Because IAM Leadership Should Be Measured in Business Impact.

Most organizations still underestimate the power of Identity and Access Management (IAM). Too often, it’s treated as a back-office operation or a necessary compliance task. But if you’re like me, you know how much more value IAM can create. With the right strategy, framework, and blueprint for action, IAM becomes a catalyst for business enablement, strengthens your security posture, and accelerates digital transformation.

The 7 Pillars of IAM Success brings these elements together into a clear, actionable guide to help you transform your IAM program into one that delivers measurable impact.

The real value of IAM is largely untapped. But we can change that. Join me and support the presale to become part of a growing movement of leaders and professionals turning security into strategy.

The 7 Pillars of IAM Success:
A Leadership Blueprint to Transform Identity & Access Management into a Strategic Force Multiplier

I didn’t plan to make a career in Identity and Access Management. It found me. My first experience with IAM was anything but glamorous: operational failures, audit findings, frustrated executives, and a program nobody seemed to want to own. It was messy, complex, and political. 

But it was also the first time I saw just how critical identity is to everything a business does.

Since then, I’ve spent more than two decades building and leading IAM programs across industries. I’ve worked with dozens of IAM, cybersecurity, and IT teams inside global enterprises, highly regulated environments, and fast-growth organizations. The root challenge is always the same: enormous potential, but limited strategic focus. The technology keeps evolving, yet the challenges rarely change.

That realization ultimately inspired The 7 Pillars of IAM Success, a framework built to help leaders capitalize on a transformation most organizations are still overlooking. Today, modern security programs recognize that identity is the perimeter. It’s no longer “the new perimeter.”

Yet even as IAM has moved from a back-office utility to the front line of security, it remains one of the most underleveraged generators of business value. This book is about seeing that shift clearly and leaning into it with purpose and intent.

Why I Wrote This Book

Over the years, I’ve seen smart teams with good technology still struggle to deliver on the promise of IAM. Time and again, the same challenges reappear; lack of alignment, undefined accountability, and an endless cycle of firefighting that keeps IAM reactive instead of strategic.

The common thread isn’t technical; it’s a gap in strategic vision and the absence of a guiding framework to drive it.

Technology often sets the stage, but leadership guided by the right framework defines whether IAM becomes a bottleneck, an operational necessity, or a business enabler. That’s the lesson I kept encountering, whether consulting for global enterprises, rebuilding programs after failed audits, or guiding organizations through digital transformation.

I wrote The 7 Pillars of IAM Success to give IAM leaders, program owners, and cybersecurity professionals a leadership framework, one that turns complexity into clarity and intent into measurable progress. It’s not a technical manual; it’s a practical strategy built from real-world lessons, designed to help you align people, process, and technology with a purpose that leadership can act on.

What’s Inside the Book

The 7 Pillars of IAM Success unites leadership principles with a practical framework for running IAM as a strategic business function. Each pillar blends mindset and method to help you move from vision to measurable results while aligning business, security, and IT.

Pillar I: Treat IAM Like a Business
Lead IAM as a strategic business function with customer focus, financial accountability, and measurable results so it earns credibility and investment across your organization.

Pillar II: Be the Evangelist for IAM
Capture hearts and minds by building influence as you translate IAM into business outcomes. Build trust-based relationships, and turn stakeholders into advocates who champion your program.

Pillar III: IAM as a Key Security Discipline
Reframe IAM as the front line of cyber defense. Link identity controls directly to risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, and your organization’s overall security posture.

Pillar IV: The 100% Rule
Adopt the discipline of completeness — no gaps, no exceptions, ensuring every identity, entitlement, and system is governed and protected within your IAM program.

Pillar V: Balancing Security and Business Success
Align security and agility by designing IAM controls that protect the enterprise without slowing  innovation or user productivity.

Pillar VI: IAM as an Enabler to IT
Turn IAM into a true partner for IT by embedding identity into transformation initiatives such as AI automation, cloud adoption, and modernization. Enable faster, more secure delivery across every initiative.

Pillar VII: Building an IAM Strategy
Bring it all together with a living roadmap that connects your current state to your future vision. Communicate outcomes, rally support, and sustain long-term IAM success.

Together, these seven pillars form a leadership framework that links strategy to execution, enabling IAM programs to deliver business value, strengthen security, and drive transformation with clarity and purpose.

Join the Community

The 7 Pillars of IAM Success is more than a book; it’s the foundation for a professional community focused on redefining effective IAM leadership itself.

By supporting the presale, you’ll become part of the founding circle of early adopters who see IAM not just as infrastructure but as a strategic force multiplier. Together, we’ll share ideas, challenges, and solutions that move our field forward.

As a member of this community, you’ll gain access to:
• Early insights and updates from behind the scenes of the book and upcoming projects.
• Practical tools and frameworks to apply immediately within your own IAM program.
• Exclusive live sessions and discussions with peers who are driving change in their organizations.
• Opportunities to shape the conversation through feedback, collaboration, and shared learning.

IAM’s future depends on leaders who can connect vision to execution and who are willing to share what they learn along the way. If that sounds like you, I’d love for you to be part of this movement.

Together, we can raise the standard for IAM leadership and create significant business value. One program, one leader, one success story at a time.

Meet Brad

I’m Brad Kirkpatrick, CISSP, author, consultant, and longtime cybersecurity leader passionate about helping organizations turn Identity and Access Management (IAM) into a true business advantage. I’m the founder of Metis Consulting Group and creator of the IAM Value Engine™.

I help companies transform their IAM programs into engines of business enablement, stronger security posture, and digital transformation.

Over the past 20+ years, I’ve led IAM programs and security initiatives for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. I’ve also been a trusted advisor to many others including, global enterprises, highly regulated environments, and companies going through complex mergers and acquisitions.

My forthcoming book, The 7 Pillars of IAM Success, distills those lessons into a leadership framework for running IAM like a business.

Whether I’m advising executives or speaking to industry peers, my mission is to implement strategies that align people, process, and purpose to make IAM a force multiplier. I measure success through the lens of business enablement, improving security posture and accelerating digital transformation.

I’d love your support, together we can raise the standard for IAM leadership.

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