Tolerance is how much stretch a person can absorb before it starts to cost them. It is the reason two teams with nearly identical scores can have completely different outcomes.
The same amount of stretch lands gently on a high-tolerance person and grinds down a low-tolerance one, so who is carrying the load matters as much as how much load there is. Tempo turns the dial, a high-pressure mission shrinks everyone’s tolerance, so the same team feels the strain harder.
The leader’s move is to route stretch toward the people who can absorb it, protect the ones who cannot, and respect what tempo is doing to the whole team. Load tells you how hard you are pushing. Tolerance tells you who can take it.