TL;DR
There are few myths Jason Edwards hates more than the “born leader.”
“So often, people will look at a successful leader and go, ‘Well, they must just be born that way,’” said Edwards, a Cybrary instructor and course author who has worked in cybersecurity for over three decades. “But what you don’t see are the years of experience, the trial and error, and all the failure that has made them the leader they are today.”
The belief that leadership skills are innate — a quality you’re either born with or lack — is one reason why Edwards and Mark Nibert, Cybrary’s Chief Mentor, decided to create the new Leadership and Management career path. Leadership may be a highly valued trait, but they insist it’s also a skill just like any other. “Leadership is always something either you can learn or refresh or reinforce,” emphasized Edwards.
It’s also a trait sorely needed across cybersecurity. After all, building an effective security strategy requires the ability to think strategically, react calmly in crises, communicate clearly to both direct reports and cross-business stakeholders, and build out long-term plans — all qualities of a good leader. “Leadership, and especially soft skills, is often the missing gap,” said Nibert. “It’s what many organizations are looking for.”
And now, with the Leadership and Management career path Edwards and Nibert created, Cybrary learners have a focused method to level up their leadership skills and answer this need.
Lessons Learned from a Lifetime in Leadership
With over 50 years of experience between them, both in the private cybersecurity industry and in the army, Edwards and Nibert have a deep well of lessons to draw from when it comes to leadership. For instance, while they have been lucky enough to learn from their share of inspiring and effective leaders, both insist that you can learn just as much from the bad leaders too.
“I had a coworker once who insisted he was always the smartest guy in the room,” said Nibert. “It’s not the best belief system to have.” But even though he was off-putting, the experience of working with him helped Nibert realize the value of servant leadership — a style that prioritizes the growth of employees. “I still advocate for this kind of leadership,” Nibert continued. “It’s where I’ve found my home.”
Edwards agreed, adding in an important lesson he learned in the army about leadership called Schofield’s Definition of Discipline. “This General Schofield,” said Edwards, “he said you can yell at people and get immediate compliance, but you’ll also get resentment. Or you can motivate people, which will give you compliance even when you’re not there.
This, to Edwards, is how he thinks of effective leadership: Getting people to do what needs to be done by making them want to do it. “This was one of the things we talked about in the career path. We want to teach you not to solve problems yourself, but to motivate people on your team to come up with solutions.”
A Comprehensive Leadership Curriculum
Another core idea of the career path was that it should be relevant to everyone, regardless of their experience.
“The whole course was laid out so that learners at any level can come in and learn something about leadership,” said Nibert. “That’s true whether you have zero experience or you’re already a senior leader.”
For instance, the courses start off with a review of the fundamentals of leadership. This includes courses like Leadership Basics, Mentorship, and Leadership Traits, as well as a course on the Types of Leadership you should know, such as the aforementioned servant leader. The career path then reviews essential soft skills for leaders, including Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Problem Solving & Critical Thinking, and Time Management. Courses focused on collaboration, such as Empowerment and Networking & Relationship Management, further help center the leader as someone who inspires and facilitates, rather than demands — a core belief of Edwards and Nibert.
From there, the courses pivot into more specialized topics, such as Financial Principles and Cybertalk in Business Terms. The goal here, explained Edwards, is to ensure learners know how to talk to people throughout the business in order to make cybersecurity successful. “One lesson I’ve absorbed over the years is to learn the business. That’s what cybersecurity leaders nowadays have to do. You can’t just be great at cybersecurity. You have to know insurance, energy, banking, or whatever your industry is.”
Ultimately, by offering such a wide range of leadership topics to choose from, Nibert and Edwards hope that there will be something here for everyone.
“We want people to be able to jump in, pick up some things, and choose what they want,” said Nibert.
A Road Map for Successful Leadership
What else do Nibert and Edwards want learners to get out of this career path? When asked, both of them said they wanted it to help learners achieve long-term success.
“I want people to understand what a leader is and what kind of leader they want to be,” said Nibert. “It’s simple, but I want them to know this so they can make leadership a career goal.”
Edwards echoed this: “I want to help them develop a plan to succeed. If you want to get into the higher levels of leadership, you have to learn how that works. So I want to help them learn the rules.”
Ready to get started? Register for the Leadership and Management career path to gain access to 16 courses, as well as multiple challenges and a skills assessment. And if you’re not a Cybrary user yet, it might be time to sign up today!
