Author, editor, speaker, and educator, Dr. Blake Curtis is joined by Red Cross’s Senior Internal Auditor Niki Gomes to talk about everything from growing up in a small town to completing his master’s degree in 10 weeks and publishing his 600-page dissertation in this ISACA Industry Spotlight episode.
In a meaningful conversation, Blake discusses how surviving a near-death experience transformed and motivated him to expand his understanding of what it means to be a human. He was inspired to supercharge his learning, career journey, and personal growth. Making the decision to become intentional in every interaction and giving 100% of his effort in every initiative, he blazed his path to success.
At the 2022 ISACA North America Conference, Blake presented his findings from his ground-breaking and internationally known dissertation, "The Next Generation Cybersecurity Auditor.” His research discovered a technical competency gap in Big Four IT Auditors and SMEs and debunked the 10,000-hour rule and "years of experience" fallacy. His study proved that task-based experience is more objective than time-based experience. Blake is also the author of "How to Complete Your Master's Degree in One Semester," which has assisted over 150 students to complete their master’s degrees in record-setting times.
Along his journey, he has earned over 30 IT certifications and gained additional impressive certificates for engineering, advising, managing, and leadership. Blake has an abundance of experience to share with ISACA’s audience. Tune in now to be inspired, uplifted, and enlightened by his techniques, advice, and wisdom that can help boost your career!
Below you can find materials and resources that Blake would like to share with our audience.
🔉Podcast
Industry Spotlight with Dr Blake Curtis Part I (isaca.org)
🔗Links
How to regulate a profession pg. 261 and 265 of Creating the Next Generation Cybersecurity Auditor: Examining the Relationship between It Auditors’ Competency, Audit Quality, & Data Breaches - ProQuest
Debunking Years of Experience
📽️Video
Equitable Hiring YouTube Series
⚒️Tools
Inoreader: Inoreader - Take back control of your newsfeed
Anki Notecards (Spaced Repetition): About - AnkiWeb
Notion
📚Books
Art of Conversation – Judy Apps
Verbal Judo – George Thompson
The Science of Self-Learning – Peter Hollins
Finish What Your Start – Peter Hollins
The Power of Discipline – Daniel Walter