How I Lead This: Behind The Leadership Brand Of Living Security’s Ashley Rose
Can cybersecurity be … fun? Ashley Rose has built her leadership brand and a successful company around exactly this premise.
Whereas most people hear “cybersecurity training” and quietly back out of the room, Ashley has made it her mission as CEO of Living Security to make cybersecurity training something that people not just endure but enjoy.
A serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in designing and managing product lines, Rose launched Living Security with her husband Drew out of their Austin house in June 2017. Their goal: To help teams reduce cybersecurity threats from employees by measuring human risk and offering tools for team engagement and protection.
The company has since raised more than $25 million for growth and product development and has worked with more than 200 large enterprises, including CVS Health, Mastercard, Verizon, Hewlett Packard, JPMorgan and Target.
Meanwhile, Rose has established herself as a thought leader in cybersecurity and expert in human risk management. A former marketer, she promotes the idea of approaching cybersecurity training in novel ways, such as through the use of marketing principles. She has written about how women can break the cybersecurity glass ceiling for Securitymagazine.com and “Why People Must Be Your Strongest Line of Defense” for Forbes.
On LinkedIn she posts regularly about company milestones, shares news about cybersecurity and posts about her passion for entrepreneurship. This year, Cybersecurity Ventures selected her for its 2024 List of Industry Experts. Her podcast appearances include Austin Tech Connect where, in 2022, she talked about growing her company.
Here’s what Living Security’s Ashley Rose had to share with The Helm:
Emoji you can’t live without: 🔥 (Fire) – It celebrates the wins our team has and aligns with our core value of “play to win.”
TED Talk you’d really love to give: I’d love to give a TED Talk on “Innovating in Uncharted Territory: How We Created a New Cybersecurity Category.” It would focus on how Living Security’s culture of innovation has helped us create a new category in cybersecurity.
Secret sign from childhood you were destined to be a leader: When I wanted a cell phone at a young age, my parents made me pay the bill. To afford it, I negotiated a babysitting salary with a neighborhood family at 14, showcasing my early drive and negotiation skills.
Stories are everything in business. What’s your go-to story that consistently moves people? My go-to story is about how, in March 2020, half of our business was from training delivered onsite to our clients. When COVID shut everything down, our team had to rally to deliver our training experience digitally through an online platform to keep our clients engaged and train their now WFH employees, preventing us from losing 50% of our revenue. We worked hard towards the goal and delivered.
As a leader, what keeps you up at night? Delivering increased value to our clients and growth for our company. I get obsessed with improving and removing the barriers for growth through upleveling the team, product, and our strategy.
The three words or phrases that define your leadership style: Empowering. Collaborative. Resilient.
Your biggest insecurity about how people perceive you as a leader: I worry that people might see me as too idealistic. I have a strong vision for the positive impact that human-focused security can have, and I hope others share that belief and see its practicality.
Ashley Rose and the Living Security team at the cybersecurity company’s all-hands at the Lost Pines Resort in Austin.
Social media as a leader: love it or leave it? Love it. Social media is a powerful tool for connecting with a broader audience, sharing insights, and staying informed about industry trends. It allows me to engage directly with our community and foster a dialogue about the importance of human-centered security.
Your #1 must-follow account on social media: @BrianKrebs (Krebs on Security). He provides invaluable insights into the latest cybersecurity threats and trends, which are crucial for staying ahead in our field.
The ROI question — Biggest benefit you’ve seen from building your leadership brand: The biggest benefit has been the ability to attract top talent and partners who are aligned with our mission. By sharing our vision and values through my leadership brand, we’ve been able to build a team and network that is passionate about making a real difference in cybersecurity.
Thanks to Ashley Rose for sharing her thoughts and expertise on building a leadership brand with The Helm. You can follow Ashley on LinkedIn or stay up to date on the Living Security website.
