SteelCloud is on a roll in 2022. Being named a Top Cloud Security Solutions Provider by Enterprise Security magazine is just part of it. In addition, our Founder and COO, Brian Hajost, has also been named one of the Most Influential People in Cybersecurity by CIO Views magazine. So, there’s no better person to honor on Entrepreneur’s Day than our own Brian Hajost.

Maybe it’s the way he moved the company into large scale STIG/CIS compliance  automation when he arrived in 2009. Perhaps it’s the nine patents he holds on ConfigOS and other technologies. Or maybe it’s the vision that has led to many firsts for the company, like being the first automation solution to achieve ATO in the cloud in 2014.

But none of those things are how Brian measures success.  “When a customer thanks me for being a good vendor—that’s how I measure success. It’s not measured by plaques on the wall. It’s measured by people,” says Hajost.

And that’s at the crux of Brian’s entrepreneurial mission. “It’s all about creating an organization you can be proud of,” continues Hajost. “Are you helping peoples’ lives?” Along those lines, here are a few tips from Brian for anyone looking for insights into successful leadership:

• Reliability. “When you make crazy-sounding claims like ‘our product removes 90% of the effort and 70% of the costs of compliance,’ you either deliver on those claims or get eaten by your competition,” says Hajost. “SteelCloud is a leading compliance solution provider because we are reliable—we deliver on our promises.”
• “When you want to understand someone better, ask them how they made lemonade out of lemons…how they prepared for the downside. Some of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in life is preparing only for the upside.”
• “Actually, listen to people and encourage them to have ideas. You don’t have to agree with everything. But you must listen. That’s the surest way to lose people if you don’t listen. If you engage people in the mission—even if you don’t change the mission—they will continue to act.”
• “It’s key to give people work that challenges them. Something one of my old bosses said has stuck with me: ‘I’d rather challenge people at 110% than hire someone who is so qualified I can only challenge them at 80%.’ That’s the promise of automation—to relieve people of the stuff that doesn’t challenge them so they can put their energy into the stuff that does. A well-paid, well-respected, sufficiently challenged person will not leave their job.”
• “My dreams are centered around the next great thing—the next great benefit we can provide or the next great invention we can conceive. If you’ve achieved all your dreams, it’s time to dream a little more. I’m still dreaming, and that will always be the case.”

As SteelCloud moves forward, expect to see more capabilities for ConfigOS that dramatically affect the lives of SteelCloud customers.