Leadership is Technology Agnostic - a Conversation with Major General Brett Williams

SHOW NOTES

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Charlie welcomes Major General Brett T. Williams (Ret), Chief Operating Officer at IronNet Cybersecurity, retired Air Force Major General and leadership coach, for a thought-provoking discussion on the evolution and future of technology leadership in companies during a time of unprecedented technological innovation and social changes that makes leading todays organizations more challenging than ever before. General Williams, who has served over 30 years in various leadership roles in the Air Force and for the Department of Defense in cyber command before seguing into the private sector with his company, IronNet, shares fascinating and need-to-know insights on how managers and employees can navigate through these challenging times and build substantive leadership skills  that will cary them into the future (hint: leadership is technology agnostic).

General Williams will also be special guest speaker at our next event, How to Develop the Next Generation of Technology Leaders (December 12, 6pm-8pm), and is an official advisor of our new T25 Continous Learning program.

Questions and Poll in our Forun:  https://forum.tech2025.com/topics/985294

Discuss this Episode in our Forum:  bit.ly/leadershipdiscuss

Articles and Research mentioned in this episode:

What’s Behind the Great CEO Exodus of 2019? (Forbes) Study finds misconduct is the top reason CEOs are leaving large companies (The Hill) CIOs say that technology is changing 'too fast' (Business Insider) Microsoft is winning the techlash (Axios) Google’s struggle with bipartisan employee dissent is a problem that’s only getting worse (Vox) Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote ‘An Economy That Serves All Americans’ (Press Release) Reddit Discussion On Business Ethics Explodes Offering Cautionary Tale For Managers (Forbes) Why Leadership Training Fails—and What to Do About It (Harvard Business Review) What to know about Anna Wintour's leadership MasterClass (Business Insider) A Survey of 19 Countries Shows How Generations X, Y, and Z Are — and Aren’t — Different (and why Gen X is Being Pushed Aside in Leadership Roles) (Harvard Business Review) Check out our workshop earlier this year: "Manifestos and Moral Philosophies of Big Tech Companies and Their CEOs" ABOUT GENERAL WILLIAMS Read his latest blog post: Leadership—technology changes everything? Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/et183394/ His Website: https://thecyberspeaker.com

During his time as an Air Force General Officer, Brett served in four senior executive leadership positions.  As the Director of Operations (J3) at U.S. Cyber Command, he led a team of 400 people responsible for the global operations and defense of all DOD networks as well as the planning and execution of authorized offensive operations.  Prior to this position, he served as Director of Operations (A3O), U.S. Air Force, where he led the largest Air Staff directorate consisting of more than 1300 Air006Den and civilians stationed world-wide.  In this role, he developed and justified the operations component of the annual $120B Air Force budget. General Williams also served as the Director of Communications (J6) for U.S. Pacific Command. His 150-person directorate executed an annual budget of $57M and was responsible for the design, implementation and operation of all command and control networks supporting DOD’s largest geographic warfighting command.  Finally, as the Inspector General for Air Combat Command, he led the inspection, audit and compliance process for all U.S based combat flying organizations.

Operationally, General Williams led a variety of large, complex organizations ranging in size from 300 to over 9000 personnel.  In his most significant leadership position as 18th Wing Commander in Okinawa, Japan, he led the largest combat wing in the Air Force. General Williams was responsible for relationships with Japanese political and business leaders in a highly volatile community environment. He executed an annual budget in excess of $100M to support a community of over 25,000 U.S. service members, their families and Japanese employees.  In this significant leadership role, he delivered success across a wide variety of mission areas to include aircraft operations, aircraft maintenance, logistics, civil engineering, security and policing, community support, human resources, financial management and medical services.  Brett is an F-15C fighter pilot with over 28 years of flying experience, including more than 100 combat missions.

Brett is a highly regarded keynote speaker, leadership mentor, and cybersecurity expert.  He has appeared several times on national television, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a sought-after subject matter expert.  Brett has served as a faculty member with the National Association of Corporate Directors Board Advisory Services and teaching board-level cyber-risk seminars.  He has served on the Defense Science Board as well as a variety of corporate advisory boards.  Brett holds a BS in Computer Science from Duke University and three graduate degrees in management and national security studies.

 

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