CODE BLUE: Our Industry Needs Resuscitation
It is no secret that the world is a complex place. Look at any news report on any network regardless of what your geopolitical bent is and you will notice three things:
- Everyone has an opinion
- Everyone’s opinion to him or herself is right and sacred
- Opinions without action are worthless
I am a huge fan of Erik Erikson, the revered developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst best known for his theory on social development. His work and research in the field of ego psychology and social psychological development was landmark and amongst the neo-Freudian community, he in my opinion stood far above his peers. Eriksonian theory suggests that psychosocial development occurs in a series of stages, which requires successful mastery of the initial stage in order to properly prepare and set the stage for all latter stages. Likewise, Erikson theorized that the failure to master the initial stages can have a damning effect upon development though that this not to say that one cannot recover from and overcome these obstacles and subsequently (with hard work and diligence), arrive at a place which is prime for the stage one finds themselves in (there are of course limits and caveats associated with this, especially in considering the earliest stages where in the subject is still an infant and largely dependent upon others for nurturing). The following table depicts Erikson’s stages of social psychological development nicely.
Table 1: Erikson’s Stages of Social Psychological Development
| Stage | Basic Conflict | Important Events | Outcome |
| Infancy (birth to 18 months) | Trust vs. Mistrust | Feeding | Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care, and affection. A lack of this will lead to mistrust. |
| Early Childhood (2 to 3 years) | Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt | Toilet Training | Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads to feelings of autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame and doubt. |
| Preschool (3 to 5 years) | Initiative vs. Guilt | Exploration | Children need to begin asserting control and power over the environment. Success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children who try to exert too much power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt. |
| School Age (6 to 11 years) | Industry vs. Inferiority | School | Children need to cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority. |
| Adolescence (12 to 18 years) | Identity vs. Role Confusion | Social Relationships | Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self. |
| Young Adulthood (19 to 40 years) | Intimacy vs. Isolation | Relationships | Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people. Success leads to strong relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation. |
| Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years) | Generativity vs. Stagnation | Work and Parenthood | Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having children or creating a positive change that benefits other people. Success leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure results in shallow involvement in the world |
| Maturity(65 to death) | Ego Integrity vs. Despair | Reflection on Life | Older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment. Success at this stage leads to feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair. |
At this point, you, the reader, may be wondering just what this has to do with what I typically write on here. That is a great question and I am glad you are thinkingJ. I believe our industry has, in many ways, met with conflicts (as described by Erikson or challenges), and failed in conquering them thusly finding itself following a derelict trajectory. I believe several factors have contributed to this:
- An inordinate amount of emphasis being placed on compliance for compliance sake as opposed to improvement of risk posture
- A fundamental lack of value and understanding with respect to information security and all It influences in business and outside of it historically (though I feel this is beginning to change…slowly)
- Errant thinking and marketing campaigns on the part of certain vendors (you know who you are and as such there is no need to point you out here)
- The errant belief that what worked in the past will work today or tomorrow (applies to technology as well as thought / philosophy)
- The accepted ‘norm’ of intellectual dishonesty which has become grossly apparent to the trained eye and experienced practitioner
In terms of development, it is my opinion that the industry has progressed, though not without lumps and as a result, of incurring said lumps has approached each successive stage of development in a manner which though not ideal is certainly able to be right sized. Should this right sizing not occur, I believe the industry at large will square and settle nicely into developmental stage 7 “Middle Adulthood” characterized by Generativity vs. Stagnation finding itself landing precariously in the realm of stagnation. I do not do stagnation well, do you? If not, let us continue to challenge our peers, our industry, our clients, our customers and ourselves to reclaim our industry and ensure generativity for all.
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