Reducing friction and enabling innovation

Improving security, without diminishing the customer experience

Debbie is a firm believer that cybersecurity should be part of the innovation process from the start.

…when you talk about improving security and improving the customer experience, it really starts with an attitude of ‘we're going to build this in at the get-go—we're not going to take the approach of tacking it on [but] in some instances we're rearchitecting or we are recoding

She also emphasizes the steps taken to improve security should never diminish customer experience.

…customers don't want a lot of friction in their interaction [with] a company. So, we have to really think twice about how we secure their interaction with Delta, without creating additional levels of friction.

Creating better cybersecurity solutions together

Debbie explains that cyber is everyone’s responsibility, not just that of cybersecurity leaders. It’s a collaborative effort across the organization to bring subject matter specialists together to share ideas and lessons learned to arrive at better cybersecurity solutions.

We say cyber is everyone’s responsibility…We work in collaboration with a much broader group of engineers and specialists at Delta to share what we know, but also to learn what they know. And it’s a collaboration that allows us to ensure the security of the aircraft, as well as the data.

Listening is critical for good leadership

Debbie stresses that good leaders don’t need to be the smartest people in the room. Instead, a good leader knows where to find the best people for specific activities, how to ask the right questions, and what to look for to find the best ways to do things.

…don't feel like you have to be the smartest person in the room, go into the room with the intent of learning, listening, and coming out of the room with a plan for what you want to do going forward.

As a leader, being willing to be transparent with your teams and with others …helping them understand the decisions that you've made, or the plans you had, where they fell short, how you learned from it and what you did differently.