Gigamon offers a deep observability pipeline that efficiently delivers network-derived intelligence and insights to companies’ cloud, security and observability tools. Chaim Mazal, Chief Security Officer at Gigamon, discusses his current job role and his most memorable achievements, both professionally and personally.
Describe your current job role.
If I were to describe my role, I would say it is multifaceted. As the Chief Security Officer at Gigamon, I’m responsible for global security, information technology, network operations, governance, risk and compliance, internal business systems and securing the Gigamon product.
In addition to the responsibilities I mentioned earlier, I lead our organisation’s Artificial Intelligence strategy and implementation. Ensuring that the AI is secure as we expand our use cases internally.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
It’s hard to define my most memorable achievement. In my career so far, I’ve been fortunate to have built a tremendous number of leaders in the security community and industry. Whether from close up or afar, I’m very proud of seeing people who have been associated with and worked with me succeed. I believe that this speaks volumes.
This hasn’t stopped as I’ve continued to grow in my responsibilities and roles. I’m very proud to be able to continue doing this with the people who are currently around and working with me. As I’ve continued to grow and level up in my role, the people around me have also been able to.
On a personal note, I’ll always be proud of the achievement of using security as a mechanism for Digital Transformation at the organisations I’ve worked for, which has improved their entire technology stack. Additionally, impacting the economy of scale through implementing and utilising security is another memorable achievement in my career.
Regardless of all the memorable moments I have achieved in my professional career or my hobbies, such as obtaining a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, my most memorable achievement is the beautiful family I have. I am a father of six amazing kids and have an amazing, supportive wife. Without them, I wouldn’t have had memorable achievements in my professional career.
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
My management philosophy is centred around empowerment and enablement. The importance of surrounding yourself with the most innovative and talented people can’t be overstated. As the leader of my team, I want my team members to feel included in the prioritisation and direction that we follow to achieve our goals.
However, for this to be possible, I make sure that I take a proactive approach to being a leader, removing any barriers that might prevent my team from succeeding in what we want to achieve.
I’ve been in places that hire the brightest minds but immediately tell them what to do. This management style is a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. As a leader, I must enable people to execute and be the best versions of themselves, a quality I demonstrate in my management philosophy.
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?
I’m sure readers will not be surprised by my answer that Artificial Intelligence is at the top of the list. This investment is coming in either securing its use within your organisation or investing in the appropriate security stack and tooling that allows you to leverage AI.
Another area of investment we see in the security sector, which isn’t getting as much publicity as AI, is leveraging the right technology stack to give organisations a comprehensive view across the network. Regardless of the workload and where it exists, having the ability to have deep observability of all data in motion within your environment is something those in the security sector are investing in. Even though numerous tools can provide visibility of data being fed into various environments, they do not give organisations a comprehensive picture.
If you could go back and change one career decision, what would it be?
Being completely honest here, I wouldn’t change anything. I believe that I am a sum of my decisions. Even though some of those decisions were better than others, they helped me gain valuable experience, which led me to where I am today at Gigamon.
In life and career, we learn things positively and negatively. You need both of these learning experiences to become the leader and individual you want to be. Even my least ideal choice played a part in leading me to where I am today, to have the character I display. I’m always going forward and not going back.
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry?
For those aspiring to be in the role I’m currently in, being a technical lead expert is not enough. You have to be aligned with business goals, objectives and outcomes. Many technical professionals in the security space forget that their primary core mission is to serve the business and the customer base. Security is just one way to achieve this.
Alongside this, it’s essential to be business-minded and business-focused and to be able to speak the language of the business. You mustn’t position yourself as someone who only speaks in technical terms and doesn’t understand the general dealings of the business and how they end up working. Instead, you should make sure you put yourself in the mindset of an executive of the business. Put yourself in those shoes, have a business mindset and translate technical risks and challenges in a format the rest of the business can understand. By doing this, you can ensure that you have a seat at the table.
What behaviour or personality trait do you most attribute your success to and why?
I would say positivity. There’s no denying that the role I’m in is a difficult one, and I think it’s important to have the mindset of seeing the glass as half full rather than empty. My relationship management skills and emotional IQ are also the traits that have led me to success.
In my position, there are times when I’m required to be empathetic and considerate and other times when I need to be forceful. The key is knowing when to display these emotions. But regardless of the situation, having a positive outlook is always important. It’s easier to come up with a solution with a positive frame of mind than a negative one.
What’s your go-to productivity trick?
When I first got to Gigamon, I had to complete a GPS, which is a quarterly planning of things we will complete. When our President and CEO, Shane Buckley, saw my laundry list of things I wanted to complete, he said the list should only contain the things you want to complete in one quarter. I responded by saying that the goal is to complete these things in the quarter. If I accomplished 100% and did it all right, I wouldn’t have given myself enough work. But if I complete 75% of it, that’s a win. Having an optimistic mindset when it comes to my workload and capabilities is the way I make sure I remain productive.
