Scenario:
For the purposes of this discussion question, you are an experienced security professional with 15 years of experience in the corporate sector. You have successfully worked with Fortune 500 companies and assisted them in finding meaningful and cost-effective solutions to both internal and external challenges to security concerns. You just received a call from the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at one of your former client companies. He is concerned because he thinks the new Director of Security at his company is "too proprietary" and that he is not appearing open to new ideas, new technology, or new ways to protect the company's assets. The COO is very concerned because they have not updated security at the company headquarters in over six years and there is an ongoing and growing debate within the company about whether or not the system even needs to be updated and whether or not to use in-house expertise or to hire outside advice for any security changes. To complicate issues, the new Director of Security is the son-in-law to the Chairman of the Board and despite this being his first Security Director position, he thinks he is qualified to make all recommendations.
Question:
How would you assist your former client and what arguments would you place in your proposal so as to diffuse the ongoing company debate so as to maintain the confidentiality of his concerns while making your proposal thorough enough to overcome the internal objections and hire you as the outside consultant?