It is time to sit down with a cup of coffee as we enter the fall season and enjoy listening to the voices that are shaping our industry and our world. We have a full lineup of conversations that we are releasing on a weekly basis through the end of the year. We are attempting to keep the conversations 20-30 minutes so that you can listen to them during the morning, during the commute, walking around the building during lunch, or later in the evening.

We received some great feedback from all of you on how you can leverage these conversations. Here are some of my favorites:

• One CSO invited his business peers across the organization to listen to how other leaders are creating security programs that are aligned with the goals of the business

• A consultant leveraged another conversation to kick off a relationship with a potential customer

• A technology provider using several conversations to kick off a discussion with their product development team

It is called a conversation for a reason. Unscripted, front of mind issues as well as ‘stories’ or use cases around leadership, organizational culture, business resiliency, intelligent data acquisition and application, and the great disruptor, technology. These conversations are transparent, sometimes edgy. We feel confident in sharing because we have created a member only forum. We expect all our members to abide by Chatham House rules, i.e., leverage the information without attribution to a specific person, unless granted permission. No press.

For our first full week in the fall, we introduce three conversations.

• Cheryl Steele, Vice President of Global Security and Resilience at Starbucks. Cheryl engages us around the power of relationship, mustered around a singular vision, purpose and values, that provides the context for everything she does.

• Lee Oughton is the co-founder of two risk-based consultancies. He opens shares how failure has become an instrumental tool to his growth and the growth of his companies. Lee is also the co-founder of ‘The Kindness Games”, where leaders come together for encouragement and inspiration.

• Christopher Stitt is a supervisory agent for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). He has developed an approach to Emergency Management that has informed and infused his fellow agent’s approach, as well as inspired the next generation of leaders graduating from George Mason University.

Most of the conversations we have in our knowledge repository originated from the recommendation of our members. Members learn from members. This community will continue to challenge each other to bring the right people to the table talking about the right ideas or experiences. It is a learning community.

Enjoy the series and the guest blogs we will have throughout the season.