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The Burnout Nobody Talks About: When “Always-On” Leadership Becomes a Liability
In cybersecurity, being “always on” is often treated like a badge of honor.
We celebrate the leaders who respond at all hours, who jump into every incident, who never seem to unplug. Availability gets confused with commitment. Urgency gets mistaken for effectiveness. And somewhere along the way, exhaustion becomes normalized—if not quietly admired.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Always-on leadership doesn’t scale. And over time, it becomes a liability.
I’ve seen it firsthand, and if you’ve spent any real time in high-pressure security environments, you probably have too.
The Myth of Constant Availability
Cybersecurity is unforgiving. Threats don’t wait for business hours. Incidents don’t respect calendars. That reality creates a subtle but dangerous expectation: real leaders are always reachable.
The problem isn’t short-term intensity. The problem is when intensity becomes an identity.
When leaders feel compelled to be everywhere, all the time, a few things start to happen:
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Decision quality quietly degrades
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Teams become dependent instead of empowered
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Strategic thinking gets crowded out by reactive work
From the outside, it can look like dedication. From the inside, it often feels like survival mode.
And survival mode is a terrible place to lead from.
What Burnout Actually Costs
Burnout isn’t just about being tired. It’s about losing margin—mental, emotional, and strategic margin.
Leaders without margin:
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Default to familiar solutions instead of better ones
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React instead of anticipate
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Solve today’s problem at the expense of tomorrow’s resilience
In cybersecurity, that’s especially dangerous. This field demands clarity under pressure, judgment amid noise, and the ability to zoom out when everything is screaming “zoom in.”
When leaders are depleted, those skills are the first to go.
Strong Leaders Don’t Do Everything—They Design Systems
One of the biggest mindset shifts I’ve seen in effective leaders is this:
They stop trying to be the system and start building one.
That means:
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Creating clear decision boundaries so teams don’t need constant escalation
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Trusting people with ownership, not just tasks
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Designing escalation paths that protect focus instead of destroying it
This isn’t about disengaging. It’s about leading intentionally.
Ironically, the leaders who are least available at all times are often the ones whose teams perform best—because the system works even when they step away.
Presence Beats Availability
There’s a difference between being reachable and being present.
Presence is about:
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Showing up fully when it matters
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Making thoughtful decisions instead of fast ones
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Modeling sustainable behavior for teams that are already under pressure
When leaders never disconnect, they send a message—even if unintentionally—that rest is optional and boundaries are weakness. Over time, that culture burns people out long before the threat landscape does.
Good leaders protect their teams.
Great leaders also protect their own capacity to lead.
A Different Measure of Leadership
In a field obsessed with uptime, response times, and coverage, it’s worth asking a harder question:
If I stepped away for a week, would things fall apart—or function as designed?
If the answer is “fall apart,” that’s not a personal failure. It’s a leadership signal. One that points to opportunity, not inadequacy.
The strongest leaders I know aren’t always on.
They’re intentional. They’re disciplined. And they understand that long-term effectiveness requires more than endurance—it requires self-mastery.
In cybersecurity especially, that might be the most underrated leadership skill of all.
References & Resources
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World Health Organization (WHO) — Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon” (ICD-11 overview)
https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases -
World Health Organization (WHO) — Burn-out: an occupational phenomenon (FAQ / definition)
https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon -
Harvard Business Review — When You’re the Executive Everyone Relies On—and You’re Burning Out (Oct 9, 2025)
https://hbr.org/2025/10/when-youre-the-executive-everyone-relies-on-and-youre-burning-out -
Harvard Business Review — Preventing Burnout Is About Empathetic Leadership (Sep 28, 2020)
https://hbr.org/2020/09/preventing-burnout-is-about-empathetic-leadership -
Google Site Reliability Engineering (SRE Book) — Eliminating Toil
https://sre.google/sre-book/eliminating-toil/ -
Google SRE Workbook — Eliminating Toil (operational efficiency)
https://sre.google/workbook/eliminating-toil/ -
NIST — SP 800-61r3 (PDF): Incident Response Recommendations and Considerations for Cybersecurity Risk Management (CSF 2.0 Community Profile)
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-61r3.pdf -
NIST CSRC — SP 800-61r3 publication landing page
https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/61/r3/ipd -
NIST News — NIST Revises SP 800-61 (incident response recommendations)
https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/04/nist-revises-sp-800-61-incident-response-recommendations-and-considerations -
CDC / NIOSH — Stress…At Work (NIOSH Publication No. 99-101)
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/default.html -
OSHA — Workplace Stress: Guidance and Tips for Employers
https://www.osha.gov/workplace-stress/employer-guidance -
Mind Garden — Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (official distributor page)
https://www.mindgarden.com/117-maslach-burnout-inventory-mbi -
Training Industry — Developing Conscious Leaders for a Fast-Changing World
https://trainingindustry.com/articles/leadership/developing-conscious-leaders-for-a-fast-changing-world/
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