26 Names. No pressure.

Yesterday I saw something I’ve only witnessed a handful of times in my life.

As my co-facilitator Kelly and I kicked off Module 2 of our Lead the Way programme in Perth with Aviva, we met our cohort of leaders for the first time.

It was their second time together, though. They already knew each other. More importantly, they knew each other’s names.

Kelly and I, on the other hand, were starting from zero.

To get things going, I ran a simple line-up activity. It’s one of those exercises that looks easy until I realised, I was struggling to remember even three names in a row!

My idea was simple: learn as many names as possible without making it obvious I was guessing.

While I was doing that, Kelly stood back, observing. I casually (and somewhat jokingly) challenged her to see how many names she could remember.

We got to the end of the line. Twenty-six people.

I turned to her and asked how she’d done.

To my astonishment, she started at the very beginning and worked her way through every single person.

One by one. A couple of tiny stumbles, but even those she almost rescued.

There was a quiet, collective “wow” moment.

Later, I asked her what her secret was.

She said she imagines a friend of hers standing just behind each person – someone who shares the same name.

That was it. No complicated system. Just a simple, human connection.

And that’s what stayed with me.

Because this isn’t really about memory. It’s about attention.

As leaders, we often look for big gestures to make an impact. We think it’s about strategy, vision, or saying the right thing at the right time.

But moments like this are a reminder that leadership often shows up in much smaller ways.

Learning someone’s name.

Using it.

Making them feel noticed.

It’s easy to underestimate how powerful that is. But in a busy, distracted world, being remembered is rare. And being remembered by your leader? That sticks.

The lesson for me was simple: people don’t need us to be impressive. They need us to be present.

If leadership is attention, where are you placing yours?