Looking for reliability, not revolution: I’m not anti-technology. I rely on it. But I buy it with purpose. I buy tools that make us better at the basics, that help enforce discipline, and that reduce human error. I buy solutions that simplify, not complicate. And I buy from vendors who tell me the truth, even when it’s inconvenient.The good vendors understand this. They know they’re not selling revolution. They’re selling reliability. They show up prepared. They understand my business, they know where their solution fits, and they’re honest about what it can and can’t do. They know I’m not looking for magic. I’m looking for help managing a problem that never ends.Investors need to take responsibility, too. Stop funding vaporware. Stop chasing the next acronym. Fund the boring but critical work: visibility, identity, secure configuration, developer enablement, and IT hygiene. That’s what actually keeps companies out of the headlines.And CISOs, we have to stop pretending we’re victims in this. We’re not. We built this market with our buying habits. We rewarded noise. We chased innovation that didn’t align with our maturity. If we want the industry to change, we have to change how we spend. Buy less. Buy smarter. Invest in people, process, and architecture before you buy another platform. If you can’t patch, if you can’t control access, if your network is still flat, you don’t need another tool. You need discipline.Security is not a tech problem. It’s an execution problem. And until we fix that, no amount of funding, AI, or new categories will save us.I’ll keep buying what matters. I’ll buy what reduces real risk and strengthens the foundation. I’ll buy what makes us harder to breach and easier to recover. But everything else, the noise, the hype, the endless stream of tools that don’t fix the real issues, can stay on the shelf (or in your PowerPoint slides).
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