OPINION

RAMESH RAMAKRISHNAN , EXPERIENCED CIO , MENTOR

Being a good CISO is more than just excelling in cybersecurity , you need to be a good manager , leader and mentor to those in your team . Former CIO and now mentor , Ramesh Ramakrishnan , uses his 30-plus years of experience in IT to talk through the key personal and practical skills C-level executives need to be effective leaders .

You ’ ve been in IT for three decades , how have you seen the workforce change ?

I come from a business background ; I started at a very early age . The earlier you start , the more exposed you are to different facets of life . From the 90s until now , one thing is constant , people who have survived crises or recessions , and who have gone the extra mile in taking risks , are ready to face anything in life .

When you make decisions , you may not achieve what you actually wanted to do , but that ’ s absolutely fine , because no one is perfect . There is never a right way or wrong way to do things . It ’ s only the best way to do things at that point in time , under those circumstances . People don ’ t view decisions like that anymore because it ’ s a very cutthroat , competitive world . Everyone wants to make the best use of time , which is fair enough . However , I feel it has become too competitive .

When I started , people still had the freedom to do what they want , experiment , fail and evolve . It ’ s

very important for professionals who are starting their careers to redefine their thought process and embrace whatever comes their way . Sometimes you may be criticised , but you are the best judge because you know what you ’ ve done and why you ’ ve done it .

How have you seen the cybersecurity landscape change ?

In the pre-pandemic world , I was always under the feeling that cybersecurity was underappreciated . But if you look at the post-pandemic world , in a matter of days , most organisations took a decision to work remotely . Many of these organisations felt they were ready to handle everything from the comfort of their homes – there was no issue with employees fulfilling their job responsibilities remotely .

However , soon the issue of security became apparent . This is when cybersecurity became a heightened matter because people started to realise their lack of security . The organisations who did not focus on cybersecurity solutions had to pay the price .

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