100. Celebrating 100 episodes!
To celebrate the 100th episode and recently hitting 30,000 downloads, Claire wanted to honour some of the guests that have given their time and thought leadership so generously. So here's a little trip down memory lane, which we hope that you enjoy.
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Transcript
Hello, and welcome to The Security Collective podcast. I'm Claire Pales, and thank you for joining me for our 100th episode. That's right, number 100. 100 times I've had the privilege of highlighting someone's story, extracting their wisdom or sharing insights with you, and 100 times you have all tuned in and supported The Security Collective. Before I dive into celebrations, and much needed thank you to Kate, Verity, Anthony, Martin and John, who over the life of the podcast have worked together with me to produce the 100 episodes. I do not and could not do this podcast alone. And thanks also to LastPass who have partnered with me over the last two seasons, and by doing so, generously amplify the stories of our guests. And one last thank you to my husband and family, who even during home-schooling and COVID, at times kept quiet, huddled downstairs so that I could continue recording and to bring life to this very fun part of my job during some dark days in our world.
To celebrate the 100th episode and recently hitting 30,000 downloads, I wanted to honour some of the guests that have given their time and thought leadership so generously. So here's a little trip down memory lane, which I hope that you enjoy. The podcast began back in 2019 with me asking some of my close friends and security leadership role models to join me as guests on the podcast. Much of season one was filled with those leaders I knew and respected. I was finding my way with what was originally called The Secure CIO, named after my first book, and I was focused on helping CIOs to navigate the leading and developing and building of cybersecurity teams. In season one, we learned about microphones and sound engineering and what acoustics might sound like from my kitchen table, which at the time was in Burwood. And I wrote a list of questions that I planned to use for every guest. The method in my madness was that the audience could hear how each guest approached building cyber teams, how they would go about hiring their first staff member and what their thoughts were on the skills crisis, did they insource or outsource. And so we kicked off in mid 2019 with Jonathan Werrett, who led Fitbit's information security, so he was guest number one. Since then, our most downloaded podcast still goes to my long-time friend and highly respected tech leader Anna Leibel, who I met at a speed networking event in Telstra nearly 20 years ago. When I started the podcast Anna was on my list of people I really wanted to "welcome into the studio" to share her insights and Anna was also the first and only live face to face podcast we've done with an audience. The logistics of this were fun to say the least. But the audience in attendance provided a generous donation to the Breast Cancer Network Australia. I'm so grateful for those who came along on the night who were able to give to a cause that is so close to my heart.
Some notable guests who have returned a few times to the podcast include Dan Maslin, Samm McLeod, Vijay, Krishnan, Craig Searle, and Nick Elsmore, such good friends of the podcast and also of mine, to share their time and insights with you all. The 20 minute format has served me well over the years too and when the conversation has been flowing, I've happily spread the episode over two weeks, so as not to lose such great content. Like the chats I had with Samm McLeod and Brendan Smith, that we're too good to edit down. I tried a few seasons back to take the microphone solo and I didn't really love it. So while I gave it a red hot go, I much prefer having someone with me who I can banter with and hear their story. So I put the solo episodes to bed and I returned to the current format.
The podcast idea stemmed from my love of the audio medium, and the idea that with some basic equipment and a bit of curiosity, I could take the wisdom of guests and share it with technology leaders who may not have had an understanding of what was best practice when leading cyber teams. And even if one person tuned in, I would have been happy, but 30,000 downloads later, I'm thrilled with what began as The Secure CIO, but is now The Security Collective. The name change of the podcast was in line with my business rebrand, but it also took in the fact that I'd moved on from the 10 sort of stock standard questions, to a much broader group of guests and subject matter as the collective audience evolved. I began moving away from just security leaders and CIOs, to welcome in HR professionals, thought leaders, marketing professionals, security vendors, and also changemakers. And with that, to this day, my most effortless recording was with Graeme Cowan. Graeme and I sat down originally in June 2020, and it was the first time I had no edits for my podcast episode. Graeme was an absolute delight to host on the podcast, and I was gripped on his every word. The episode was recorded and released as it was, and we have since reshared the podcast in September last year, as he speaks on behalf of RU OK day. It's the only one of my podcasts I've ever shared with my family and friends as it resonates with anyone, not just security leaders, not just tech leaders. I first heard Graeme on someone else's podcast, and I immediately reached out to him. I actually thought he wouldn't be available, but he made time for you and me, and I'm so glad that he did. If you want to listen to Graeme's episode, he talks a lot about burnout, and about putting self care first, and it is still so relevant to this day.
I wanted to give a shout out in our 100th episode to Charles Gilman, who read one of my newsletters, and approached me to share an alternative view to mine about security being or not being an enabler. Even my producer said that my episode with Charles was one of the best episodes he heard, because there was no script. It was just Charles and I taking on the topic from our own points of view and talking it through. I really, really enjoyed the debate.
Up until season eight, I hadn't really tried much changing the format of the podcast, I hadn't tried a theme or a partnership. And we tested both of these things in season nine. I wanted to drill down on a topic I'm a big advocate for which is security influence and behaviour change. And if you've listened to season nine, you'll know that I don't like to call it security awareness. I went looking for professionals who could talk with authority on the topic and who had achieved progress with culture change activities. The people I found were incredible, passionate and willing to share their learnings. This season was really well received and in fact, was one of my most downloaded seasons yet. We welcomed LastPass as our partner for season nine too, which created another first which was a live webinar recording where I was as much the interviewer as the interviewee. This was really fun and provided some great content for the audience, too. I chose LastPass because I really wanted to work with people I knew and respected like Lloyd Evans, but also lean on a product that we were using within The Security Collective business, so LastPass made sense on all fronts.
Another big thanks goes to our guests who have joined The Security Collective from across the globe. From the East Coast of the US to Estonia, they've stayed up late they've woken up early. And these include Jonathan Werrett, Karen Worstell, Caroline Wong, Kathleen Smith, Nathan Chung, Amy Ertan, and most recently, Alla Valente.
And a big most of all thanks to you. Podcasting is one of my favourite things to do. It puts me very much in a flow state and time could stand still, while I'm behind the microphone. I love each and every episode, and I craft the questions personally. While I have an amazing team, I choose the guests and I ask them what I want to talk to them about. I hope you enjoy the stories and leaders as much as I do. And I really look forward to sharing the rest of season 10 with you and season 11, which is already brimming with awesome discussions ready to roll out to you in the coming months. So for the 100th time, I'm Claire Pales, and thank you so much for joining me on the security collective podcast today. See you next week.