There's a lot of advice out there about how to improve your ability to lead security initiatives, but here's an intriguing approach from Michael Santarcangelo, founder of Security Catalyst: Take a tip from improvisational theater and focus on making your colleagues look good. 

"Improv is not designed to be a one-person show; successful improv requires one or more partners playing by similar rules to be entertaining," Santarcangelo writes in a post at CSO magazine. "Many think the role of the improv player is to 'be funny.' And while 'funny happens,' the job of the player is different: make your partner look like a rock star."

The theory behind making your partners look good in improv is that you all share a common goal: While you are busy making them look good, they are busy making you look good. In a similar fashion, successful security leadership sets the stage for making all players look good. If each individual is doing his best to contribute to his colleagues, it is easier for the colleagues to succeed and provide help in return. 

The best improv performers know when to deliver a setup for their partners to shine and when to jump in to save them from floundering. Their expertise sets the tone for others to follow, and ultimately the whole team is focused on elevating everyone. When it comes to security, you can make colleagues look good by making sure they have access to the information that will make them successful and by helping smooth things over for them when problems arise.

The temptation to grab the limelight is high in both improv and security, however. The "pace, the pressure and the opportunity to demonstrate success--even at someone else's expense--sometimes takes over," Santarcangelo cautions. "In improv, by always making sure they put the needs of their partner first, everyone wants to play with the strong players. They gain success without the need to hog the stage, grandstand or step on top of others' lines to be funnier themselves. As security professionals, applying this approach means becoming the go-to person everyone wants on their team."

For more:
- see Michael Santarcangelo's post at CSO

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