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Being a privacy professional is a lot like parenting. You can read all the books you want, but it is only through the hard-won hours of lived experience that you can even begin to understand the practice. In the process, you learn more about yourself and human nature than you ever thought possible. 

Full disclosure: I am neither a parent nor working in the trenches of a privacy program. So, I must take my insights from watching the growth of my friends and colleagues. And, yes, from reading books.

They say there is no handbook for parenting, but maybe there will soon be one for building a privacy program. Next week marks the launch of a remarkable new book by Teresa Troester-Falk, a respected advisor in our space who cut her teeth in the highly charged advertising technology sector.

The book is called "So You Got the Privacy Officer Title. Now What?" It is clear from the get-go this is designed to be an everyday manual for privacy professionals at all levels. This is not a lofty treatise on theory or risk measurement, it is a collection of targeted insights into the strategy and day-to-day practice of getting things done in privacy. 

Troester-Folk's method focuses on relationship building, scrappy problem solving, and an outcomes-first mentality. In so doing, her writing reminds me constantly of all the best privacy pros I know. We are a get-it-done crew and we do so by building an understanding of organizations at a level that transcends the org chart.

A section on "finding the network that gets things done" illustrates this reality, as Troester-Falk highlights the distinction between the "official network" of "reporting lines, budget authority, and formal approvals" and the "working network" of "information flow, problem-solving relationships, and practical influence." Her take here is illustrative of the style of the book overall. Building on this idea, she points the way to "four trails to follow" — follow the data, follow the problems, follow the decisions and follow the shortcuts.

On the trail of shortcuts, Troester-Falk asks "when official processes don't work, who do people go to?" This is one of many portions of the book that showcase the importance of "relationship brokers" at all levels of an organization and the ever-present need for privacy pros to build social capital, especially when executive buy-in or official authority is lacking.

Even when the book's tips may seem self-evident, they are packaged in new and interesting ways. The book is solution-focused but always tuned toward what we can control in the chaotic environment of corporate life: our own behavior and approach. For example, this tip: "Credibility isn't about being the most correct person in the room. It's about showing that you know what matters most in the moment, and why."

Like a self-help book, it is heavy on aphorisms and clichés. But it is also remarkably self-aware, never promising to deliver the one true solution, and instead delivering a series of tips and tricks for approaching the job of privacy without descending into madness. You can see this in the subtitle, "Building a Privacy Program Without Budget, Authority, or a Clear Plan."

Indeed, Troester-Falk's method is not plan based. Though plans are involved, this is not the type of governance where policies and procedures are an end in themselves. Instead, this version of on-the-ground privacy governance involves continuous adaptation and hustle to prove the value of the paper the privacy program is written on. Data mapping, for example, is not just about knowing what data you have but about mapping what people actually do with the data.

The bulk of the book builds on such general strategies and tips of the trade by delivering examples complete with detailed charts and workflows for managing pretty much every element of a privacy program. Troester-Falk somehow does all of this with some degree of utility in under 200 pages.

The book delivers value as a useful desktop reference and handbook, but also as a quiet reflection of the reader’s own insecurities. It is not like a self-help book in promising to deliver the one true way of living, but it does feel like one because of the warmth with which Troester-Falk insists on reminding us that we are not alone. She describes the challenges of staying afloat, even while tossing us a life vest. In that way, the book is not the rushed advisements of a flight crew or even the instruction manual that comes with your life preserver, it is a series of reflections from a person who can demonstrate the why behind not inflating your vest before exiting the sinking aircraft. 

Troester-Falk's journey also exemplifies another skillset that many privacy professionals strive to achieve: building a personal brand. Though the book does not focus on this aspect of being a privacy professional, its existence is a testament to Troester-Falk's hustle. This strikes me as the book many operational leaders have wanted to write, but did not quite get around to.

The book also reassures us of the continued relevance of our field. "As automation continues to expand, what matters most is the work it cannot replace: sound judgment, practical insight, and steady leadership."

This little book is all those things and I think it will be a vital addition to the privacy pro's desk.

Please send feedback, updates and pre-pubs to cobun@iapp.org

Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, CIPP/US, CIPM, is the managing director, Washington, D.C., for the IAPP.