Last Wednesday, I flew to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday, an age she wears with the kind of energy that makes the rest of us look like we need a nap and a multivitamin. We surprised her by bringing my daughters, gathered with my siblings, and ended up around a table one day playing AZUL, a strategy-based tile game.
And that’s when the Human Edge™ insight surfaced: the way we show up in low-stakes moments quietly mirrors how we show up in the ones that matter. Presence, patterns, patience, pressure tolerance in our micro-moments reveal more leadership truth than we think. What happened at that table recalibrated how I think about performance, connection, and the small shifts that create big impact at work. Here’s what I noticed and what it means for you.
- Low-Stakes Moments Reveal High-Stakes Patterns.
Watching people play (including myself) was eye-opening. Not because of big personalities, but because of subtle patterns. Behaviors I noticed in rooms full of teams, as well as, around the game table:
- Some people paused before making a decision, even when the stakes were low.
- Others jumped in and interrupted, unable to sit with silence or wait their turn.
- A few optimized every move, treating a casual game like a quarterly review.
- One person adapted instantly when their strategy collapsed, laughing and pivoting without missing a beat.
- Another explained the rules with such clarity that even the confused nodded in understanding.
- And yes, someone spiraled when they started losing. You could see the tension creep into their shoulders, their jaw, their words.
These behaviors weren’t “game personalities.” They’re patterns and human tendencies that show up at work every day. Play becomes a diagnostic tool. It mirrors how we collaborate, negotiate, navigate uncertainty, communicate expectations, and recover when things don’t go our way.
Leaders who pay attention to patterns in low-stakes environments gain insight into behaviors that impact high-stakes outcomes.
Leader Move:
In your next low-stakes interaction (a casual check-in, a brainstorm, a lunch conversation), observe—not judge. Ask yourself: “What is this person showing me about how they operate?”
Patterns seen early prevent problems later.~Colette
- Attention Without Tension Is Where Creativity Lives.
The AZUL table wasn’t quiet—there were jokes, instructions, and the occasional “Wait, what do I do now?” But there was also a softness to the focus. A spaciousness.
It wasn’t the grinding concentration of meeting deadlines or the intensity of tackling challenges. It was the kind of attention that energizes rather than drains. My mother laughed when she realized she’d accidentally blocked herself. My daughter took three extra seconds to consider a move. Not because she was anxious, but because she was curious. That’s the state where creativity lives.
That’s where innovation hides. In the moments where our guard is down enough for playfulness to meet possibility. Teams don’t need more brainstorming sessions. They need more space for attention without tension, the state where good ideas finally have room to land.
Leader Moves:
- Build in a 10-minute “decompression buffer” before strategy meetings.
No agenda. No phones. Just space to arrive mentally before diving in. - Replace one traditional brainstorming session with a silent ideation round.
This reduces performance pressure and increases contribution. - Open one meeting weekly with a quick, thoughtful warm-up (“What’s the smartest thing you’ve seen a customer do lately?”). This wakes up perspective.
- Play Equalizes What Hierarchy Distorts.
Here’s what surprised me most: watching hierarchy dissolve the moment the tiles hit the table.
In the workplace, titles shape behavior. Not because leaders demand silence, but because people self-censor. But in a game? Nobody cares about your role, tenure, or org chart. Your move is your move.
When we remove power distance, even temporarily, we create:
- Faster trust
- More candid conversation as truth often surfaces
- Freer thinking
- Greater collaboration
Leader Moves:
- Add a brief, structured piece of play or gamified interaction into your next team meeting. Not icebreakers — equalizers. Activities where everyone has the same rules, the same time, and the same opportunity to participate.
- Randomize pairings occasionally.
Power patterns shift. New relationships form. - Model micro-vulnerability.
“Honestly, my idea might be the weakest one here.” This sentence alone increases psychological safety.
A Moment That Looked Small and Was Anything But
We gathered to celebrate my mom turning 90. Yet the real clarity came from a simple tile game that reminded me of this: the smallest moments often reveal the biggest truths about how we lead. Patterns leak into everything. Presence is a choice, not a trait. Creativity needs air, not pressure. And hierarchy remains a barrier until we lower it.
These aren’t “soft skills.” They’re the fundamentals of the Human Edge™—the everyday behaviors that separate transactional leadership from trusted leadership. You don’t need to play AZUL this week, but you can choose a moment to be fully in: one conversation to anchor your attention, one pattern to interrupt, one decision to slow down long enough to see clearly.
As the season ramps up and distractions multiply, reclaim one real moment this week and actually arrive in it. Your Human Edge™ isn’t in how much you manage. It’s in how deeply you show up. And sometimes, the fastest way back to yourself is through something as unassuming as a colorful tile game and a table full of people who remind you what matters.
