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“Unlocking Leadership Excellence: One Cybersecurity Executive’s Guide to Essential Reads for Aspiring Team Leaders”

Posted on April 30, 2023 by mclaukl

“In the pursuit of leadership excellence, the wisdom gleaned from the works of esteemed authors can serve as a guiding beacon, empowering aspiring team leaders to navigate the complexities of the cybersecurity landscape with confidence, agility, and foresight.” – Kevin Lynn McLaughlin, PhD

As a cybersecurity executive, I’m frequently asked what books aspiring team leaders should read to enhance their leadership skills and elevate their teams. In response to these inquiries, I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the most insightful and transformative works in the realm of leadership and management through this blog post. These literary gems, penned by renowned authors such as Blanchard, Covey, Greene, Senn Delaney, Maxwell, Rath, Collins, and others, offer invaluable wisdom that can be applied to hone our leadership abilities and foster high-performing teams in the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.

In a time where fast-paced technological advancements and growing competition constantly push organizations to adapt, the pursuit of maintaining high-performing teams has become a crucial mission for leaders at all levels. The wealth of leadership and management wisdom accumulated over the years, such as the works by Blanchard, Covey, Delaney, Greene, Maxwell, Rath, Collins, and others, offers valuable insights that can be utilized to improve our leadership abilities. As cybersecurity executives and experts, it’s essential for us to explore the ideas and principles presented in these books, incorporate the core aspects of leadership, and translate this knowledge into practical strategies that will nurture, empower, and transform our team members into a unified, high-performing group that excels in their mission.

The foundation of effective leadership, as explained in the One Minute Manager series, lies in striking the right balance between clear communication, motivation, and empowerment. Throughout the different iterations of Blanchard’s work, he emphasizes the need for setting expectations, offering timely feedback, fostering autonomy, and acknowledging the impact of praise. Consequently, leaders must be adept at articulating goals and expectations while also cultivating a culture that inspires team members to assume responsibility for their tasks and outcomes. Along with the One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey, another of Blanchard’s books that teaches how to efficiently concentrate on managing your own responsibilities without adopting everyone else’s, these works offer helpful guidance on shaping the ideal culture and behaviors within your team.Covey’s influential book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, encourages leaders to develop self-awareness, embrace proactive actions, and search for win-win solutions that benefit everyone involved. Building these habits is essential for creating a high-performing team, as it helps leaders demonstrate behaviors that promote teamwork, creativity, and personal development.

Additionally, the ideas presented in Rath’s How Full is Your Bucket emphasize the significance of positive feedback and appreciation, as they play a crucial role in fostering an environment that supports growth and builds commitment. Greene’s influential book, The 48 Laws of Power, offers a more cunning perspective on leadership. While some may argue that the tactics suggested could create a manipulative atmosphere, others believe that using these strategies wisely and ethically can strengthen one’s influence and inspire the team to achieve shared goals.

Blanchard’s High Five, Whale Done, The Secret, and The 4th Secret of the One Minute Manager all praise the values of empowerment, teamwork, trust, and purpose-driven leadership. These works emphasize the need to create an environment where team members feel encouraged to take risks, learn from mistakes, and aim for excellence. By building a culture of psychological safety, leaders can unlock their teams’ hidden potential and lead them to remarkable success.

The Arbinger Institute’s Leadership and Self-Deception offers a fresh perspective on leadership by revealing the harmful effects of self-deception and the importance of adopting an outward mindset. Combining this approach with the principles found in Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Collins’ Good to Great, Johnson’s Who Moved my Cheese, and Farber’s Radical Leap enables leaders to go beyond traditional leadership methods and adopt a transformative approach that fosters growth, adaptability, and resilience.

The insights gained from these literary works provide cybersecurity executives with a comprehensive framework for nurturing high-performing teams. By embracing clear communication, empowerment, collaboration, trust, and growth, leaders can establish a culture that supports talent development, builds loyalty, and achieves success. As leaders in our field, it’s essential for us to continually invest in both our own growth and that of our team members. By applying and adapting the lessons from these leadership books, we can confidently tackle the challenges of the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape with agility and foresight. Additionally, we should recognize the importance of mentorship, as shown in Cottrell’s Monday Morning Mentoring, and commit to fostering a learning environment and ongoing improvement. As each of you progress on your leadership paths, let’s remain dedicated to excellence and draw inspiration from the insights of these esteemed authors to guide our endeavors in building and sustaining high-performing teams. By embracing these principles, we can successfully safeguard the digital realm, gain the confidence of our stakeholders, and leave a legacy within the cybersecurity profession as we foster the growth of exceptional future leaders. So, act now and incorporate these valuable lessons into your leadership practices, and together, we can shape a more secure and promising future for the cybersecurity profession and, more importantly, the talent that works in our profession.

