I believe that thoughtful, empathetic, and articulate cybersecurity content can:
- improve self-awareness by uncovering gaps and blind spots
- move people to take beneficial action rooted in personal beliefs
- build better decisions, more aligned teams, and healthier businesses.
Cybersecurity gives us the tools to do good and content highlights why this is true, how it happens, and who works behind the scenes to make it all happen.
25 evergreen principles for good cybersecurity content
Good cybersecurity content…
- puts human expertise and insight at its core because technology is a means, not an end goal
- has purpose that reaches beyond commercial goals
- relies on technical accuracy but doesn’t idealize technology
- doesn’t hide behind technical jargon, stereotypes, and clichés
- demonstrates deep consideration for the reader’s/viewer’s/listener’s more profound goals and the essential human needs behind them
- is a catalyst for connection and action, creating momentum for positive change
- draws from multiple disciplines to offer more discerning ways to understand and navigate the world
- elevates critical thinking abilities and the actions they inspire
- aligns personal beliefs with actions and gives the reader/viewer/listener a personal stake in advancing their own understanding and practice of information security
- inspires moments of realization by connecting triggers, behaviors, methods, and outcomes
- gives the reader/viewer/listener the confidence to act on what they learn, imperfect as their efforts may be
- does not manipulate or intimidate the person it addresses into compliance
- incorporates deep knowledge of human psychology to build healthier habits and perspectives
- always offers alternatives for acting on the know-how shared in the asset
- is inclusive of the audience it serves through accessibility options, formats, and channels
- recognizes and honors the power of language to shape thoughts and behavior
- comes from a growth mindset that draws on the principles of technorealism and cyber-realism with underlying optimism
- requires self-awareness, emotional maturity, and the willingness to invest in elevating both
- stems from a constant creative process that involves research, observation, (self)reflection, action, feedback, and improvement
- is authentic and honest, and it involves living with imperfection and creating with vulnerability
- has thoughtful answers to the questions “who is it for?”, “what is it for?”, “why now?”, “why you/us?”
- focuses on bringing simplicity to complex topics and phenomena – without being overly reductive
- always includes evergreen ideas, even if the piece itself addresses timely topics
- is not stagnant – it evolves with the changing needs of its audience
- reflects the values of the hacker ethic: sharing, openness, decentralization, free access to computers, and world improvement.
My Story
When I started working in cybersecurity in 2015, I found a community with which I resonated and a personal mission that gave me a strong sense of purpose.
Everything clicked:
- my interest in what happens at the intersection of human behavior and technology and how they influence one another
- my need for mental models, and frameworks to help me achieve clarity and cope with complexity and the ambiguity it generates
- my personal pursuit of understanding the shifts in our society and how I can contribute to positive change (in both behavior and mindset)
- my keen passion for psychology, anthropology, sociology, and neuroscience and the tools they offer for leading better lives and building better businesses
- my belief system and how it guides the type of work I want to engage in.
Working in cybersecurity as a content creator and a content strategist gave me the opportunity to join two fundamental processes in my life: growing as a person and my development as a professional. This alignment accelerated how I cultivated meta-skills that serve me well every single day: self-awareness, creativity, resilience, empathy, listening.
Over the years, I articulated my mission in this space: to highlight stories of kindness, curiosity, and connection that show how humans shape society for the better through their work in cybersecurity.
Having a personal stake in my work gave me a way to feed what I learned from experiences in my personal life (self-development, coaching experiences, working on emotional maturity, etc.) into my work and vice versa.
As I went from content creator to content team manager and then to starting my company of one, it became increasingly clear that serving people as part of the cybersecurity community is representative of what I stand for and the work I want to keep doing.
Articulating the principles that underpin my work as a content marketer in information security and sharing them with you is my way of supporting fellow content creators, company founders, technical specialists, and people in all sorts of roles who resonate with this way of doing things.
I hope they serve you on your journey towards better communication, stronger relationships, and a more generous contribution to your community.
Just like me, this is a work in progress, so expect updates as I progress through new experiences, life stages, and the relationships that make them all worthwhile.
Articulate your guiding principles
Would you like a similar set of principles to guide your content program?
Work with me to discover your customers’ real needs, map your team’s expertize, and align them with your business goals in a document the entire team can rely on.
See what I do.
Learn how it works.
