I flew to the city of Berlin this week to attend the 7th CSO 360 Congress, where I presented on the threats to the C-Suite from fixated people.
I have the good fortune to be invited to speak at a variety of events both in the UK and overseas, and as a result have the opportunity to compare and contrast them.
This was my first experience of attending the CSO 360 Congress.
It’s target audience are Chief Security Officers, Regional Security Officers and Directors of Corporate Security, resilience , investigations and Intelligence who oversee security disciplines including and ranging from physical security, asset protection, financial crime, investigations, geopolitics, intelligence loss prevention, cybersecurity, with a focus on holistic, integrated security and enterprise risk.
What was immediately apparent was that whilst this event attracted leaders from some of the world’s biggest brands, it is a community rather than a gathering of strangers. That said, for those of us who do not represent such brands there was no suggestion of a hierarchy or any ‘brand snobbery’. It was a truly international gathering which added to the diversity of experiences and perspectives.
One of the highlights for me, was the ‘fireside chat’ with the esteemed journalist Frank Gardner OBE and Sibylline Ltd‘s CEO Justin Crump, discussing, with genuine expertise, current geopolitical affairs and their impact on business and politics.
It was illuminating, independent, trusted and of real value.
This was just one of many truly engaging and relevant talks over 3 days, interspersed with wonderful networking and social engagements, which built on the community spirit where the best networking is based on relationships and not just talking business.
One of the challenges for a consultancy such as Defuse, is engaging with the Chief Security Officers, Regional Security Officers and Directors of Corporate Security, Resilience, Investigations and Intelligence who are understandably busy and inundated by requests for their time. This event broke down those boundaries, with more established members of the community enthusiastically making introductions and initiating
discussions to include newer attendees.
This is a significant annual event, and one that I would encourage interested parties to engage in, attend where possible and make a regular addition to your calendar.
Great credit must go to Sara Hook, Simon Scales and all at Pulse Conferences
