Welcome to another episode of Leaders in Tech hosted by David Mansilla! In this episode, we welcome Thom Langford, air CTO at Rapid7 and former CISO at Publicis Groupe and Velonetic.

Thom takes us through his fascinating career path—from early days setting up 640K memory PCs and Vax VMS systems to building enterprise cybersecurity programs from scratch. Beyond tech stacks and vulnerability management, Thom opens up about his personal battle with burnout and addiction, offering powerful lessons on mental health, leadership, and setting workplace boundaries.

Key Takeaways & What You’ll Learn:

• The Security Paradox: Why absolute security stops business innovation, and how CISOs must manage compromise and complexity.
• Unconventional Career Paths: How a corporate identity theft crisis launched Thom’s CISO career.
• Mental Health in Cybersecurity: Overcoming burnout, dealing with "secrets and failure," and why normalizing mental health discourse saves careers.
• Empathetic Leadership: The rule of "Public Support, Private Correction," providing air cover for your team, and leading with trust.
• Work-Life Balance: Practical strategies for tech professionals, including learning to decline unnecessary meetings and setting hard boundaries.

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