The 2026 Planning Episode: 5 key security imperatives.

While most organizations treat security as a cost center, a select group is using it to win enterprise deals, open new markets, and outpace competitors. The difference? They've stopped asking "how much does security cost?" and started asking "how much value does security create?"

This strategic edition synthesizes lessons from security leaders at Walmart, PayPal, Postman, and the defense industrial base to reveal the playbook for 2026: treating security as a business function that enables velocity, builds trust, and creates competitive moats.

Five Strategic Imperatives for 2026:
1. Architect for the AI Identity Explosion 
When AI agents access your CRM, email, and databases on behalf of humans, who's accountable? Walmart's 10,000+ developers faced this at scale. Learn how to govern probabilistic, non-deterministic systems before deployment breaks.
2. Turn Supply Chain Security Into Competitive Advantage
CMMC enforcement is here—Raytheon paid $8.4M, Penn State $1.25M. But smart contractors are leading with certification to win contracts. See how quantitative security standards are reshaping business relationships between primes and subs.
3. Extract Intelligence From Your Own Logs 
One organization prevented $3M in fraud using internal threat intelligence. Learn why focused AI models that analyze your specific environment outperform generic vendor feeds.
4. Make Security Your Primary Differentiator 
When SOC 2 Type II certification wins you three enterprise customers worth $2M ARR, security spending looks very different to the CFO. Discover how to position security as the reason customers choose you.
5. Build Culture, Not Tool Stacks 
The oil & gas industry made safety everyone's responsibility through culture, not technology. Apply the same principles to solve cybersecurity's 65% turnover crisis.

Expert Insights From:
Rishi Bhargava (Descope) | Tobias Yergin (Walmart) | Bob Kolasky (Exiger) | Chris Wysopal (Veracode) | Bill Anderson (Mattermost) | Satyam Patel (Kandji) | Sam Chehab (Postman) | Brian Wagner | Dimitry Shvartsman (PayPal)
The Meta-Pattern: Organizations winning in 2026 measure security in business terms—revenue enabled, customers won, time to market reduced. They're not the "department of no" blocking progress—they're the team enabling fast, safe movement.

🎙️ SecureTalk: Strategic conversations with security leaders, hosted by Justin Beals
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