Legacy, Humility, and Cybersecurity: Don Goldstein of 5Q | InCREdible Leaders Ep. 5

Don Goldstein, founder of 5Q Cyber, joins InCREdible Leaders for one of our most personal conversations yet. His story starts with his father, a Greatest Generation soldier who landed on Omaha Beach, helped liberate a concentration camp, and spent the next 70 years helping people in need. That legacy shaped Don’s cybersecurity leadership today. We get into: ▶ His father's journey from poverty and antisemitism in Baltimore to D-Day and beyond ▶ Growing up the son of a liberator, and marrying the daughter of Holocaust survivors ▶ From rabbinical school to social work to running a community center in Israel ▶ Raising his hand for the PC nobody wanted, and a 40-year career in technology ▶ Why the best leaders give away the credit ▶ What 12+ acquisitions a year taught him: you acquire people, not a business ▶ Becoming CBRE's first global CSO and founding 5Q Cyber ▶ Creating the STAND values that 5Q lives by ▶ Legacy across family, work, community, and faith, and why you have to know your why Chapters 🕜 [00:48-02:04] Welcome and the heart of the podcast [02:05-03:19] Little Don: born in Baltimore to a family of immigrants [03:20-04:27] His father's story: poverty, antisemitism, enlisting at 18 [04:28-06:22] Assigned to D-Day and landing on Omaha Beach [06:23-07:17] Fighting across Europe and getting injured [07:18-09:06] Liberating a subcamp of Buchenwald [09:07-09:56] "I will help people no matter where they are" [09:57-10:56] Rescuing Jews from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia [10:57-11:51] Confronting racism back home: Blacks and Jews [11:52-12:41] Growing up as the son of a liberator [12:42-14:13] Hebrew camps and a year in Israel during the 1973 war [14:14-14:37] Johns Hopkins, rabbinical school, and a change of heart [14:38-15:58] Columbia social work and a community center in Israel [15:59-16:21] Burnout and returning to Baltimore [16:22-18:31] The pivot into technology: raising his hand for the PC [18:32-19:18] Why culture and humility matter most [19:19-20:41] Why it is so hard for leaders to give away credit [20:42-21:28] "They only eat what they kill" [21:29-22:51] "I've been in that trap before": the humility to say I don't know [22:52-23:51] Being a constant learner and seeking what is real [23:52-26:33] Moving into real estate: Trammell Crow and Bob Sulentic [26:34-28:25] Staying through the CBRE acquisition [28:26-28:51] Global CIO at CBRE [28:52-32:00] What acquisitions taught him: you acquire people, not a business [32:01-33:12] Discovering a passion for cybersecurity [33:13-34:30] Becoming CBRE's first global CSO and the Carnegie Mellon program [34:31-35:21] Co-founding the RealComm cyber group [35:22-36:50] Hanging his own shingle, then meeting the 5Q founders [36:51-37:43] Starting 5Q Cyber [37:44-38:34] Building one culture across the merger [38:35-39:07] Creating the STAND values [39:08-39:52] "Do I have your blessing?" [39:53-41:19] Breaking down silos and putting the best team on the field [41:20-43:03] Why people join and stay: humility and genuine culture [43:04-44:48] Building a diverse team on purpose [44:49-46:21] Legacy: family, work, community, and faith [46:22-47:23] Getting the girls' school its own building [47:24-48:29] Fifty years of marriage and focusing on today [48:30-51:11] Gratitude and doing the work [51:12-51:55] When is Don most proud as a leader? [51:56-54:12] Know your why, and the how follows [54:13-55:05] The theme across every Incredible Leaders guest [55:06-57:29] Bonus: his father's photos, Ethiopia, and the typhus ward [57:30-57:59] The photo at the barbed wire [58:00-59:33] Speaking at a Catholic high school for 30 years [59:34-01:02:39] Humility, anonymity, and a father's nightmares [01:02:40-End] Finding your why through hard times 🔗 CONNECT WITH 5Q Website: www.5Qcloud.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/5q-cloud CLIP