28 Oct From Potential to Performance: Building Resilient Early Careers
How do you help young talent move from high potential to high performance – without breaking their confidence along the way?
That question sat at the heart of Fieri’s latest IGNITE webinar, where Tim Rushmere QGM was joined by Sarah Lawson and Zach Hickmore to explore what resilience really means for early careers talent, and how organisations can build it in the right way.
Rethinking resilience
As Sarah put it, “We often see graduates describe resilience as getting through a life-changing event or pulling an all-nighter to finish a dissertation. From an employer’s perspective, though, resilience means being agile – adapting to uncertainty and knowing when to ask for help, and when to push on.”
In other words, resilience isn’t a fixed trait or something people simply arrive with on day one. It’s a skill that develops through experience, feedback, and exposure to challenge – something that needs to be designed into graduate and early careers programmes, not assumed.
Zach added that University offers structure and predictability to graduates but the commercial world doesn’t. “We can’t assume that because someone has achieved highly on paper, they will have built resilience along the way”.
Managing expectations: from high potential to beginner again
One of the biggest shocks for early careers talent is identity. As Zach described it: “The burden of high potential is real. When you’re known as exceptional, there’s pressure to live up to that label. Then you enter an environment that tests you in new ways and suddenly, you might not be exceptional anymore.”
Sarah agreed, noting that many join graduate schemes called Future Leaders or Pathways to Success. “They’ve done incredibly well to get there – they’re in the top 10 of maybe a thousand applicants – but the reality is, they’re just starting out. The first day, the first week, that’s the deep end.”
That’s why managing expectations early, both for graduates and for line managers, is critical. “You’ve invested time and money to recruit them,” Sarah said. “Now set them up for success. Stretch them, yes, but build them up gradually. Don’t just throw them in and see what happens.”
The role of feedback and psychological safety
Tim reflected that resilience is shaped as much by the environment as the individual. “If you’re clear on what feedback looks like – how, when, and why it’s given – that can really reassure people and give them permission to explore those early years.”
Sarah pointed out that for many graduates used to praise, “constant constructive feedback can actually be demoralising if you forget to acknowledge what’s going well.”
Zach expanded on that: “It’s not about special treatment for fragile egos. If someone does something well, tell them and they’ll do it again. If all you give is developmental feedback, they’ll think they’re failing. Positive reinforcement is a practical way to drive behavioural change.”
Building identity through trust and connection
Another theme of the webinar was authentic connection. In fast-track leadership pathways, young managers may find themselves leading people who have been in the business for 10 or 15 years. “If you start correcting before connecting,” said Zach, “you’ll lose people straight away.”
Fieri’s philosophy, as Sarah explained, is grounded in the ‘trust equation’ – credibility and reliability, divided by self-orientation. “Graduates need to show they’re here for the team, not just themselves. That they’re contributing to the organisation’s purpose, not just their own career path.”
Authenticity matters. “Building connection as a tactic doesn’t work,” Zach added. “It has to be real. People know when you care, and when you don’t.”
Designing resilience into development
For employers, the challenge is to create graduate and early careers programmes that balance support and stretch – where challenge builds confidence rather than eroding it.
Sarah summarised: “Start with expectation management. Set them up for success with structured support and psychological safety. Gradually increase exposure to challenge, while giving them the toolkit to reset when they’re stretched too far. Normalise setbacks, role model resilience, and help them see change as an opportunity to learn.”
Because ultimately, resilience isn’t about enduring, it’s about evolving.
Fieri’s IGNITE resilience series explores what it really takes to perform and thrive in complex, high-pressure environments – from early careers to senior leadership.