A good captain watches teammates’ faces, not just the score.
REFLECTION
WHAT THIS MEANS
Leading a group is mostly reading people, and a scoreboard tells you almost nothing about who is about to fall apart or who has quietly stopped trying. Faces carry that information earlier: who has gone silent, who is tense, who needs a word. Paying attention to it is not softness. It is the part that can still change the result while there is time left.
At your next practice or group project, look around once in the middle rather than only at the end. Say something to whoever looks flat, and ask one person what they need.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Whose face would tell you how your team is really doing?
MORE IN PERCEPTION & ATTENTION
- At baggage claim every black suitcase looks like yours. When you want something badly, you start seeing it everywhere.
- What feels normal in your house might be strange everywhere else. Visit friends’ homes with open eyes.
- Nobody sees your pores from across the table. Magnifying mirrors are for eyebrows, not for self-esteem.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.