Becoming the Leader Within, with Art Harvey

Apex chats with Art Harvey, the CISO at Dovenmuehle. With over 25 years of IT security and infrastructure experience, he holds multiple certifications, including CISSP, CEH, Security+, Network+, IBM Cloud, ITIL. He has led security initiatives across various industries and previously held leadership roles at IBM, Santander, JC Penney, Kraft, Cadbury, and Ericsson. Art recently published a book called “Becoming the Leader Within: Built on Awareness, Conscientiousness, and the Willingness to Evolve” on Amazon. In today’s Apex 1:1, Art discusses the lessons he learned about leadership and the future of AI and cybersecurity.

Q: What is your favorite quote and why:

A: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein

This quote has stayed with me for years, it’s even framed in my office. I’ve always believed that curiosity is one of the most underrated traits in both leadership and cybersecurity. In security, curiosity drives investigation. It’s the instinct to ask “Why did this happen?”, “What’s missing?”, or “What could go wrong?” long before something actually does.

As a leader, curiosity means you’re never satisfied with surface answers. You listen longer, ask better questions, and seek out different perspectives, not to prove something, but to understand it. It’s what allows you to grow, to adapt, and to support others in doing the same.

Einstein’s words remind me that it’s not about having all the answers, it’s about caring enough to keep asking the right questions. That’s where progress, insight, and real leadership begin.

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Q: What lessons or advice have helped you get to where you are today?

A:Pay attention. Work hard. Keep evolving.

Those three lessons have shaped every step of my journey, and they became the foundation of my book, Becoming the Leader Within. I didn’t start out trying to be a leader, I just focused on doing the work in front of me, learning from the people around me, and showing up consistently.

What helped me grow wasn’t a single moment, but a mindset. I learned to pay attention to the details, the people, and the opportunities that others overlooked. I learned the value of being conscientious, doing the right thing even when no one’s watching. And I learned to evolve, to keep saying yes to challenges that stretched me, even when they were uncomfortable.

Leadership didn’t come from having a title. It came from the way I handled everyday moments. That’s the advice I carry with me and try to pass on: show up, stay curious, and don’t stop growing. It makes all the difference.

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Q: How do you see the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning evolving in the IT landscape over the next 3-5 years, and what impact do you think it will have on business operations?

A:Over the next 3–5 years, I believe artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to evolve as powerful tools that learn alongside humans, but with the ability to act on that learning far more quickly. What AI didn’t do well before. connecting context to action, it’s now starting to do better. That changes the game, especially in IT and security.

I see AI becoming less of a support tool and more of a co-pilot, helping us arrive at solutions faster by cutting out parts of the manual thinking and planning process. That doesn’t mean we hand over control. It means we augment our decision making. I use AI today, and I trust it, to a point. But I don’t trust it to execute unchecked. Not yet.

As we move forward, I expect to see more applications designed with agentic AI functionality, where software not only recommends but takes action. These systems will offload operational complexity, but they’ll still need human oversight. And as more vendors charge premium pricing for AI enhanced functionality, it’s going to be increasingly important to evaluate actual ROI vs. feature hype.

In cybersecurity, we’ll be forced to evolve just as fast. The same AI that’s improving defensive tools is also empowering bad actors. That means understanding AI isn’t optional, it’s critical. We’ll need to think like those using AI against us, not just rely on AI to defend us. The bottom line is this: AI is here to stay, and it will reshape how we operate. But leadership, judgment, and human accountability will matter more than ever.