The Sense-Maker’s Advantage: Turning Cyber Complexity into Executive Clarity

Why the best IT leaders don’t simplify cybersecurity—they make it make sense.

I recently attended the 2025 Gartner IT Symposium in Orlando, Florida, where I sat in on a presentation titled “How to Increase Board Confidence in Cybersecurity” by Kristin Moyer.

As someone who currently serves on an executive board responsible for cybersecurity operations and sustainment, I was curious to hear what strategies would be offered to help leaders build confidence in this complex space. My goal was simple: to identify practical ways to educate my peers, reduce their barriers to entry, and help them make informed, confident decisions alongside the rest of the board.

Throughout my career, I’ve often heard senior leaders say, “Please dumb this technical jargon down for me so I can understand what you’re talking about.” I never took that as an insult—it was a legitimate plea for help. They wanted to engage in the discussion but needed a bridge between technical depth and executive-level understanding. Helping them build that bridge has become one of my personal missions.

Kristin encouraged the audience to become what she called a “Sense-Maker”—someone who translates cybersecurity into business context and builds board consensus on protection and cost. She outlined three key actions:

• Simplify – Answer one clear question.

• Speak Candidly – If you highlight a problem, recommend a solution.

• Align Value – Protect what matters most and enable what comes next.

I found this advice both practical and powerful. I immediately shared it with our cyber operations team so they could integrate these principles into their decision briefs. Under the key action of “Align value,” I was baking in the ending at the beginning—framing the story so the final decision aligned with the desired outcome. That simple shift keeps everyone focused as discussions unfold and ensures decisions are made with clarity, confidence, and shared purpose.

In my current role on the executive board, I lead the support function, which is responsible for ensuring both the security and operational readiness of our IT infrastructure. This includes the following definitions:

• IT Architecture is the blueprint. It defines how the organization intends its networks, systems, applications, and data flows to be structured. It’s the design for achieving mission outcomes and business objectives.

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  The IT Environment, on the other hand, is the reality. It represents everything that actually exists and is running today — all the devices, systems, networks, data sources, applications, platforms, and people that make up the current operational landscape.

Modernizing our existing capabilities directly informs the investment decisions under the Executive Board’s oversight. Since our organization operates closest to the tactical edge, we understand better than anyone what tools, systems, and processes truly enable success.

My intent in defining early what the IT Environment and Architecture consist of is to retain strong influence over modernization decisions without having to over-justify our analysis. When the Executive Board develops a shared understanding of each layer of the IT Environment, they can clearly see where action is being taken—and how those efforts strengthen our overall cybersecurity posture. That clarity allows the Board to make sense of our actions and become supporters, not skeptics.

This approach isn’t just about influencing modernization decisions—it’s about creating clarity across every layer of leadership. When technical leaders can articulate the “why” behind complex systems in language the board understands, they transform uncertainty into confidence. That’s the true value of being a sense-maker: translating complexity into alignment.

In today’s digital world, leaders responsible for IT operations must serve as sense-makers within their organizations. Take the initiative to ensure your teammates understand the fundamentals—how systems connect, where risks exist, and why decisions matter.

When people grasp the foundation, your recommendations will be trusted, not questioned. The more you invest in building that shared understanding, the stronger every action that follows. Because in leadership, as in architecture, the integrity of what’s built above depends entirely on the strength of what’s built below.

-----------------------------------------TEAR LINE--------------------------------------------

• Clarity is the strongest tool an IT leader can bring to the table. When you turn complexity into something people can grasp, you eliminate hesitation and empower decision-makers.

• Owning the IT Environment narrative shapes modernization before debates even begin. Leaders align faster when they understand the landscape they’re acting on.

• A shared foundation creates shared confidence. The more your organization understands how systems connect, the stronger and more unified every decision becomes.