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Part VII: The Part of Tens
Get Involved in the Business
Understand the business — how it operates, who the key players are, and
what politics are involved:
✓ Go to meetings to see and be seen. This can help prove that you’re
concerned about the business.
✓ Be a person of value who’s interested in contributing to the business.
✓ Know your opposition. Again, use the “know your enemy” mentality —
if you understand the people you’re dealing with, along with their
potential objections, buy-in is much easier to get.
Establish Your Credibility
Focus on these three characteristics:
✓ Be positive about the organization and prove that you really mean
business. Your attitude is critical.
✓ Empathize with managers and show them that you understand the
business side and what they’re up against.
✓ To create any positive business relationship, you must be trustworthy.
Build that trust over time, and selling security will be much easier.
Speak on Management’s Level
As cool as it sounds, no one is really that impressed with techie talk. Talk in
terms of the business. This key element of obtaining buy-in is actually part of
establishing your credibility, but deserves to be listed by itself.
I’ve seen countless IT and security professionals lose upper-level managers as
soon as they start speaking. A megabyte here; stateful inspection there; packets,
packets everywhere! Bad idea. Relate security issues to everyday business
processes and job functions. Period.