In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, hosts Ron and Chris interview longtime friend David Tsao.  David is a security advisor who leads security engineering at Marqeta, and he is an ever-innovating wealth of knowledge.  Ron and Chris ask David about his background, philosophy of leadership, and more! 

David took a nontraditional route into the security field, as he had a background in chemistry and pharma before breaking into the security community.  Ron and Chris ask David to explain various aspects of his experience, including decisions regarding when to buy or build things, how vendors may find problems to tackle, and his own founder’s journey as a team builder.  David’s story of team-building opens the door to conversation about his role as a leader in the field, and he tells Ron and Chris about his expectations about leadership and how they matched reality, strategies for assuring opportunity for team impact and giving individual employees opportunities, and what he looks for in his work of hiring employees.

Another major topic of conversation is David’s philosophy concerning the social commentary of the day.  More specifically, Ron and Chris wonder how he thinks about issues surrounding both diversity and inclusion and wealth and income gaps.  David explains his thoughts and desire to partner with others in work for change, and also shares the story of a past experience tasting social change and feeling like he made a difference.  Finally, David offers advice to listeners eager to make an impact on their own community, as well as listeners looking with a broad vision and wanting to bring change to the world. 

1:34 - This episode features David Tsao and starts with a look at his background.

3:48 - David handles questions of building vs. buying and operating as a vendor.

9:54 - The conversation turns to David’s founder’s journey.

13:26 - David is asked about his first step into leadership, including expectations and reality.

15:05 -David gets into some team strategies and ways to best serve individual employees. 

20:48 - What does David look for in hiring people new to the security field?

23:59 - Ron and Chris want to know David’s philosophy on social commentary going on now.

28:14 - They ask David to share a story about seeing and contributing to social change.

30:47 - Where should people who want to make a community impact start?

33:37 - What’s one piece of advice to listeners wanting to bring change in the world?

Links:

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