Confidence under pressure: shorten the recovery time

Yesterday I ran a session on confidence under pressure with the team at Berg Search in Athens. They work with founders and scale-ups across Europe. Which means they face ambition, volatility and pressure every single day.

I asked the group one question. Think about the last time someone really challenged you in a meeting or call. How did you react, and how long did it take you to get back to your normal self?

The call went quiet for a couple of minutes, then the honesty came. One person described choosing to pull back in a difficult conversation. Not because they were wrong, but because they needed time to process before responding. Another admitted they would hold on to criticism for days. Replaying it long after everyone else had moved on.

I have spent weeks carrying a comment from a Tuesday call that nobody else remembered by Wednesday. Yes, the feeling was real, but the duration was the problem. What changed for me was not becoming tougher or less affected. It was reducing the recovery time. From weeks to days. From days to hours. Sometimes just minutes.

Your confidence will get knocked down. Especially in startup or fast-paced environments, where assumptions are constantly tested, and nothing stays the same for long. The real question is, how will you react? Because how you react and your recovery time are operational. They shape your next decision. Your tone in the following meeting. Whether you overcompensate, withdraw or step back in cleanly.

What stood out with this team was not their performance, but their openness and honesty. In early-stage ecosystems, if you are building companies, you cannot afford long emotional hangovers from hard conversations.

This is also why I enjoy working with founders and startups. The pressure is real, feedback loops are short, and the stakes are always visible. You see quickly whether recovery time is shrinking or stretching. Confidence is not a permanent state. It is how quickly you get back on track when the hits keep coming.

Thanks to Harry Pelivanidis and the Berg Search team for an engaging and great session.

First published on LinkedIn, 13 February 2026.