Sushmita Bose

It’s 10:30 PM. Dinner dishes are washed (and stacked), emails are cleared, WhatsApp checked (and answered) for messages from parents frantically wanting to know how your day turned out to be… and, yes, the pitch deck is finally polished (yay!). 

As you turn on Netflix on the telly, wanting to catch the second episode of the promising serial you started on the weekend and didn’t have time to move beyond the pilot, your phone pings. It’s an urgent request from a global client. 

This is the reality of the “second shift” that working women know too well: the invisible labour of balancing professional excellence with disproportionate domestic/social duties. The numbers sting: women spend 4.1 hours/day on unpaid work versus men’s 1.7 hours, and 43 per cent female leaders report burnout compared to just 31 per cent of male peers. Yet in crises — economic downturns, organizational shake-ups, or personal upheavals — women are often first responders at work and home. 

The question isn’t whether storms will come, but how we weather them without burning out.

Forget “work-life balance”. The new paradigm is strategic recovery. Before high-stakes meetings, try the “Power Pause” protocol (that’s what Dr Google tells me): 90 seconds of box breathing to reset cortisol levels, or schedule “no apology” blocks for personal priorities. As one tech SVP who survived layoffs while caregiving shared, “I calendar self-care like CEO commitments. Protecting that time isn’t selfish — it’s what lets me show up fully.” 

The myth that “no one does it better” is another trap. Audit tasks ruthlessly: what requires your unique value versus what can be systemized? Even household chores can become delegated portfolios, with partners or children taking ownership as “Minister of Laundry”.

When gender bias surfaces during crises, reframing is key. Take the case of a friend in HR, who was dismissed as “too compassionate” when proposing to pause layoffs. Her countermove? Citing data (culled from a global report) showing empathetic leaders achieve 17 per cent higher team performance during crises, then redirecting to attrition risk analysis. Or another friend, passed over for a promotion after six months as interim department head, who now pre-negotiates trial periods in writing and cultivates sponsors to advocate when she’s not in the room. 

These aren’t just survival tactics — they’re resistance strategies.

The leaders who thrive aren’t those who avoid storms, but those who learn to sail through them. View turbulence as a leadership gym where each challenge strengthens core muscles. Build collective armour through peer circles to share tactics and sanity checks. 

This week, track your “second shift” hours and delegate one task, or script responses for bias scenarios you dread. Resilience isn’t about having it all — it’s about leading through it all.

It may even be a good idea to get back to journaling and sharing how you’re rewriting the crisis playbook. Or do a weekly blog.

In time, you may consider compiling it all together for the next new leadership bestseller!