Ten things every security chief needs to know before reporting directly to the CEO
As more chief security officers earn a seat at the executive table, the skills that got them there are not always the ones that will keep them there.
Key points
- More organisations are asking their chief security officer, or CSO, to report directly to the chief executive rather than to the head of IT.
- CEOs expect their CSO to connect cybersecurity to revenue, customer trust, and regulatory compliance, not just to flag technical risks.
- Practitioners interviewed by CSO Online agreed that translating security risk into plain business language is the single most important skill in the role.
- Written goal-setting in the first 60 to 120 days of a direct reporting relationship reduces misaligned expectations on both sides.
The job title says "security," but the job itself, when you report straight to the chief executive, is closer to "business strategist who happens to know a lot about risk."
That shift is real, and it catches people off guard.
A chief security officer, often called a CSO, is the senior executive responsible for protecting a company's data, systems, and people from attack. Historically many CSOs reported to the chief information officer, or CIO, the executive who runs technology operations. A direct line to the CEO is newer, and it changes almost everything about how the role works.
What does a CEO actually expect from a security chief?
CEOs want a strategic partner, not an alarm system. George Gerchow, CSO at Bedrock Data, put it plainly: a good CEO wants a translator, not a reporter of bad news. That means framing every security risk in terms the board cares about, such as lost revenue, reputational damage, or a regulatory fine.
FedRAMP, for instance, is a United States government certification that cloud service providers must earn before selling to federal agencies. Surviving that audit, or an initial public offering, forces a security team to tie its work directly to business value. That discipline is exactly what a CEO-level conversation demands.
Chris Schueler, CEO of Cyderes, and Matt Chiodi, CSO of Cerby, both stressed that governance, meaning the formal rules and oversight structures a company uses to manage risk, should be treated as a competitive advantage rather than a compliance chore. The framing that resonated: governance is the brakes that let you drive fast safely.
On the practical side, every expert interviewed pointed to the same habits:
- Write down goals with the CEO in the first 90 days and revisit them.
- Never let the CEO be surprised by a major incident or a missed target.
- Track both leading indicators (warning signs that risk is rising) and lagging indicators (what happened after the fact).
- Stay calm in a crisis, because the executive table reads body language as much as slide decks.
Greg Fuller, a vice president at Skillsoft, a technology skills training company, noted that communication, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence matter as much as knowing the latest attack techniques. Skills, not titles, define effectiveness in a CEO's eyes.
The hardest part of the role, several leaders agreed, is also the least visible. When security is working well, no one notices. Persistence through that thanklessness, and the willingness to deliver uncomfortable news quickly, is what separates CSOs who last from those who do not.
For employees and customers, a security chief with genuine CEO access means faster decisions when something goes wrong. That matters most when time counts.
