The game of Uno is pretty simple.  You have cards with numbers 1-9 on them and they are red, blue, green and yellow. There are also Wild cards which can change any color; Wild Draw 4 Cards which you change the color and have your opponent Draw 4 additional cards; Reverse cards which change the direction if there are multiple players; Skip, Draw 4,and Draw 2 cards which are pretty self -explanatory. 

Each player is dealt 7 cards. The purpose of the game is to get rid of the cards you hold.  When you are down to one card, the person yells "Uno!" and if they get rid of that card, they win. No one can show you you their cards.  One card is flipped over and that is how you start.

The only way to dispose of a card is if you have a card that is the same color as the card facing up.  You can also switch the color if you have the same number, just a different color.  A Wild Card can change the color at any time. 

Tonight, my wife, Laura and my 4 1/2 year old daughter Kennedy were playing Uno.  I was helping Kennedy.  She is extremely bright, but gets frustrated and bored with long games.  The game went on and on and no one was winning the game.  Laura and Kennedy both had blue and green cards, but they didn't have red cards. The Red card was what was showing.  They kept drawing cards over and over, and the game kept getting longer and longer.  Kennedy was getting bored.  My wife recognized it.  Finally, Kennedy drew the cards she needed to dispose of her cards.  Kennedy won!  She did a victory dance and laughed and jumped up and down.  I was happy for her.  I then looked at my wife and she showed me she had 2 Wild Draw 4 Cards that she was holding.  She let Kennedy win.

I smiled.  Sometimes it isn't about winning or losing.  Sometimes we need to hold the Wild Card even though we know we won't get the victory dance at the end.  In life, we need to hold those cards sometimes to help others.  That is why we do what we do as recruiters, we lend a hand to the people that need it the most. They need that celebration dance more than we can even realize. 

I guess now I know why I sang Kenny Roger's song "The Gambler" to Kennedy when she was a baby.  You truly do have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em!

Food for thought this holiday season. Thanks, Laura!

If you liked this article, please follow me on Twitter at @WThomsonJr or connect with me on linkedin and read my weekly blogs at http://bit.ly/RqwiMB