The summary above is from these leadership books:
• The One Minute Manager Blanchard
• The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey Blanchard
• The On-Time, On-Target Manager Blanchard
• The 48 laws of power Greene
• High Five Blanchard
• Whale Done Blanchard
• How Full is Your Bucket Rath
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Covey
• The 4th Secret of the One Minute Manager Blanchard
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Maxwell
• Good to Great – * Boring and Dry but Good Collins
• The Secret Blanchard
• Leadership and Self Deception Arbinger Institute
• Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life Blanchard
• Helping People Win at Work Blanchard
• Who Moved my Cheese Johnson
• Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager Blanchard
• Monday Morning Mentoring Cottrell
• Developing the Leader Within You Maxwell
• Radical Leap Farber
• The Human Operating System, Delaney
• The Why Cafe

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cyber security, cybersecurity talent, high performing teams, information assurance, information security, information system security | 3 Comments

Mental Discipline Shows Up in the Little Choices

Posted on June 18, 2026 by mclaukl

“Champions are not the athletes who never get tired, they are the ones who do not let tired make their choices.” – Coach Kevin

Woman in athletic wear doing agility ladder exercises on outdoor track — A female athlete practices footwork drills on an agility ladder at sunset.

A lot of people think mental discipline is something big and dramatic. They picture some huge moment in a game, a fourth down, a last lap, a pressure packed situation where an athlete has to dig deep and find something extra. Those moments matter, no doubt about it, but mental discipline usually starts much smaller than that. It starts in the little choices athletes make every single day. It shows up in how they respond when a coach corrects them. It shows up in whether they stay focused during a boring drill. It shows up in whether they keep their posture, keep their feet moving, and keep their attitude right when nobody is cheering. That is where the real work begins, in those plain, ordinary moments that do not look like much at the time, but end up telling you a whole lot about a player.

Most athletes do not lose mental discipline all at once. They lose it in inches. It happens when frustration takes over after one bad rep. It happens when body language slips after a mistake. It happens when they decide to coast during a part of practice that does not feel all that important. It happens when they stop listening because they think they already know. The mind is always trying to make little compromises. It looks for small exits, small excuses, and small ways to protect pride or avoid discomfort. Left alone, those little choices start becoming habits. That is one reason self control matters so much in sports. An athlete may have talent, but if they cannot manage frustration, fatigue, boredom, or embarrassment, that talent will leak out all over the place. Angela Duckworth’s work on grit gets at this in a very real way. Staying power is not only about pushing through pain. It is also about staying steady when the process feels repetitive, slow, or inconvenient. A lot of young athletes do not need more motivation nearly as much as they need more consistency. This is where coaches and parents can really help. Young athletes need to be taught that discipline is not just about being hard on yourself. It is about being steady with yourself. It is about learning how to reset quickly instead of unraveling. One bad rep does not need to become two. One correction does not need to turn into sulking. One mistake does not need to drag itself into the next five minutes. Mental discipline helps an athlete come back to center faster. Reset habits matter more than people think. A breath. A cue word. A quick look back in. A routine between reps. Lanny Bassham has taught for years that the mind performs better when it has clear patterns to return to, and that is true for young athletes too. When things speed up, discipline often looks like having something steady to come back to. Breathe. Refocus. Next rep. Those little routines do not seem flashy, but they keep athletes from drifting when emotions start pulling them around.

Another part of mental discipline is learning how to take coaching. Some athletes hear correction and feel embarrassment right away. Others hear correction and shut down. Others get defensive. Disciplined athletes learn how to hear feedback without letting emotion hijack the moment. They learn to take the correction, own it, and get better on the next rep. That is a life skill every bit as much as a sports skill. Gary Mack’s writing touched on this often, the strongest athletes are not always the ones with the most ability, but the ones who can stay mentally available when the pressure rises. There is also a quiet kind of discipline in doing ordinary things well, getting to the drill quickly, looking a coach in the eye, keeping the helmet buckled, hustling back to the line, encouraging a teammate, staying engaged when it is not your turn, and finishing all the way through a drill. Those things may not make highlights, but they reveal a lot about an athlete’s habits. In your leadership workbook material, the message keeps coming back to consistency, trust, effort, and setting the tone. Those things are not separate from mental discipline. They are mental discipline in action. The athletes who grow the most are often the ones who stop waiting to feel good before they do the right thing. They learn to move with purpose even when tired. They learn to listen even when corrected. They learn to respond the right way even when frustrated. That is a big step forward in maturity. Darrin Donnelly’s books speak to this idea in a helpful way, that belief and discipline shape identity over time. Athletes become what they repeatedly practice, not just physically, but mentally too. That is why the little choices matter so much. They are never really little. They are building something. They are either building reliability or excuses. They are either building steadiness or emotional drift. They are either building a teammate others can trust or a player who disappears when things get uncomfortable.

