HuffPost Business - Diana L. Burley, Ph.D. is an award-winning workplace cybersecurity professor, researcher and consultant who currently serves as a full professor in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is a co-author of the well-received Enterprise Software Security: A Confluence of Disciplines (Addison Wesley, 2014).

Dr. Burley is a sought after international speaker and the author of more than 60 academic and trade publications. For nearly 20 years, she has acted as a consultant to corporations and government agencies in navigating issues related to IT-enabled change, cybersecurity workforce development and knowledge management. Her board service includes two terms on the Advisory Committee of the Virginia General Assembly Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) Cyber Security and Goodwill Industries International. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Burley has been quoted in many top-tier media outlets, including Bloomberg Politics and MarketWatch Radio Network.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?

I have been blessed in my life to have had many opportunities to observe good leaders across a variety of environments. Although different in many ways, what has been consistent across each of them is a genuine commitment to the people -- understanding and respecting their essence; and to the mission -- working toward a collective goal. I can remember early experiences of going to work with my mother. She was a senior level college administrator for many years. She never entered the office with a flourish -- never announced, "The boss is here!" Instead, she opted to enter quietly; letting people continue their work and fostering an open and comfortable work environment. She was firm (you had to perform), but she always exhibited a genuine concern for people. Every year she invited two young women to join us for dinner and the Ebony Fashion Fair ( a haute couture show that almost seemed like a rite of passage for young Black women in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA). There was no lecture or lesson; just an opportunity to connect. I learned, through her, that leading is about understanding people -- breaking down barriers between you and meeting them where they are so that you can walk forward together. My father taught me to focus on the mission, to set a goal and get it done. He was the epitome of "actions speak louder than words" and from him I learned to exhibit the type of selfless dedication to the collective mission that I want to see from those around me.

For the complete interview, please visit the source article below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-dunn/women-in-business-diana-burley_b_6825816.html

Laura Dunn. "Women in Business: Diana L. Burley, Cybersecurity Professor, George Washington University" HuffPost Business. 08 March 2015. Web. 14 March 2015.