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.

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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

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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

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🔗 CONNECT WITH 5Q

Website: www.5Qcloud.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/5q-cloud

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