How Can I Help?

My parents instilled a sense of duty and service in me and my two brothers early in our lives.  We grew up a few rungs below middle class, but we appreciated what we had.  Like other kids we had chores to help around the house.   If we were cutting the grass in our yard, my folks made sure we helped our neighbours and kept mowing.  Shovelling snow in the winter included the sidewalks of others, because that was the right thing to do.

Half of our backyard was this impressive vegetable garden – my Mom had quite the green thumb and the amazing produce she grew helped feed us through the winter.  She always planted more than we could eat, so the extras went to families in the community that had less than we did.  Folks would leave our backyard with plastic pails full of potatoes, beans, peas, strawberries and tomatoes.  They were always so thankful for my Mom’s generosity.

My Dad was a master mechanic, and I’m pretty sure every car or lawn mower in the neighborhood saw his garage at one point in time.  I remember driving over to visit my folks after I had left home, and I couldn’t find a spot in the back alley to park!  There were too many cars lined up for my Dad to check out.  He never charged folks for his skills, he just wanted to make sure they could get to work or drive their kids to school.

When I started TaleCraft Security, these memories (and many more) helped drive what I want to do, and how I want to help others.  During the last forty plus years, I’ve tried to live the examples my parents set for us as kids growing up in Edmonton.  Now that I have an opportunity to create my own company, my first thought was how can I help organizations build better security programs.  A close second focused on helping grow the skills of security professionals with the lessons I’ve learned these past few decades.

I get a chance to do both here at TaleCraft Security –   and I could really use your help!

I’m building an online classroom of courses that I hope will teach security leaders and company executives the role security can play in an organization’s success.  I’m also creating courses about the value of storytelling in Security, the importance of budgeting and finance, how to create meaningful metrics, and better communication in a crisis.

Here’s where you come in.

What courses would you like to see offered by TaleCraft Security that you’d attend, or would recommend to your team and others?  The classes will be practical, presented in chapters, take about an hour (with a quiz) and have content you can use at work the next day.  It doesn’t make sense to create a course that you can’t bring back to work and use right away.

Can I ask a favour?  If you’re reading this article, please take a few minutes and comment with some suggestions on courses you’d like to take online.  You don’t need to write up an entire curriculum, but if you have a couple of ideas, I’d love to read them!

This is the promise of TaleCraft Security – changing perceptions of security programs and teaching security professionals to tell their stories.  It’s my opportunity to help, give back, and grow.  And I’m asking for your help!