7 CISOs Discuss Burnout in the Profession and How to Address It
Heller Search Associates, Wednesday, July 12,2023
In a follow up to Dan Roberts' State of the CISO article, leading CISOs share their insights and strategies for addressing the greatest challenges they face today.
Cybersecurity is a high-stakes job that puts people under enormous pressure to perform, and that's particularly true at the leadership level. Amid escalating risks, a changing regulatory environment, concerns about personal liability and the need to balance risk exposure and innovation, the cyber agenda grows more complex and demanding by the day. The daily stresses of cyberleadership are compounded by a tight labor market that has companies scrambling to find, develop and keep cybersecurity talent.
In 2022, Heidrick & Struggles added a question to their Global CISO Survey to assess the most significant personal risks CISOs face in their role. The top risks might surprise you - unless you are a CISO. The survey found that stress (59%) and burnout (48%) surpassed the fear of job loss due to a breach (25%) and feeling underpaid (21%). Gartner recently predicted that nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs by 2025, with a quarter of them moving to different roles entirely due to multiple work-related stressors.