45% of cybersecurity professionals have considered quitting due to stress, while Gartner says nearly 50% of cyber leaders will change jobs by 2025 and one in four will leave the field altogether. What CISOs and executives can do:

• Cut “impossible” workloads with ruthless scoping: Decide what the security team is not responsible for (legacy apps you won’t fix, business units that won’t fund controls) and document those as accepted risks so staff aren’t held accountable.

• Invest in your people to avoid burnout: Budget for additional headcount, automation engineers, and training the team wants (certs, labs, conferences), and tie this to the business case.

• Measure and reward the right things: Track and report metrics like “critical vulnerabilities closed,” “mean time to detect/respond,” and “business projects shipped securely” so security wins are visible—and build those into performance reviews and bonuses, not just “no breaches this year.”

• Normalize talking about burnout: Have leadership openly acknowledge the problem, encourage use of mental‑health benefits, and signal that raising workload or process issues is seen as proactive risk management, not complaining.