AToday in the Best Advice Q&A series, we shine the spotlight on Alaina Meyer, president and owner of scDataCom. She shares the best advice she’s ever gotten, what she tells newcomers to the security industry to help them advance and whose words carry the most weight for her.
Security Sales & Integration: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Alaina Meyer: The best advice I’ve ever received is, “clear is kind.” Don’t get wrapped up in the delivery or in protecting feelings to the point where your message is lost or where you lose your confidence by overexplaining. Clarity is a form of respect.
Be direct, provide objective and measurable feedback, and always do what you say you will.
SSI: What advice would you give those looking to achieve success in the security industry?
Meyer: I truly believe that this is an industry poised for disruption. We may be a technology field but far too often people get stuck in “that’s the way it’s always been.” Technology is moving at a pace we’ve never seen before; those that stay in the way it was will get left behind.
There’s opportunity in that. I encourage those who don’t fit the mold to lean into that different perspective and find where it creates value; it’s out there. Stay curious, stay hungry and carve out your niche.
SSI: If you could point to one person in the security industry and tell up-and-comers “make sure you listen to what they have to say,” whom would you pick and why?
Meyer: Call me biased, but I would point to Kathleen Ford, my mother and business partner. She is exceptional and a wonderful example of success in an industry where you may not fit the mold. Her style is very much “walk quietly and carry a big stick.”
She understands that you don’t have to be loud to be powerful. She leads with a quiet confidence backed by a work ethic and capacity that leaves most mortals in the dust. I’m better simply by trying to keep pace with her.
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