Mental discipline is not only about pushing harder. Sometimes it is about settling down. Sometimes it is about staying teachable. Sometimes it is about responding with maturity when your emotions want to run the show. Sometimes it is about doing the boring things with care. The athlete who learns that early gains an edge that goes far beyond talent. That is the follow up lesson. Big moments in games are often shaped by the little moments in practice, in body language, in attitude, and in response. Athletes do not become mentally disciplined by accident. They build it choice by choice, day by day, rep by rep.

Over time, those little choices start becoming the kind of character that holds up when the game gets hard.

— Coach Kevin

Posted in youth football, young men of character, sports development | Tagged culture, health, life, mental discipline, mental-health, personal-development, sports, sports leadership, youth sports | Leave a comment

When Comfort Starts Talking, Discipline Has to Answer

Posted on June 17, 2026 by mclaukl

“The athlete who learns to lead their mind will usually lead their body where it needs to go.” Coach Kevin

One thing I have learned over the years, in sports, in leadership, and in life, is that the mind will almost always look for comfort before it looks for growth. That is just human nature.

The mind likes easy. The mind likes relief. The mind likes shortcuts. It wants to protect you from strain, fatigue, discomfort, and failure. A lot of times it starts nudging you in that direction so quietly you do not even realize it is happening. A young athlete opens their hips early in a drill. They slow down just before the finish. They stop driving their feet a second too soon. They come out of the rep before the whistle. They tell themself they still worked hard, but what really happened is their mind started searching for the easiest path out of discomfort. That is why mental discipline matters so much.

A disciplined athlete does not just train the body. They train the mind to stop chasing comfort all the time. Jocko Willink has written that discipline creates freedom, and there is a lot of truth in that. A young athlete who learns to discipline their mind becomes freer in the moments that matter most. They are not pushed around as much by fatigue, frustration, or fear. They are more in command of themself. The military has understood this for a long time. You learn early that your mind will often try to bargain with you when things get hard. It will whisper that you have done enough. It will try to convince you that easing up just a little is no big deal. It will push you toward comfort, because comfort feels safe. Real discipline teaches you not to give in to that voice. That kind of discipline is not about being loud or acting tough. It is about learning to stay in command of yourself. It is about doing what needs to be done even when the easier choice is sitting right in front of you. In a lot of ways, that lines up with what Lanny Bassham has taught for years, the mind must be trained on purpose. Good performance does not just happen by accident. That matters on the field more than some athletes realize.

When a kid gets used to cheating the end of a drill, even a little bit, they are building a habit. Maybe they do not finish through the cone. Maybe they rise up too early. Maybe they slow down when they think no one is really watching. Those little things do not stay little for long. Habits have a way of following players into games. The body tends to do what the mind has practiced. If the mind has been trained to seek relief before the rep is over, there is a good chance that same pattern will show up on game day. Gary Mack wrote often about how the space between the ears can decide whether talent ever fully shows up. That is a big deal in youth sports. A lot of kids have enough ability to improve, but they have never learned how to stay locked in when the rep gets uncomfortable. They are not always losing to a stronger athlete. Sometimes they lose to an undisciplined thought pattern. That is why practice is never “just” practice. Drills are not only about footwork, angles, leverage, and technique. They are also about teaching the mind to stay honest. Every rep is a chance to teach an athlete to finish what they start, to stay technically sound when tired, and to choose standards over comfort. That fits right in with the heart of my book Every Kid Matters, where culture is built by what coaches allow, what they correct, and what they celebrate. When the standard is finishing, effort, and doing things the right way, athletes start learning that discipline is part of belonging to something bigger than themselves. I have always believed that the best coaches are teaching more than the playbook. They are teaching kids how to handle themselves when things get hard. They are helping young athletes learn that effort is a choice, discipline is a skill, and mental toughness is not some magical gift handed out to a lucky few. It is built one rep at a time.

That is the first lesson. Your mind will not naturally lead you toward the hardest thing. Most of the time, it will lead you toward comfort. If you do not train it, it will train you. This is not a lesson that is just for athletes. It is a lesson for all of us.

— Coach Kevin