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BREAKING: high-profile security leader found living as hermit in the countryside

I hate to break it to you, but the verdict is in: you’re kinda screwed.

In my LinkedIn feed yesterday was a charming and timely post from Dark Reading talking about a survey of US and UK CISOS. Dark reading indeed…

While ONLY 25% of those security leaders are suffering from mental and health disorders due to work pressures…

…over 90% said they face moderate to high stress,

…over 15% said they are popping pills and/or drinking as a way to cope AND

…over 20% said they were having relationship problems.

And, as you and I know, it’s just getting worse.

But here’s the kicker — the CAUSES of that stress.

  1. Round-the clock availability
  2. Crucible-level pressures for two or more weeks at a time
  3. Concerns about job security
  4. Inadequate budget and resources, and our old friend:
  5. Lack of support from the board and upper management

So, what are you going to do about it? Just wait around until your already strained personal relationships explode or you end up binge-drinking yourself out of a job anyway?

You have options:

The primary cause of #1 and #2 is that you don’t have confidence your team is doing the right things and you have anticipated both the potential incidents AND you have an agreed plan that you know will work when the inevitable happens.

I can help you fix that through better governance, strategy and architecture.

The primary cause of #3, #4 and #5 is you can’t demonstrate to all and sundry you actually have #1 and #2 under control. No credibility, no confidence from management.

And if you have no confidence from management, you can pretty-much kiss you chances of board-level confidence, budget or resources and job security goodbye.

Why?

Because you’re spending time reacting instead of working on getting ahead of the game.

I can help you fix that too through building your internal leadership capabilities, business knowledge and stakeholder engagement skills.

So the question really comes down to two options:

The BLUE pill: kiss your family for the last time, get a cat and take up knitting in the countryside

OR

The RED pill: ditch the stress, start kicking ass and taking names to become the most effective security leader you can possibly be, have all the support you could possibly ask for AND have your significant other happily meeting you at your door every night—even if it’s your dog.

The choice is yours.

What’s it going to be?

The RED pill is waiting for you here: https://archistry.com/go/RedPill

See you in Wonderland,

ast
—
Andrew S. Townley
Archistry Chief Executive