03/09/2026
Here's something Dawn Butler said in our latest episode that I haven't been able to stop thinking about: 💭
"Technical skills get you in the room. People skills determine how far you go in it."
She's right.
And the cybersecurity industry hasn't fully reckoned with what that means — especially for women and people of colour who are told, over and over, to keep stacking certifications as the answer to every career barrier they hit. 📜
In this International Women's Day episode of The Cybersec Migrant, Dawn Butler, MBA, CISSP, with over 30 years in the industry — makes a case that goes beyond the usual IWD conversation:
That the skills gap isn't just a pipeline problem. It's a retention and development problem.
And until we treat communication, empathy, and relationship-building as core leadership competencies — not soft extras — we'll keep losing talented people from an industry that can't afford to lose them. 🛡️
This episode is for:
👩🏾💻 Practitioners wondering whether there's a ceiling above them
👥 Leaders who want to build teams that are both diverse and genuinely resilient
🌱 Anyone mentoring the next generation of security professionals
🎧 Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
💬 Tell me this: did anyone ever tell you early in your career that soft skills would matter as much as — or more than — your technical certifications? Or did you have to figure that out the hard way?
