How To Be An MVP – Lessons for Security Pros

Kareem Abdul Jabbar wrote an article for Esquire called How To Be An MVP – Like LeBron. In the article, he uses LeBron James, himself and a couple of other great basketball players, to illustrate how you go from good player/athlete to a great leader and an MVP. What I found powerful was in relating his thoughts on being a leader and great player (which makes you an MVP) to being a leader and great security professional … which will make you indispensable to your organization … and give you the opportunity to make a real difference.

Isn’t that what we really want? To make a real difference, improve information security, stop bad guys, safeguard data, etc. Those are the reasons I work in this profession. It’s rewarding, more than just a job. But to be able to be rewarded by those intangibles, I have to be multi-talented, able to lead, great at teamwork, understand what the game (business) is all about.

Keep the team involved. Points scored are of tremendous value to a team, but when a pla…