Welcome to The Security Impact Circle: The Security Community You’ve Been Looking For

Leading a security program is more challenging than ever.

Despite record investments in tools, talent, and technology, most security leaders are wrestling with the same fundamental question: How do I demonstrate that my security program is actually making a difference?

If you’ve ever wondered how to build trust with a board’s audit committee members, struggled with competing security initiatives, or wondered if you’re the only one dealing with the challenges you face, you’re not alone. 

What Is The Security Impact Circle?

The Security Impact Circle is meant to be different from other security resources you’ve encountered. It’s not a collection of theoretical frameworks that sound good in presentations but fall apart in practice. And it’s definitely not a place where vendors pitch solutions to problems you didn’t know you had.

Instead, it’s both an intimate community and a broader conversation where security leaders come to have the discussions that rarely happen in public:

• The real challenges of managing security programs in today’s complex environments
• The struggle to communicate security value to executives who think in terms of revenue and risk
• The gap between what security tools promise and what they actually deliver
• The secrets of coordinating multiple security initiatives across an organization
• The honest truths about what’s working (and what isn’t) 

It Started with a Conversation

Last week, we hosted the first Security Impact Circle gathering in Palo Alto. Pulse Security AI founded the Impact Circle to bring these discussions to life. More than a dozen C-suite technology leaders joined us at Foundation Capital’s offices for something that rarely happens in our industry: an honest, off-the-record conversation about what’s really happening in security leadership.

In a workshop structure, Caroline Tsay, Board & Audit Committee member at Coke Cola, Morningstar, and Semrush, led a discussion on “What the Board expects to hear from the CISO”. The workshop covered three primary topics around board dynamics: leaders listening to Caroline’s empirical insights into what works and what doesn’t, and sharing their real-life experiences. We brought in a seasoned board member, who participates in audit committees, to lead a workshop with practitioners sharing what actually works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to security program management.

The energy in that room validated what we suspected: security leaders are hungry for these conversations. They want to learn from peers who face similar challenges, and they’re willing to share their own experiences when there’s genuine value in the exchange.

Why We Created This

Security leaders across industries are facing remarkably similar challenges, but these discussions rarely occur in public forums. Conference presentations focus on success stories. Vendor content focuses on solutions. Industry reports focus on threats and trends.

But what about the day-to-day realities and the critical strategic interactions that have a real impact on careers? What about the messy, complicated, frustrating aspects of security program management that keep you up at night?

The Security Impact Circle exists because:

• Peer insights matter most. The best solutions come from practitioners who’ve faced similar problems.
• Honest conversation drives progress. Real problems require real discussions, not sanitized marketing content.
• Community creates clarity. When security leaders share experiences, everyone benefits.

Based on feedback from our inaugural gathering, we recognize that these discussions must extend far beyond a single conference room. The next Security Impact Circle gathering is scheduled to take place in another city soon. 

Ready to join the conversation? Follow us on LinkedIn to stay connected and learn about upcoming events.