As I get ready to wrap up 9 years running network security for the Missouri House tomorrow I thought it would be a good time to do one of those blog posts where I sum up what I learned in a nice neat package.
So here are 5 things working in politics has taught me about infoSec (and life):
You can’t win every battle.
If you try to win every battle you won’t win any. You have to pick the battles that are important to you and focus on winning those.
Favors are the most valuable thing in the world.
The most valuable thing in the world you can have is to have someone feel indebted to you. You never know when you have to cash it in but it is always nice to know someone has your back when you really need it.
You can’t unsay things.
A politician can ruin their career by saying careless things without checking the facts or knowing their audience. So can you.
To have a successful project find people who care about your cause.
The first step to having a successful project is to find other people who are impassioned about the same thing. If you can’t find those people your project will likely fail.
It isn’t personal.
If someone doesn’t think the same way you do on an issue doesn’t mean that they don’t like you (or that they are an idiot). If you treat everyone who has a difference of opinion as you as an enemy it quickly becomes you versus the world.
