Step into the powerful journey of Ladi Adefala, a world-renowned cybersecurity strategist, founder and CEO at Omega316, and board chair at Delta Dental of Missouri, as he shares profound insights on navigating difficult career transitions and unexpected "wilderness" seasons. This episode delves into the importance of shifting focus from seeking immediate validation to understanding the long-term compounding effects of daily habits, continuous learning, and personal growth. Listeners will walk away inspired by a captivating message about building strategic advantages, relying on resilience during adversity, and why every impactful leader needs trusted guidance to remember who they are called to be.
Bio: Ladi Adefala, Founder & CEO at Omega 316. He currently serves as board chair of DDMO, a dental benefits provider that serves over 2 million patients and 3 thousand providers. He also serves as a member of the finance and audit, governance and nominating, compensation and executive committees.
Ladi advises boards, CEOs and C-suite executives on digital transformation, cyber risk strategy, value-innovation and leadership development. He has advised leaders of fortune 500 organizations as well as small/medium-sized businesses. He recently helped a healthcare client improve their operational resilience and cyber recovery time, from weeks/days to hours. He’s been engaged by CEOs and boards to help educate and facilitate cyber strategy sessions to mitigate business risk and to leverage cyber as a competitive differentiator and as a strategic asset. He’s also been invited to speak and share his insights in multiple cities around the world; including Sydney, Frankfurt, Dublin, Vancouver, Mexico City and more.
Ladi managed and led the day-to-day operations of the cyber solutions line of business at World Wide Technology, Inc., with responsibility for operating strategy, resource allocation, personnel management, product/services development, sales support and financial oversight. He built and led teams of technology and cyber consulting specialists that sustained double digit growth for 6 consecutive years, resulting in over $100 million in annual revenue. He has also served in a variety of leadership and transformative roles (at Accenture, AT&T, Fortinet), that span several business functions including operations, engineering, sales enablement, marketing and R&D. Ladi has extensive experience in engaging with organizations in multiple industry sectors including financial, healthcare, technology, retail, utilities, oil and gas, Federal and State government agencies as well as global businesses operating in Asia-Pac, Europe and LATAM.
Ladi holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, has been named as one of the Private Company Directors to Watch for his contributions to corporate governance excellence and to board best practices and is a recipient of the CCG BEYA Modern Technology Leader award (Outstanding Achievement Award), that recognizes people who are shaping the future of science, technology and engineering. He has served as an adjunct faculty at Maryville University and Webster University in St. Louis.
Something Extra:
"The work you're doing not just here, but in the multiple dimensions is helping people...it changes lives. Like, maybe it may start out as a little seed and a little sprout, and then something comes."
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