The Best CMMC Lessons From Trust Issues
October 16, 2026
You can hire the consultant, buy the tools, and build the enclave, so to speak. But after all of that is done, you still have to do the work.
This Greatest Hits edition of Trust Issues pulls together some of the show’s sharpest lessons on CMMC ownership, scoping, cross-functional work, and the kind of leadership it takes to keep a team moving when the pressure is very real. Tune in for an insightful and practical recap featuring industry leaders Cindy Oliveto, Brandon Lecoq, Jeremy Patterson, Jacob Anderson, and Christine Hopkins.
CMMC comes with plenty of outside help in the form of RPOs, consultants, assessors, and even tools. But know this: none of them can own it for you.
In this Greatest Hits edition of Trust Issues, Bruno Lecoq revisits standout moments with Cindy Oliveto, Brandon Lecoq, Jeremy Patterson, Jacob Anderson and Christine Hopkins.
Five moments from five very different perspectives bring out one recurring lesson: You cannot outsource ownership.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why working with an RPO does not transfer accountability
- Why the 320 assessment objectives belong with more than IT
- What Jeremy’s 81/19 rule says about consultant support
- Why CMMC requires real internal follow-through
- Why finding your CUI boundary should come before building outward
- How cross-functional ownership changes CMMC readiness
- Why transparency can matter as much as controls when a team is under pressure
Episode chapters:
00:01 Welcome to Trust Issues
00:23 Why CMMC accountability stays with the customer
01:19 The 320 assessment objectives nobody wants to read
02:05 The 81/19 rule for CMMC readiness
03:04 Start with where your CUI lives
03:23 The team that stayed through the “chart of death”
04:33 Closing thoughts
Quotes:
- Cindy Oliveto: “We are just surfacing the information they need to know, and then decisions are made, and they are the approvers of those decisions.”
- Brandon Lecoq: “The most important part of where you should start is simply looking at the spreadsheets. It’s extremely boring, right? But you just have to do it.”
- Jeremy Patterson: “We can help you get 81% of the way there. But you need to study. You need to do your work.”
- Jacob Anderson: “That’s all we care about: where CUI is going to be.”
- Christine Hopkins: “Probably the proudest thing would be that they all stayed during the darkest period. For about two and a half years, we were running out of cash within three months, and none of them left during that period.”
Connect with the team:
👉 BEMO Website: https://www.bemopro.com/
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