Review of The Smartest Person in the Room
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Deborah Cooper 1
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Review of The Smartest Person in the Room
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Smartest Person in the Room" by Christian Espinosa.]
Reading the subtitle for this book might lead you to believe you would be reading about cybersecurity.
But this is a book that applies to many different fields. It also applies to everyday personal interactions. All I can say is I wish I had read this book years ago because I was always trying to be "the smartest person in the world."
Christian Espinosa is the CEO and founder of Alpine Security, a firm dedicated to monitoring and protecting organizations from potential threats. His credentials are impressive, having obtained engineering degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy and Webster University. Despite all of his technical expertise, he has written a thoroughly readable and entertaining book about the failures to contain cybersecurity threats and how to remedy them.
He explains that the current methods to prevent cybercrime are not working. He admits that this is a problem that's been around for years. Companies hire the best and the brightest in IT to try to stop threats, often based on certifications and degrees. His theory is that more is needed. Employees also need soft skills to be effective communicators and have the self-confidence necessary to accept all ideas for preventing cybercrimes, not just their own. He explains that, often, technical people are known to have poor communication skills due to insecurities. They don't ask questions and are afraid they won't know the answer if asked a question. So, they posture by using jargon that will only be understandable by someone in IT or by overly complicating the problem, thus becoming the smartest person in the room.
Espinosa introduces the Secure Methodology, a step-by-step guide to boosting your technical staff's people skills. Doing this lets your team communicate and work together to fight cybercrime. His methodology is also a guide to increasing everyone's ability to communicate.
The Secure Methodology involves seven steps. The first is awareness of ourselves and others. The second is mindset, using our minds to our advantage. The third is acknowledgment, not only of ourselves but others, so we know what we are capable of. The fourth is communication. The fifth is what he calls Monotasking (as opposed to multitasking). The sixth is empathy and our connection to humanity. And the 7th is Kaizen, continuous improvement. He devotes a chapter to each of these, often using a past subordinate, Doug, as an example of the smartest person in the room. Doug lacked in all seven steps and didn't feel he needed to be bothered with people skills because he was the smartest person in the room.
The book is well laid out and very informative. Espinosa uses real-world examples to explain the methodology. He has also done much research, which he shares in the endnotes. He provides solutions, and at the end of each chapter, he offers two activities to have with your technical people to reinforce the subject matter.
I would give five stars to this book. It helped me realize how I could improve as an employee and how I once thought I was the smartest person in the room. Espinosa writes in an engaging, relatable style. I would rate this book 5 out of 5 based on the critical subject matter, well-laid solutions, and writing style. There are very few editing errors making it a smooth read.
******
The Smartest Person in the Room
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Reading the subtitle for this book might lead you to believe you would be reading about cybersecurity.
But this is a book that applies to many different fields. It also applies to everyday personal interactions. All I can say is I wish I had read this book years ago because I was always trying to be "the smartest person in the world."
Christian Espinosa is the CEO and founder of Alpine Security, a firm dedicated to monitoring and protecting organizations from potential threats. His credentials are impressive, having obtained engineering degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy and Webster University. Despite all of his technical expertise, he has written a thoroughly readable and entertaining book about the failures to contain cybersecurity threats and how to remedy them.
He explains that the current methods to prevent cybercrime are not working. He admits that this is a problem that's been around for years. Companies hire the best and the brightest in IT to try to stop threats, often based on certifications and degrees. His theory is that more is needed. Employees also need soft skills to be effective communicators and have the self-confidence necessary to accept all ideas for preventing cybercrimes, not just their own. He explains that, often, technical people are known to have poor communication skills due to insecurities. They don't ask questions and are afraid they won't know the answer if asked a question. So, they posture by using jargon that will only be understandable by someone in IT or by overly complicating the problem, thus becoming the smartest person in the room.
Espinosa introduces the Secure Methodology, a step-by-step guide to boosting your technical staff's people skills. Doing this lets your team communicate and work together to fight cybercrime. His methodology is also a guide to increasing everyone's ability to communicate.
The Secure Methodology involves seven steps. The first is awareness of ourselves and others. The second is mindset, using our minds to our advantage. The third is acknowledgment, not only of ourselves but others, so we know what we are capable of. The fourth is communication. The fifth is what he calls Monotasking (as opposed to multitasking). The sixth is empathy and our connection to humanity. And the 7th is Kaizen, continuous improvement. He devotes a chapter to each of these, often using a past subordinate, Doug, as an example of the smartest person in the room. Doug lacked in all seven steps and didn't feel he needed to be bothered with people skills because he was the smartest person in the room.
The book is well laid out and very informative. Espinosa uses real-world examples to explain the methodology. He has also done much research, which he shares in the endnotes. He provides solutions, and at the end of each chapter, he offers two activities to have with your technical people to reinforce the subject matter.
I would give five stars to this book. It helped me realize how I could improve as an employee and how I once thought I was the smartest person in the room. Espinosa writes in an engaging, relatable style. I would rate this book 5 out of 5 based on the critical subject matter, well-laid solutions, and writing style. There are very few editing errors making it a smooth read.
******
The Smartest Person in the Room
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Amora by Grant Hallstrom
