Your company is a leader in its market. You’ve spent years developing information security practices and policies. Being proactive, you have avoided millions of dollars in losses for your organization by keeping business systems online and available. You are at the pinnacle of your career. So, how does a passionate, experienced, and committed information security professional stay sharp and connected in a world fraught with dynamic changes in cultures, politics, health issues, and technologies?

Given their popularity in recent years, “mentoring” and “coaching” came to mind, but these arrangements typically benefit the person being mentored or coached — not the mentor. Looking for other examples of personal development for leaders in business and government, it is easy to find executive forums and boards. Yet among these, membership is often poorly defined or nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse for political saber rattling. They both operate on low trust, which inhibits real sharing and produces modest results at best.

Academic think tanks have well-defined member rolls and can typically rise above political dynamics; but their lack of real world experience can produce unrealistic approaches doomed for failure. In contrast, vendor user groups tend to support a specific technology. Its members, and the marketing teams operating them, cling to their investments rather than taking a wider perspective that may include other methods and solutions.

The ideal model must foster trust, incorporate experience, and drive mutual growth. It must be without personal, political, or organizational agendas. Examples of this are support groups such as those used in caregiving. But is this type of relationship available for information security executives? If it’s not mentoring, what is it? What we need is “peer sharpening” — a model that fosters the sharing of experiences so that all participants emerge stronger.

I recently had the opportunity to work with a group with precisely that model — a unique organization known as the International Information Integrity Institute^®, or I-4^®. The institute has been operating for more than 20 years, enabling its members to sharpen each others’ experiences and skills. Members are top information assurance executives from around the world, renowned for their market leadership and global interests. The business assets and the systems they protect are measured in the tens of billions of dollars.

Members meet in person three to four times a year at international forums and regional meetings to share knowledge and cultivate trust. Members can initiate ad-hoc inquiries among their peer community and participate in virtual roundtables, which furthers relationships and increases the value derived from participation.

I-4 has contributed to strategic issues such as establishing the security management controls that led to ISO29000 and tactical issues, such as best practices in combating phishing attacks.

While I-4 is sponsored by Getronics, it is led by an independent member council. Membership is by application and acceptance. Additional information may be found at www.I4-online.com.