Winning in Tech: Point of View Trumps Features

When your name speaks words you never said My LinkedIn account appears to have been compromised yesterday, and direct messages were sent to contacts that were not written by me, nor my voice. Seeing my name attached to words I didn’t choose was unsettling. It felt like I was observing a doppelganger or watching a twilight zone episode. It reminded me of something critical about leadership: Authenticity isn’t style or branding, it’s ownership of voice and lack of cognitive dissonance. When leaders speak without alignment, trust erodes. When actions aren’t rooted in intent, confusion spreads. Whether in organizations or digital spaces, misalignment creates the same outcome: people stop believing what they see and hear. In 2026 with AI, automation, hackers, and borrowed voices, being real on your own accord isn’t optional. It’s the foundation of trust. In Mimic (1997), a movie where humans were ironically imitated by mutated cockroaches, the threat blends in until the moment it attacks, similarly to how false identity or facades may erode trust before anyone realizes it isn’t real. Imagine if the fake you is less compelling and admirable than the real one. Be open to growth but do not be fickle. Be true to who you are. Guard your voice. Lead with congruence. #AuthenticLeadership #LeadershipIntegrity #EthicalLeadership #ChangeLeadership #SystemsThinking #DigitalTrust #IdentityInTheDigitalAge #CyberAwareness

Most CISOs stay behind the scenes.😶🌫️ Tomás Maldonado, CISO at the NFL, does the opposite, and it's working. He's managing security for one of the most high-profile brands in the country while holding board director roles advising PE and VC-backed startups on AI, security maturity, and M&A-readiness. What makes his LinkedIn profile stand out? He engages publicly with purpose. He shares insights with a consistent, personal voice. He connects technical leadership to enterprise strategy. And he's clear about being open to more board and advisory roles. Most security leaders hide their expertise. Tomás makes it visible. Worth studying if you're a technical leader looking to build credibility and influence beyond your current role.

🖥️ 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝘃𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 Two minds. Two philosophies. One digital world. They grew up in the same era. They changed the same industry. And yet, they couldn’t have been more different. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 believed technology should be felt. 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 believed technology should be everywhere. Jobs obsessed over design, taste, and control. Gates obsessed over scale, compatibility, and reach. One chased elegance. The other chased ubiquity. 📌 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 built closed systems: tightly integrated hardware and software, fewer choices, higher standards. His belief: people don’t always know what they want until you show them. 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 built open platforms: software that worked across machines, partners everywhere, scale first. His belief: the winner is the one who becomes the default. 📊 What happened next Apple became the most valuable consumer brand in the world: premium, controlled, aspirational. Microsoft became the backbone of global computing: invisible, essential, unavoidable. Neither approach was “right”. Both changed how the world works. 💡 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 This battle wasn’t about technology. It was about 𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗽𝗵𝘆. Jobs reminds us that 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. Gates reminds us that 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀. Vision without scale stays niche. Scale without taste becomes forgettable. The leaders who endure understand when to obsess, and when to let go.

An important reality many professionals ignore 👇 In today’s fast-moving world, speed is often confused with progress. People rush into: ❌ Partnerships without due diligence ❌ Decisions without understanding consequences ❌ Advice without verifying credibility ❌ Short-term wins that damage long-term reputation 🔍 What actually creates sustainable growth? • Clear processes, not shortcuts • Transparency, not vague promises • Accountability, not excuses • Long-term vision, not temporary hype 💡 The strongest professionals and businesses are not the loudest — they are the ones who document, verify, and deliver. Trust is built slowly, lost quickly, and almost impossible to rebuild once damaged. If something sounds too easy, too fast, or too perfect — it usually deserves extra scrutiny. In a world full of noise, clarity is a competitive advantage.

