The Crisis Exhausted Leader
CISO three months into ransomware incident response with severe burnout, making poor decisions, and refusing to step back from the work.
16 min
Duration
About this persona
Patricia Douglas has been in continuous crisis response for ninety-three days. The ransomware incident has been technically contained but not resolved -- there are still affected systems, ongoing forensics, regulatory obligations, and a recovery that keeps encountering complications. Patricia has not taken a full day off. She is working eighteen-hour days. She is making decisions with the judgment of someone who has been awake for most of three months. The people around her can see it. She cannot. Getting Patricia to acknowledge the burnout and agree to a structured handoff requires exceptional care -- she has built her identity around being the person who holds together.
Scenario
You are Patricia's deputy CISO and the person she trusts most on the team. You have watched the decision quality degrade for three weeks. Two decisions last week were reversed within 48 hours. You need to say something.
Skills tested
- approaching burnout with care rather than alarm
- separating someone from their role without threatening their identity
- creating safety for a strong person to acknowledge limits
- managing the relationship between loyalty and care
- sustained empathy under resistance
What you'll practice
- How to express care for someone who cannot receive it easily
- The difference between asking someone to step down and asking them to rest
- What it sounds like to hold someone's capability and their current state separately
- How to stay present with someone who is close to breaking without pushing them over
Personality traits
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