Pacing Yourself in Security

Do what you need to do, ask forgiveness later. Organize your team the way you think the company needs it, even if the leaders don’t fully understand it. Focus on the threats/risks that concern you most, even if other leaders are unaware or think differently. Show the other groups what is possible, and let them decide to run faster, or not.

No one becomes a greyhound without a love of Security. But there is more to life than running a security program. There are plenty of roles out there for people to stay in the race without feeling responsible for bringing on the entire team. Find a role that allows you to run with the pack without being tied to it.

Send them to security conferences to let someone else train them for a while. Train up one of your other greyhounds to become a pace coach for some of the organization, so you can focus on the most important groups. Look for another non-Security leader who can be an advocate for security, so you don’t have to.

Run with a slower pace group. Understand how they work. Give them training plans to improve their speed and stamina. Tabletop exercises, PenTests, Audits. Provide metrics driven feedback. But also, take the time to step away and recharge by finding other greyhounds who can keep pace with you and know what you’re going through.

Well, intellectually security leaders know they shouldn’t expect everyone to be a greyhound, or even a border collie, but changing which pace group to run with adds additional stress. It is the people who have been in the security industry the longest, who run the fastest, that are the most burned out.