit-ready timestamps.
One hour of code = zero headaches for every future audit.
That’s not a one-off—that’s strategic necessity.
Here’s the truth I’ve learned after 10+ years in cybersecurity leadership:
🛠️ Hands-On Leadership Isn’t Optional—It’s Oxygen
1. You Can’t Secure What You Don’t Understand
Policies written from 30,000 feet fail at ground level. When I’m in the weeds—whether it’s scripting audit evidence or testing a zero-trust PoC—I feel the friction points. That’s intel no dashboard can give you.
2. Your Team Smells Fear (and Disconnect)
Nothing kills morale faster than a leader who says “escalate it” but can’t spell the tool. When I’m in the trenches, my team trusts that I’ve earned the right to coach. They see me fail, iterate, and win alongside them.
3. The Machine Reveals Itself Only When You Touch It
Org charts lie. Real workflows? They live in Slack threads, ticket queues, and the 47-step approval chain no one documented. Hands-on time = institutional intimacy.
4. Curiosity Is Your Superpower
I block 2 hours weekly to tinker—whether it’s automating compliance artifacts or building the latest pen-testing tools. That curiosity isn’t a hobby; it’s how I future-proof our defenses (and my own relevance).
💡 The Selfish Benefit? You Stay Sharp—and Human
Every time I write a script or debug a control gap, I’m reminded:
“The day I stop learning is the day I start losing.”
This isn’t about micromanaging. It’s about modeling the muscle—technical depth, intellectual humility, and relentless problem-solving.
To every leader reading this:
👉 Block the calendar. Touch the tech. Break something (in a sandbox).
Your company—and your career—will thank you.