18 Mar Frenemies Of The C-Suite: CSO, CIO, CRO, CPO
Sometimes the security, IT, risk, and privacy offices just can’t get along.
Fifteen-year-old girls are the go-to experts on the phenomenon of a “frenemy” — a person who is both your friend and your enemy. Yet, even 15-year-old girls would agree that leaders of security, privacy, risk, and IT departments know just as much about those kinds of complex, melodramatic relationships.
Part of the problem: “There are too many chiefs, and none of them are really chiefs,” says Jason Straight, senior vice president and chief privacy officer at UnitedLex.
In very general and traditional terms, chief privacy officers come from legal backgrounds, chief risk officers mostly business/finance, and chief information officers and security officers from technology.
Some conflicts are avoidable. Others are necessary, but can be less painful if you approach them from the right mindset. And there are actually great opportunities for friendship, if you know where to look.
Conflict and opportunity: What does ‘risk’ mean?
CPOs focus on data and compliance. That’s pretty standard. CIOs focus on how IT can support and drive the business. Again: that’s pretty clear. CROs and CISO/CSOs however, have rather confusing directives.
Unlike risk officers, security professionals are averse to risk and want more authority to make decisions instead of just give advice. Yet they’ve been encouraged to loosen up, stop unplugging and locking up everything, and told “why can’t you be more like the CRO?”
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