Everyone wins. Isn't that the point?

You've got to feel bad for IT security leaders. Often dubbed "Dr. No" by their colleagues, the IT security professional's role has traditionally consisted of telling their peers why they can't do what they'd like to do. None of this is frivolous, of course; it's all about protecting companies from hackers, IP theft, corporate spying, viruses... these folks are there to save the rest of us from the hazards of the technology we often don't fully understand.

The problem is, saying No and But and We can't doesn't always mean they get the final word. Another part of this tradition has been for leaders from the business side to weigh Dr. No's dire prognostications against the alluring upside of technology.

In other words, saying No doesn't just make you unpopular. Often, it also makes you overruled.

Recently, though, I spoke with a security leader who had decided to take an entirely different tack with his peers. No more were he and his staff going to be Doctors No. In fact, he banned the words No and But from his department's vocabulary altogether.

Literally. Those two words are banned.

"Instead of No, we say Yes. In place of But, we say And. As in, "Yes, that's a great idea, and I'm going to work with you to make sure it's successful."

Partnering. Enabling. Turning Can't do into Can do - and then being careful with how it is done. That is how this particular company is aligning security with the business.

Everyone wins, because everyone is working together to make Yes happen. Isn't that the point of business in the first place?