Leadership Laboratory

Leadership Lab: STI Degree Candidates' Leadership Essays

SANS Technology Institute's mission is to develop the leaders of the future for the information security industry. One of our admission requirements is that an applicant complete an essay describing leadership qualities they have demonstrated in the past.

Leadership Essay SANS Technology Institute

Sep 14th, 2007
By Robert S. Turner

I have been very fortunate, as my life has been rich with leadership opportunities. Before I get too far, however, I would like to define what leadership means to me.

Very often, leadership and management are considered the same, when in fact they are very different skill sets. Management is the ability to work within a system; completing administrative tasks and providing career guidance. Leadership is the ability to provide direction and motivate others to follow that direction. A simple illustration: Imagine a group of children playing a game of “follow the leader”. The rules are simple, one child is designated the leader and proceeds to negotiate a series of obstacles, and the rest will cheerfully follow. Now picture that game if it were called “follow the manager”. Can you picture a group of children wandering around aimlessly, while one designated child writes performance reviews and chastises the others for slow progress? This example is not to infer that these skills set are mutually exclusive, however, that is very often the case.

Beginning in high school, I was elected either by students or faculty to some very visible leadership positions including: Student Council President, Yearbook Co-Editor and Varsity Club President. I just had an innate way of motivating people to do better as well as developed communications skills, even at that age.

Much of leadership is the willingness to mentor. When I ran in high school, I was decidedly our best long-distance runner. During a track meet, our squad was winning by a large margin. For the two-mile race, I made the decision to allow a runner from the competition to beat me so that I could coach another team member. I ran along side him for eight laps, offering encouragement. At the finish, I slowed, allowing him to come in third place and score points for our team. He was elated to have the chance to score in a meet. I met with some criticism for not being competitive enough - allowing three people to beat me when I could have easily won. Instead I examined the risk (our team could not lose, regardless of the outcome) and chose to coach another, allowing him to feel triumph and a sense of contribution. I think that is part of being a successful leader.

While in the Air Force, my skills were sharpened through the obvious introduction of military discipline. This continued through Electronic Warfare School and as a B-52 crew member, where you must focus on multiple details and quick, critical thinking skills. Even though I was not the aircraft commander, I was responsible for directing the aircraft under duress with an authoritative style and unyielding confidence.

After I left the military, I began to work in the field of Information Technology. Not long after, I received the company’s James E. Duncan Award for Excellence. This was an extremely prestigious award, and at the time, I was the youngest person in the history of the company to receive it. I never believed for a second that I got the award for being the brightest of network technicians. I knew I received it because I approached my customers and my work in an open, participative manner.

In 1996, I became the Network Manager for Trust and Financial Services Division for a regional bank. The most important thing that I learned in this position was that as manager, you should not be threatened by people who are smarter than you. Nearly everyone, within their specialty, was more of a subject matter expert than I. My job was to provide a focused direction and corral intelligence toward those goals. I no longer concern myself with working with people who are brighter than I am, rather, I surround myself with them. I also began to develop skills in what Jim Collins would later term “Getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus).”

After leaving the bank, I accepted an offer as Chief Information Officer for a small regional financial corporation. My focus there was primarily as a technical services coordinator, as we out-sourced much of the hands-on technical work. I learned a significant amount about the challenges that a leader faces and the difficulty of getting everyone on the same page. Many times I had read that for the success of nearly any initiative, “…management buy-in is critical…” now I had personal proof from experience.

In my current position, Information Systems Security Coordinator, I do not have a named leadership role. I do have responsibilities as a situational leader, where I have to make quick, informed decisions for security issues and concerns. I lead the team that develops and reviews security policies and develops staff competencies. I also have privilege and responsibility of delivering professional training to the IS Staff. Some of the training sessions I have developed and lead are: Incident Command System, Professionalism and “Buy-In”. Last, but certainly not least, I conduct information security presentations for hospital staff members.

Finally in my avocation, I act as a Major in the United States Air Force Auxiliary - Civil Air Patrol. I am a senior officer within the squadron, acting as Professional Development Officer, coaching the performance of 35 senior (adult) officers. I help author standardized operating procedures for Incident Command System procedure and Search and Rescue Base Operations process flow. I also conduct training sessions for our members including: Satellite Digital Imaging Systems training, Customs and Courtesies, and Professional Development courses.

In summary, I have always enjoyed the challenges and successes within leadership roles. Starting in my youth and extending into my hobbies, I seek out and take on additional responsibilities with the focused goal of making things better than when I got there. Whether I contribute as a named leader, team mentor or subject matter expert, I make a point to do my best work and to bring my team along with me. I encourage active participation and pride in whatever organization I work with and start that process by setting an example. I try to take the mystery out of the art of management by communicating my thought process and sharing my goals. In the end, I hope I am thought of as a purveyor of this wonderfully austere idea from Colin Powell: “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”

Robert Turner has been accepted as a candidate for the Master of Science Degree in Information Security Engineering; his essay describes his experiences in leadership.