Industry Updates
Magazine
Brand Story
Press Release
BLOGS
A dynamic and thoughtful leader can transform any budding venture into a roaring success. The Inc Magazine honored a business leader who has made waves in the industry with his unique business acumen and creative approaches, despite the fact that the business world sees emerging company leaders with outstanding leadership styles every day.
Mr. Mike Crandall, Founder, and CEO of Digital Beachhead, is a phenomenal business leader who laid the foundation of the roaring business venture, ‘Digital Beachhead,’ on November 15, 2015. A globally-renowned cyber expert, speaker, consultant, and business owner, Mike began his career in the United States Air Force (USAF), spending 12 years in Europe, where he was a leader in creating, securing, and managing the burgeoning technology of networks.
The visionary leader joined the Air Force in 1990, just before the start of the Gulf War, and computers were just starting to be utilized. The base he was stationed at had purchased an overlay for the DOS operating system, which was supposed to provide security.
“When I demonstrated that a simple “Control C” stopped the program and allowed full access to the system, our leadership decided I would become the “Computer Warrior” and allowed me access to multiple training systems outside the military. With that incident, I was allowed to “grow” with information technology, networking, and cybersecurity. Since retirement, I started Digital Beachhead to bring those years of experience to small to midsize businesses (SMB)”, revealed Mr. Crandall.
The Company Preface
In November 2015, Digital Beachhead was founded with the goal of becoming a dependable partner for businesses looking for help with cybersecurity. Their mission is to cultivate awareness of cybersecurity among small and midsize businesses, reducing danger vectors one business at a time.
Digital Beachhead believes the path to cybersecurity starts with a conversation. Mike’s goal is to reach out to the SMB community more frequently with information about cyber risk management and how it can be an inexpensive choice for any firm. During his time in government service, he came to the realization that you cannot simply “spend” your way out of being a target. The secret was to carry out the objective more successfully by utilizing the resources you already have. The same is true in business, and Digital Beachhead offers advice to maximize value based on the size of any organization’s cybersecurity budget.
The Healthy Work Culture
Fortunately, the cybersecurity industry has been expanding quickly, and technology is moving quite quickly. Giving employees the time and space to learn new skills and stay updated with technology is what keeps them motivated since they appreciate the challenge. The team can think outside of the current processes and techniques to discover interesting new ways to secure their clients thanks to frequent conference participation, time set aside during the day to listen to webinars, and the capacity to bring new ideas to the table.
Primary Hurdles Along the Way
Lack of trained, competent, and certified employees to fill unfilled positions is the industry’s biggest problem. There appears to be many cybersecurity businesses vying for the same resources. In the military, the majority of training is done on the job. a mix of written material and practical instruction. Mike used that as his model as he began to lecture at universities in the evenings and offer those who stood out internships at his business in the hopes that they would eventually progress to full-time roles.
The Unique Leadership Approach
Leadership is something that the military provides you with plenty of opportunities to succeed and fail at. Failure is also part of leadership because the lessons you can take away from failure can propel you to greater success. According to Mike, “There is nothing I would assign someone to accomplish that I wouldn’t do myself.” A leader should be humble and willing to listen to those they lead. Pass on successes to the team and take failures on your own shoulders. Simple rules to live by.
The Future Outlook
Talking about his future plans, Mike asserted, “My objective is to expand Digital Beachhead over the next five years so that we can hire the newest cyber talent and compete on a global scale. Personally, I’m hoping that my success will free me up to put more of my attention into Afghan Promise, a nonprofit organization that supports Afghan nationals who served alongside our coalition forces in Afghanistan. It is a passion project of mine that I developed into a formal IRS 501c3 nonprofit corporation from a straightforward crowdfunding campaign.”
Mike wraps up the conversation with the key message, “Finally, I would like to thank everyone who supported this wonderful recognition and acknowledge that no person is an island unto themselves. I have a great team of individuals who support me professionally and personally. Without them, I could not have accomplished as much as I have. Thank you to those who have stood with me during my journey.”
