"In the embrace of belonging, associates find purpose and become the heartbeat of an engaged team."
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Brad Thies, the visionary founder of BARR Advisory. In this captivating conversation, Brad takes us on a remarkable journey through his passion for cybersecurity and risk management, culminating in the birth of BARR Advisory in 2014.
As a seasoned expert in the field, Brad unveils the essence of his company’s mission – to empower technology and cloud service providers worldwide in anticipating, navigating, and overcoming risks related to cybersecurity and compliance.
With a diverse team of forward-thinking professionals, BARR Advisory has completed over 600 successful compliance attestation engagements for clients in more than 20 countries and six continents over the past nine years.
Brad’s dedication to making cybersecurity and compliance accessible to mission-driven organizations is evident as he shares insights on creating a culture of belonging within the team, a crucial factor in fostering happiness and dedication among associates.
Join us as we explore the mind of a visionary leader who envisions a future of stronger, safer communities and unparalleled cyber resilience.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Brad Thies: I began my formal career in cybersecurity at one of the Big Four accounting firms, where I quickly found that I had a passion for risk management.
My role there focused on the telecommunications industry, and I was fascinated by the sheer volume of data collected, the ease of access to it, and the growing amount of data exhaust I saw.
At the same time, I was frustrated by the high barrier to entry that existed for companies striving to achieve security compliance and wanted to find a way to make building and achieving long-term cyber resilience a realistic goal for organizations that truly care about keeping data secure. These feelings inspired me to found BARR Advisory in 2014.
Through our separate consulting and attestation practices, BARR works to empower innovative technology and cloud service providers to anticipate, navigate, and respond to issues related to risk, cybersecurity, and compliance.
Today, the BARR team comprises a diverse team of more than 60 forward-thinking professionals, who together have completed more than 600 successful compliance attestation engagements for clients in more than 20 countries and across six continents over the last nine years.
Looking ahead, we plan to continue teaming up with industry partners to develop new and innovative ways to make cybersecurity and compliance more accessible to mission-driven organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Brad Thies: The key to keeping associates happy and engaged is ensuring that every member of the team feels a strong sense of belonging. Even in a fully-remote work environment like ours, it’s imperative to build a culture of community and allyship throughout your organization—and you can start at the top by designing policies that keep equity and humility at the forefront.
Encourage associates at all levels to leave their egos at the door, and train people managers on how to foster productive, meaningful conversations about ideas and areas for improvement. You want associates to feel comfortable speaking up and sharing feedback because they know their opinions are respected and valued.
Especially in a virtual workspace, creating a sense of belonging also involves seeing your team members as people—not just Slack handles. Associates want to know that company leaders prioritize their personal health and wellness as well as their professional growth.
Trusting your team members to work autonomously, allowing them the flexibility to prioritize their own well-being, and providing frequent opportunities for learning and development—even from a distance—will empower your team members to achieve success and find fulfillment both in and out of work.
Here is a two-fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Brad Thies: I love learning and can even be a bit bookish at times, so this is a tough one for me, but if I had to say one it would be Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Frankl states, “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.”
The stories he shared inspired me to dig deep for my own why, especially when dealing with tough situations. This book both influenced me the most and is the one I’ve gifted the most. I remember reading it in college, and it has stuck with me ever since.
Christopher Hitchens, an American journalist, is quoted as saying that “everyone has a book in them” Have you written a book? If so, please share with us details about it. If you haven’t, what book would you like to write and how would you like it to benefit the readers?
Brad Thies: I’m currently working on bringing to fruition a dream I’ve had of publishing a “cybersecurity playbook” to help organizations design, implement, and maintain strong cybersecurity programs that align with their missions, culture, and values.
The playbook will pull together knowledge and expertise from a panel of security and compliance experts on topics like how to recruit and retain top-tier employees in the IT industry, how to determine the scope of your Information Security Management System (ISMS) in preparation for a compliance audit, and how to measure success and progress at both the individual and organizational levels.
Once it is finalized, the playbook will serve as a guide that businesses of all sizes can leverage to help them achieve their security and compliance goals.
2020, 2021, and 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Brad Thies: As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace and companies continue to rely on data collection as a key differentiator and driver of growth, it’s important that business leaders place a high value on trust and transparency.
Your continued success hinges on consumers and stakeholders trusting you to keep their data secure. This means that demonstrating your commitment to adhering to cybersecurity best practices—and providing evidence to show you’re continuously improving your security posture—is crucial.
Being honest and transparent about the actions you’re taking to mitigate risk and keep stakeholder data protected will help you strengthen your relationships with consumers and allow your organization to bounce back quicker if and when an incident does occur.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Brad Thies: Within the next twelve months, we’ve set a goal to formally launch two new service lines: we are pursuing accreditation to audit against the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which will allow us to better serve clients in industries including retail and healthcare, as well as FedRAMP, which will help us better support our clients in government and federal agencies.
But to me, success doesn’t stop with these short-term goals. In fact, BARR’s mission of creating stronger, safer, and more secure communities goes far beyond our compliance attestation and consulting services.
Looking ahead, I want to continue building the BARR Belong Foundation, which I founded several years ago in hopes of creating opportunities for associates to give back to their communities, wherever they are.
Over the last nine years, the Foundation has hosted annual giving tournaments, donated thousands of dollars, and completed countless in-person and virtual service projects for local and international organizations including United Way, Feeding America, and the American Red Cross—and we’re only growing each year.
Finding even more ways to support BARR team members both personally and professionally would be a huge win in my book.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Brad Thies for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Brad Thies or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
