Korn Ferry Briefings, Leadership in the Cyberworld: When That Late-Night Call Comes In authored by Gary Burnison

1. 2 B R I E F I N G S
“The
leaders
must
have an
answer.”
N
othing good happens after midnight.
When your home phone rings, star-
tling you at that hour, you automatically
leap to a worst-case scenario, as you take
an instant mental inventory of your life: Where is
everybody? Are the kids at home? Did someone die?
The same thing happens when a CEO gets a call
off-hours or on the weekend. When the caller ID is
the corporate attorney’s number, you can count on
it being a problem so big, it can’t wait until the next
morning. In my career as a CEO, I’ve had nine of
those calls. I can recall every one of them.
Despite what some people may think, all organi-
zations face their share of challenges and even the
occasional crisis. The larger the organization, the
more likely it will face a problem—somewhere in the
world. Look no further than what General Motors
is going through because of faulty switches in cars
manufactured nearly a decade ago, which are now
being recalled—and causing PR and legal headaches
for the automaker’s current leadership.
Today, life in the cyberworld has made for some
insidious situations that come, seemingly, out of no-
where. Late last year, a massive data breach at Target
affected tens of millions of the retailer’s customers
after credit card, debit card and personal information
was stolen.
Every day, 800,000 new pieces of malware, mali-
cious software designed to cause harm, are discov-
ered. Among the latest threats is Heartbleed, which is
making pulses pound with panic because of vulner-
ability in encryption code used by many popular Web
sites—and not just social media. Regulators have
told banks to plug the Heartbleed hole. Makes you
wonder the next time you use your smartphone to
transfer money out of your account. Is someone else
doing the same—with your money?
Those ubiquitous devices we use to surf, search,
post, comment, fan and fave—so indispensable,
Leadership in the
Cyberworld:
WhenThat Late-Night
Call Comes In
GA RY B U R N I S O N
19

2. 3T A L E N T + L E A D E R S H I P
we spend a full two years of
our lives staring at those little
screens—suddenly make us
feel vulnerable every time we
log in (or attempt to change
a password). Just watch the
average airport security line,
where the conveyor belt looks
like a sidewalk sale at Best Buy,
and spot the passenger who
suddenly can’t find her iPhone or his Android. It’s a
mad scramble until device and owner are reunited.
It’s worse than losing your wallet.
The risks of cyberattacks have never been
greater—or more common.
In the late summer of 2012, I was enjoying a
quiet evening at home after a hectic schedule of
international travel, when I received an urgent call
from our corporate counsel. At that time of night, I
knew this wasn’t going to be good news. I was right,
unfortunately. Korn Ferry had been the target of a
cyberattack.
“What?” I nearly shouted into the phone.
“We’re under cyberattack.”
This rapid-fire exchange
went on for 30 seconds, as I
wrapped my brain around what
was happening. Then it was
time for action.
When the unthinkable oc-
curs, there’s no time to lose. The
leader must trigger a launch sequence of response in
accordance with leadership principles that were de-
fined long before a call comes in. The more mentally
prepared a CEO is for how to respond “when that call
comes,” the more confident and clear the leadership
in a crisis.
A CEO is always going to face unfamiliar prob-
lems and be put in tough first-time situations. Simply
stated, there is always going to be something that you
haven’t faced or dealt with before. Good leadership,
though, adapts; applying previous experiences and
lessons learned to the newest challenge (the essence
of learning agility, which Korn Ferry considers a key
predictor of leadership success).
During business hours or off-hours, onsite or
offsite, on the job or on vacation, a CEO is always
“on.” The buck stops on the leader’s desk. Even when
a CEO is caught off guard on a Sunday night, he/
she can’t say, “I don’t know.” The reality is the leader
must have an answer. Leaders and their teams must
be adept at setting and executing strategy, whether
offensively or defensively. The
leader weighs the options of
all possible solutions—while
taking into account all the per-
mutations. Strategizing means
preparing for the worst-case sce-
nario—with alternatives when
there are further “surprises” on
top of the unexpected. It’s not
enough to have a Plan B.
While cybersecurity is a relatively new entry on
the list of all the things a CEO must worry about
these days, the response to it boils down to timeless
leadership principles. As a CEO, you are always
going to face new challenges. Your leadership, in
fact, will be defined by how you lead through the
most difficult times—for you and your organiza-
tion. Clarity and confidence come from prepara-
tion, from knowing what you will do and how you
will respond when that call comes in—long before
the phone ever rings.
For that reason, we focused much of this issue
of Briefings on Talent & Leadership on the cyberworld
– its malevolent underbelly,
that is. In this issue, we inter-
view Gen. Michael Hayden, a
former director of the National
Security Agency. The NSA is at
the center of controversy with
revelations that it has been
listening in on conversations
held around the world. But it is also the subject of
a security breach of its own, as the story of Edward
Snowden indicates. This creates a new tension—the
watcher who is being watched.
David Berreby’s article, “Is it Spy vs. Spy or Me vs.
I?” sums up that dichotomy clearly. In the new world
of digital vulnerability, all of us play more than one
role. We are defending our privacy while organiza-
tions we directly or indirectly support might be
taking it away.
This issue also looks at Bitcoin, the controversy
surrounding it and the mystery of who started what
is rapidly becoming a global currency.
There is more to this issue than cybersecurity
and new currencies. We also look at Wolfgang Puck’s
culinary empire—and the attention he pays to the
experience of dining. We also examine new ways of
hiring relying on analytics and Brazil’s preparations
to host the World Cup.
Even in this world of Spy vs. Spy, we are certain
this issue of Briefings will surprise you. 
FROMTHECEO
Gary Burnison
is CEO of
Korn Ferry and
author of the
new book LEAD
 LEADthebook.com