A few years ago, a friend teased me that my superpower was “getting out of impossible rooms.” He wasn’t wrong. I’ve walked into meetings where I absolutely did not belong, been told “no” before taking a single breath, and still found the door that leads to yes. That’s because I’ve learned that if you want your hard work to matter, you can’t lead with it.
That’s the heart of my EDGE framework: Enrich, Delight, Guide, Effort. It’s a sequence, not a slogan. You enrich first by knowing the concrete value you bring. You delight by creating a small, unexpected moment that earns attention. You guide by shaping how others interpret your story, especially when stereotypes or assumptions get in the way. Then, and only then, you let effort multiply everything you just did. When you work in that order, your hard work works harder for you.
Enrich (E): Name your basic goods
We tend to dismiss our own basic goods because they feel easy. That’s the point. They’re easy to you precisely because they’re your edge. Think about the projects where people keep pulling you back in. What are you quietly delivering every time? Clarity under pressure, patterns others miss, harmony in a tense room. Those are enrich assets.
If you’re unsure what yours are, ask: “Where do I consistently make things better without trying to be impressive?” Enrich is the reliable value you deliver. It is the foundation of your edge.
Delight (D): Earn the right to be heard
Delight isn’t charm. It’s a small, friendly surprise that wakes people up. A well-placed joke, a question no one else thought to ask, a fresh way of framing the problem. It’s not the show, it’s the spark that earns you the right to enrich.
Use it early, because before people can see your value, they need a reason to pay attention. That doesn’t mean putting on a performance. It just means offering a brief, genuine moment that feels human and unexpected enough to open the door.
Guide (G): Help people see you the way you intend
Perception shapes decisions far more than we like to admit. We want to believe that great work speaks for itself, but it rarely does. People rely on shortcuts and stories, and if you don’t shape those stories, they’ll shape you. Guiding is the act of consistently steering those stories toward the truth.
Guiding is not spin, it’s clarity. It’s choosing what evidence to highlight, what context to provide, and what to leave out. When you know how others currently see you, you can gently redirect their line of sight toward the edge you actually bring: your basic goods, your unique context, and the proof that challenges their default assumptions. Do this and people don’t just like you more, they understand and value you more accurately.
Effort (E): Put it last so it can work harder
We’re taught to worship effort. Work longer, push harder, stay later. I’m not against effort, I’m against effort in the wrong place. Lead with it and you look busy, not valuable. Save it for last and you look compelling.
Think of effort as an amplifier. Enrich decides the message, delight turns the volume so people want to listen, guide tunes the channel so they hear you clearly. Then effort takes that clean signal and carries it farther. Suddenly, your emails get answered, your proposal gets a second look, and the promotion committee already sees you in the role you’re pitching for.
Putting it together without turning into a robot
A reader once told me, “Laura, I tried to delight and it felt like I was performing.” If it feels fake, you’re doing a version of someone else’s edge. The goal isn’t to be louder or flashier. It’s to become sharper. More you. When you find the moves that match your style, they stop feeling like tactics and start feeling like habits.
A quick EDGE field guide
Enrich: Identify your two basic goods. Write them as a simple before and after: “Before me: X. After me: Y.”
Delight: Add one authentic, benign surprise to your next meeting, a reframing, a short story, or a thoughtful question.
Guide: Replace one vague claim with one crisp proof point or a micro-story that shifts how people see your value.
Effort: Move one hour from “do more” to “make what I do land better.” Your future self will send you flowers.
And if you need the TL;DR tattoo: Enrich. Delight. Guide. Effort. In that order. That’s how you turn adversity into advantage.
This post was inspired by my first book, Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, which is still finding new readers. If you’ve read it, I’d love to hear. And if you haven’t rated it yet on Goodreads, even a sentence or a quick rating helps new readers find it.
P.S. Goodreads is giving away 25 free copies of my latest book, You Already Know! If you’d like a chance to win one, you can enter here.