Episode #20
Fifteen Months Away: What Stepping Back Teaches Leaders featuring Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp walked away from cybersecurity for fifteen months, hiked the Camino, trekked to Everest Base Camp, and came back to an industry that had rewritten itself while he was gone. Now CISO at Xactly, co-author of The CISO Evolution, and a top 20 finalist for TIME's CISO of the Year, he argues the gap in security leadership was never technical skill. It was the ability to read a financial statement. Recorded on location at Black Hat with Nate Burke and Lior Div, the conversation also turns to China's open-weight model releases: nation-state capability, handed to every ransomware group with a laptop. Impactful Moments 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – Why Black Hat is the show that matters 01:15 – Taking over the Sphere in Vegas 02:15 – Fifteen months off, and a non-stick pan commercial 04:30 – The echo chamber nobody could actually execute on 06:15 – The empty RSA session that became a book 07:00 – Why books can't keep pace with AI anymore 09:15 – Empathy as an antidote to vendor noise 10:15 – SOC 2 and the collapse of traditional bona fides 12:15 – What changes when you leave the industry 13:45 – China's open-weight models as a weapons transfer 17:15 – PLAID: people-led, AI-driven 19:00 – AI-native versus SaaS, 24 hours versus six months 20:30 – Twenty-five percent of your time back, and the river 24:00 – The AI classifier they built and never shipped Interested in being a guest or want to recommend someone? Reach out to us at DoHumanWork@7ai.com
