Episode 192: How Leaders Balance Expertise and Communication

In episode 192 of Cybersecurity Where You Are, Sean Atkinson and Tony Sager sit down with Marcus Sachs, Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer at the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®). Together, they discuss how leaders, including those in cybersecurity, balance their technical expertise with mastery of communication strategies.

Here are some highlights from our episode:

• 00:51. Introductions to Marcus
• 02:04. How Marcus found value in using analogies to communicate complex topics
• 08:40. Coordination with non-technical folks as a sign of leadership maturity
• 14:03. The wisdom in knowing what to say and what not to say when managing up
• 17:31. The need to balance technical skills with team resourcing in a way that's imitable
• 21:07. The challenge of leaders learning by proximity in hybrid and remote environments
• 24:16. "Classic" engineering vs. "new" engineering
• 25:13. Lessons from Boards in applying discipline, rigor, and order to software engineering
• 28:23. The value in leaders continuously learning how businesses work

Resources

• Episode 183: The Role of CISO in Supporting Risk Translation
• Episode 187: The Role of a CISO as a Strategic Storyteller
• Episode 99: How Cyber-Informed Engineering Builds Resilience
• 7 CIS Experts' 2026 Cybersecurity Predictions

If you have some feedback or an idea for an upcoming episode of Cybersecurity Where You Are, let us know by emailing [email protected].