In cybersecurity, good communication is often what keeps technical and non-technical teams from working together This article explores communication technical brilliance. . Different groups of people working together are important for coming up with good cybersecurity strategies and ideas, but they can get stuck if communication isn't based on trust.

Rebecca Grapsy and Kevin Grapsy, a husband and wife team, will give a talk on this topic at this year's RSAC Conference. And it's personal for them. ## Being a technical genius doesn't mean you can communicate clearly Rebecca works in communications, and Kevin has a lot of experience with technology. They have both seen how hard it can be to get clear, actionable communication when technical brilliance meets it.

Their collaboration isn't just a business theory; it's also a personal issue that comes from their own experiences. Rebecca says, "[Kevin is] one of those people who has this really unique or rare ability to talk really succinctly about technical items." "A lot of people are really good at technology but not so good at explaining it."

Related: Why Stryker's Outage Is a Wake-Up Call for Disaster Recovery For Kevin, the best thing someone can do for their career is learn how to communicate clearly and effectively, especially with leaders. "You have to be able to tell them the basics of what's going on on the factory floor," he says, talking about what it means to talk to management about cybersecurity issues.

"They don't care about the firewall; they care about the factory floor." The two came up with what they call "The Five Points of Friction Framework" to help their audience, who probably have these problems with communication at work themselves, where they are. One of the things they talk about is having different goals.

The technical team and the non-technical team have different goals, which causes friction. This, in turn, gives everyone a sense of accomplishment and gives these teams with different backgrounds and goals a chance to celebrate together. Related: The White House's Cyber Strategy Puts Offense First Trust is another one of the five things that cause problems. This means making rules and making sure that people can talk to each other safely without putting anyone in danger.

The main reason for sharing these likely sticking points is to show people how they can deal with friction in their own careers to build trust and communication with different stakeholders and their own teams. And being able to communicate clearly and get past this friction can help your career, keep your company safe, and make sure that technical work has a lasting effect. Rachel says, "It can be hard to get those really cool technical ideas or that technical knowledge across to the people who are making decisions, to leadership, and to the boardroom."

"And that's what we don't want to happen here." We're working on building a bridge. From March 23 to March 26, 2026