Thriving Under Pressure: Why Growth Comes From the Toughest Situations
When to take it and when to walk away....
We've all heard the saying: "Diamonds are just coal under pressure." It’s a cliché, but like most clichés, there’s deep truth in it. Pressure doesn’t just reveal character—it creates it. In my own journey, I’ve realized that the biggest leaps in my career and personal growth came not when things were easy, but when I was forced to endure, adapt, and break through the toughest situations.
Some people see pressure as something to avoid, something to escape from. But I don’t think those who run away from pressure grow as strong or durable in their careers as those who face it head-on. Growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens when you’re stretched, challenged, and even cracked open from your old mold.
Pressure Is Where Growth Happens
Looking back at my career, every defining moment came from walking into high-pressure situations that most people would have run from.
At Amazon, when I took on the challenge of rebuilding the Prime Video Recommendation Engine, the stakes were enormous. We were scaling a system responsible for 70%+ of video recommendations in 180+ countries, with no room for failure. The pressure was suffocating at times—long hours, constant iterations, and the weight of knowing that every decision had an outsized impact. But through that, I learned how to make decisions under uncertainty and find solutions instead of excuses.
At Visible, as CTO, I was handed a monumental task—to 10x engineering productivity and a self-imposed goal to reduce cost-to-serve by 75% through AI-driven automation. It wasn’t a project; it was a full-scale transformation that required engineering, operations, and leadership to be in sync. There were days when it felt like I was alone in carrying the weight of this mission, while also learning the patience to absorb pressure without letting it break me. But that’s where I grew—not just as a leader but as someone who learned to separate the good parts of pressure from the bad.
At Property Finder, restructuring engineering wasn’t just a technical challenge—it was an organizational and cultural shift. Creating Core Platform, Data Platform, and Enterprise Productivity teams wasn’t about avoiding tough decisions but embracing them. The goal wasn’t to fix everything overnight, but to chip away, layer by layer, until we built something stronger.
The Hidden Struggle: Carrying the Pressure Without Letting It Crush You
One of the hardest things about leadership is that you often feel alone in the pressure you carry. You’re not just doing the job you were hired for—you’re also learning, adapting, and absorbing pressure in ways you never expected.
What many don’t realize is that it’s not just about doing the work; it’s about:
Hiding the chaos from your teams so they can focus on their goals.
Learning patience while absorbing pressure—something that is incredibly difficult when you’re used to solving problems fast.
Figuring out what parts of the pressure are worth embracing and which ones need to be let go.
Many walk away from incredible opportunities because they don’t know how to handle the discomfort that comes with pressure. It’s not that they aren’t capable—it’s that they don’t separate the pressure that makes them better from the pressure that is toxic.
When to Stick With It—and When to Walk Away
Pressure isn’t always good. There are situations where the weight becomes unhealthy—where the environment itself becomes unsustainable for mental health and well-being. The key is learning to differentiate between constructive pressure and destructive pressure.
💡 Stick with it when:
The pressure is forcing you to learn, evolve, and push your boundaries.
You feel challenged but not completely drained.
There’s a clear growth path, even if it’s hard.
🚨 Walk away when:
The pressure is causing deterioration in mental or physical health.
You are stuck in a system that refuses to change, no matter the effort.
There is no long-term learning or upside—just stress for the sake of stress.
The best leaders embrace pressure, but they also know when it’s no longer serving them.
The Choice: Crumble or Become a Diamond
Everyone wants to grow, succeed, and thrive, but very few want to embrace the struggle that gets them there. When things get hard, you have two choices:
1️⃣ Run from the pressure, complain about the system, and hope that something easier comes along.
2️⃣ Lean into the pressure, take control of what you can, and shape yourself into something stronger.
Diamonds don’t form in comfort. They form under pressure, through time, and by breaking from their original form. The same is true for leaders, for professionals, for anyone who wants to make an impact.
So the next time you feel the weight of a challenge pressing down on you, remember that this is where the real transformation happens. The question isn’t whether you enjoy pressure—the question is whether you’re willing to embrace it to become something greater.
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