IT bosses need patience and a moral compass to succeed
11/03/2008(16:08)
Top IT bosses need to posses a strong moral compass, flexibility and patience to succeed in the industry, according to new research.
In order to be a truly effective chief information security officer (CISO) a strong moral compass is needed to command the respect of employees, says the report by Forrester.
Possessing high technical skills was not seen as an essential for the role, but rather the ability to understand technical data rather than implement it was needed.
Khalid Kark, a Forrester analyst and chief author of the report, said: "Many successful CISOs don't focus on operational issues like managing firewalls, but they do need to be aligned with defining security policies and crafting the risk posture of their organization."
Other advantageous skills were the flexibility to be creative and move from one project to the next, high business acumen and the talent to gather key security and compliance data.
Patience was also cited as a necessary skill, in addition to the knowledge of how to defend budget items and project work.
Being able to take the blame for wrongdoings, regardless of whose fault they were, was deemed as any factor to be considered.
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