Leading Under Fire: Legal and Leadership Lessons from Cyber Crises
In this episode, Dr. Dave Chatterjee speaks with Josh Cook, a seasoned cybersecurity and privacy attorney who has guided multinational corporations and mid-sized businesses through high-stakes cyber crises. Drawing on his experience as the first Global Cyber Counsel for a Fortune Global 500 company, Cook shares how he built a global cyber legal function from scratch and why legal teams must be engaged long before an incident occurs.
Together, they explore the human, organizational, and legal dynamics of crisis leadership: from building attorney-client privilege into preparation, to developing muscle memory through tabletop exercises, to ensuring the C-suite speaks with one unified voice when every second counts. Anchored in Dr. Chatterjee’s Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) framework, the discussion underscores how legal, leadership, and security functions must converge to preserve trust and resilience in the face of relentless cyber threats.
To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights -
https://www.dchatte.com/episode-91-leading-under-fire-legal-and-leadership-lessons-from-cyber-crises/
In this episode, Dr. Dave Chatterjee speaks with Josh Cook, a seasoned cybersecurity and privacy attorney who has guided multinational corporations and mid-sized businesses through high-stakes cyber crises. Drawing on his experience as the first Global Cyber Counsel for a Fortune Global 500 company, Cook shares how he built a global cyber legal function from scratch and why legal teams must be engaged long before an incident occurs.
Together, they explore the human, organizational, and legal dynamics of crisis leadership: from building attorney-client privilege into preparation, to developing muscle memory through tabletop exercises, to ensuring the C-suite speaks with one unified voice when every second counts. Anchored in Dr. Chatterjee’s Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) framework, the discussion underscores how legal, leadership, and security functions must converge to preserve trust and resilience in the face of relentless cyber threats.
To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights -
Time Stamps
· 0:49 — Introduction to Josh Cook and his career journey
· 2:43 — Building the global cyber legal function
· 6:18 — Why legal must be engaged early in cyber strategy
· 9:10 — Prepared vs. unprepared organizations and the “B-OODA loop”
· 10:58 — Dr. Chatterjee introduces the CPD framework in crisis leadership
· 14:30 — Leadership commitment and the ROI of prevention
· 17:11 — Tabletop exercises and developing organizational muscle memory
· 19:45 — Crisis leadership styles and their impact on teams
· 21:55 — Cybersecurity as strategic enabler and trust foundation
· 27:03 — Preparing for the next attack, not the last one
· 29:45 — Common crisis weakness: fractured C-suite response
· 33:58 — Unified communication and trust building
· 38:02 — Clear, simple, consistent crisis communications
· 41:17 — The importance of genuine care for stakeholders
· 43:08 — Josh Cook’s closing reflections: cyber crises are business problems rooted in people
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/
Website: https://dchatte.com/
Cybersecurity Readiness Book:
https://www.amazon.com/Cybersecurity-Readiness-Holistic-High-Performance-Approach/dp/1071837338
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/cybersecurity-readiness/book275712
