A good captain knows the names of the players who never get in the game.

Leadership is mostly about who you notice when there is nothing to gain. The people at the edges of a group are the easiest to overlook because nothing breaks when they are ignored, and they are also the ones for whom being known changes the most. A group is held together at its edges rather than its center.

Learn the names of two people you have been around for months without really knowing. Ask something and remember the answer. This costs you almost nothing and is one of the few things that reliably changes how a room feels.