Cyber Transformations: The Leadership Approach through EQ

Last Updated: 16 February 2023

How does protecting your cyber preparedness and readiness strategy relate to emotional intelligence?

That's what we exercised and discussed during the WSBI-ESBG and Global Cyber Alliance regional training webinars on 19 November 2020.

Human error accounts for approximately 90% of cyber breaches. Awareness campaigns alone are not sufficient when dealing with the human factor in cyber security. Through interactive simulations, you can bring about cultural change by changing the mindsets of stakeholders, customers, and employees across your ecosystem.

New habits that increase cyber hygiene are no longer an option, but a necessity in today's hybrid workplace.

In November 2020, Thrive with EQ was part of a global effort to demonstrate the value of adopting a new leadership approach through the lens of EQ (Emotional Intelligence).

Through real-life simulations of different crisis scenarios, the three regional online simulation exercises focused on leadership. By maximizing participants' stress resilience and reducing human error risk, practical cybercrime cases were identified to exercise leadership and collaborative techniques.

Using collaborative leadership simulations, we demonstrated new insights on building and sustaining organizational resilience through a holistic approach to cybersecurity.

These three sessions were conducted by Nadja El Fertasi (Founder & CEO, Thrive with EQ), with the assistance of Alejandro Fernández-Cernuda (Director of Communications and Marketing, Global Cyber Alliance).

A new leadership through Emotional Intelligence

The most common form of cyber attack, social engineering, aims to infiltrate your network, steal your data, and scam your employees and stakeholders.

Organizations are at high risk of financial loss, data espionage, reputational damage, and regulatory sanctions as a result of these attacks, which have increased by over 400% in 2020 alone.

A weak link in an organization can also be the organization's strongest defense against cyber attacks, if people are empowered to do so.

In the current hybrid working environment, learning new habits that increase cyber hygiene is no longer an option, but a necessity. Today's remote workforce must build capacity to reduce human vulnerabilities by addressing the human factor in cybersecurity. In today's online and remote environment, cyber transcends processes, technology, and systems alone.

Building Emotional Firewalls with our EQ toolkit

Developing and maintaining social relationships, coping with challenges, and using dynamic information effectively and meaningfully all depend on Emotional Intelligence.

EQ-i 2.0 provides a picture of an individual's EQ Toolbox, i.e., their strengths and areas for development, grouped into five composite areas: Self-Perception, Self-Expression, Interpersonal, Decision Making, and Stress Management.

EQ assessments help identify individuals' emotional intelligence blindspots that increase the risk of falling prey to cyber hackers' social engineering techniques.

Understanding how hackers use social engineering techniques to manipulate your employees and customers will help you build a mentally alert and emotionally resilient workforce.

During the training seminars, participants learned how to navigate human vulnerabilities during cyber crises using a new leadership approach. Throughout our training, we used "learning by doing methods" to help shift perceptions about cyber security and stick in people's minds.

If you are interested in learning more about running similar leadership workshops, let's connect and explore how I can help you!