“This is the first time our IT has actually helped us grow.” That is what a COO shared with us after modernizing their tech foundation. And it is a statement we hear more every month. For years, IT strategy was overlooked in planning conversations. It was considered operational, not strategic. A necessary cost instead of a competitive advantage. But high growth businesses think differently. They treat IT as the engine behind everything they want to achieve. Here is why this shift unlocks so much momentum: Clearer leadership insight ↳ Decisions come from accurate, timely data. Smoother team workflows ↳ Teams stop battling bottlenecks and start building momentum. Systems that scale cleanly ↳ Growth no longer breaks processes or tools. Security that stays ahead of threats ↳ Leaders sleep better knowing the foundation is protected. Lower operational drag ↳ Less troubleshooting, less rework, fewer delays. Better outcomes for customers ↳ Faster service. Fewer errors. More trust. In 2026, the companies that grow fastest will be the ones whose IT strategy is aligned with their business strategy. If you want to build that kind of alignment, see how we can help: https://lnkd.in/eRKfC-QD

I was pleased to speak with The Sun Newspaper Nigeria about my journey into technology and AI governance, and the values that have shaped my work, from ethical innovation and cybersecurity to youth empowerment and responsible leadership. In the interview, I reflected on how upbringing, discipline, and service inform the way I approach technology, particularly the need to build systems that protect people, expand opportunity, and create long-term societal value. 🔗 Full interview linked below: https://lnkd.in/e_8wBTsh

Are you a conviction person or a consensus person? While this often comes up in VC investment thesis, I was mapping our internal decision frameworks and this single thing came out on top everywhere! What do I mean by the two? Conviction - A single person (or a minority), often with extreme value alignment has a strong belief, takes a bet, owns it to the end and team ralies behind them with full support. Consensus - Majority usually tries to all align on a negotiated single direction, and then as a group works towards it with shared ownership. (i'm sure there are better dictionary definitions, but this is what i think it as in my head) How do we build products? - Conviction - Regardless of your experience, if you're culturally an ignosite truly, then whatever you think helps the mission will be built and you'll be supported no questions asked. There are initiatives and products that have stemmed and led by founders, product teams, business, support, security, infra, tech, across seniors to interns. How do we hire? - Conviction - As often quoted, we hire for clear proof of strengths, not for lack of weaknesses. Most of our hires have been one or two people having hell yes conviction, and becoming owners of making sure the hire succeeds. We choose a 10,7,7,7 over 8,8,8,8 any day. Who do we hire - Conviction first people - As the entire organisation works on fast moving, truth seeking, bet taking, conviction first decision framework, if you would wait for consensus to form, the ship would have sailed long before that happens. But on the other end, people who thrive in chaos, seek freedom, and owns successes and failures equally grow exponentially in the organisation due to sheer size of impact they can achieve without any restraints. I have always remembered one of the core value from a company I had interviewed at (and got rejected) for long back - "every decision taken at point in time with the limited information available at that point in time - is ALWAYS correct". Biggest killer of conviction culture is blaming individuals based on hindsight, based on outcomes which were impossible to predict at that time of making the decision, this often just induces decision paralysis and nothing ever happens once this is the norm. Conviction builds momentum, and momentum builds movement. While I'm sure both conviction and consensus are important and both work for different folks. It's not a right or wrong thing, it's about joining the right place, depending on what kind of person you are. Today, we are looking for conviction first folks and if you are one of them, we'd love to talk to you!

“How do we maximize human skills and potential and, as leaders, keep talent motivated and engaged when a lot of the messaging we hear plays on our subconscious fears that our very identity is under threat from the technological advances we ourselves created?” The growth in technology is forecast to increase exponentially going forward. What this means for business is that technology will radically change the way we work, and that constant change will become the norm. In this chapter, ‘Setting the stage – exponential change and human identity’, authors Dr. Catherine McGregor PCC CPCC and Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. argue that AI-driven, exponential change is fundamentally challenging how lawyers understand their value and identity at work which has a human and psychological impact. 🌟 Read the sample chapter below and follow the link in the comments to find out more! #Knowledgemanagement #Technologytransformation #Techinlaw #Legaltech

I just listened to an episode of The Daily about the chip manufacturing plant in Arizona — and it perfectly illustrates a blind spot I see all the time in international expansion. Everyone talks about: capital incentives supply chains But the real friction point? Culture. Different assumptions around: • availability and working hours • escalation and decision-making • accountability • what “showing up” actually means Put global teams together and assume alignment will magically happen — and projects slow down, budgets inflate, and trust erodes. Governments work hard to attract foreign investment. Companies work hard to execute. What often gets missed is the execution gap between cultures. That gap is exactly why we started building GlobalExpand — not to help companies enter markets, but to help them be ready for them. Because international expansion doesn’t fail on strategy slides. It fails in day-to-day execution. And culture is where that failure usually starts. #InternationalExpansion