diff --git a/src/screens/Lead.jsx b/src/screens/Lead.jsx
index c36bc72..e32a890 100644
--- a/src/screens/Lead.jsx
+++ b/src/screens/Lead.jsx
@@ -300,6 +300,82 @@ export default function Lead() {
   // are still looked up on the state's own uid; only the presentation moves.
   const stage = phaseOf(STAGES.find((s) => s.name === stateName), row)
   const holds = holdsOf(stage)
+
+  /* WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW, lifted above the numbers. An operator's first
+     question about a lead is "what is going on / what do I do", not "what is
+     the premium" — so the status strip (an alert when blocked or stalled, the
+     live state otherwise) sits directly under the header, before the metrics.
+     Rendered full-width there rather than inside the narrow work column. */
+  const statusStrip = (
+blocked ? (
+            <div className="doing doing--blocked">
+              <span className="doing__stop" aria-hidden="true" />
+              <div>
+                <strong>Stopped — {blocked.what}</strong>
+                <span>
+                  {blocked.fix} The agents will pick the lead up again on their own once it
+                  is there; nothing else is running in the meantime.
+                </span>
+                <button
+                  type="button" className="doing__fix"
+                  onClick={() => setOpen(blocked.via)}
+                >
+                  Open Collect Documents
+                </button>
+              </div>
+            </div>
+          ) : stalled ? (
+            <div className="doing doing--stalled">
+              <span className="doing__stop" aria-hidden="true" />
+              <div>
+                <strong>{stage.doing} — nothing for {stalled.mins} minutes</strong>
+                <span>
+                  {stage.by} has not come back. That is usually the model provider being
+                  slow or dropping a request, not a problem with this lead — the work so far
+                  is safe and nothing has been lost.
+                  {stalled.nudge
+                    ? ` Running ${stalled.nudge.label.toLowerCase()} wakes ${stalled.nudge.by} to try again.`
+                    : ' There is no step to re-run from here; the actions below are the way on.'}
+                </span>
+                {stalled.nudge ? (
+                  <button
+                    type="button" className="doing__fix"
+                    onClick={() => setOpen(stalled.nudge.uid)}
+                  >
+                    {stalled.nudge.label}
+                  </button>
+                ) : null}
+              </div>
+            </div>
+          ) : stage?.kind === 'customer' && stage.doing ? (
+            /* Not an agent working, and not a task of yours either — the lead
+               is with someone outside the business. Without this the screen
+               went blank at exactly the stage where an operator is most likely
+               to wonder whether something has broken. */
+            <div className="doing doing--waiting">
+              <span className="doing__wait" aria-hidden="true" />
+              <div>
+                <strong>{stage.doing}</strong>
+                <span>
+                  Their answer comes back to this lead on its own — Engage reads it and
+                  records the acceptance. Nothing is waiting on you.
+                </span>
+              </div>
+            </div>
+          ) : stage?.kind === 'auto' ? (
+            <div className="doing">
+              <span className="doing__pulse" aria-hidden="true" />
+              <div>
+                <strong>{stage.doing}</strong>
+                <span>
+                  Handled by {stage.by}.
+                  {stage.after ? ` The lead stays in ${stateName} until a quote exists — nothing is waiting on you.` : ''}
+                  {' '}Typically completes within two minutes; this view refreshes automatically.
+                </span>
+              </div>
+            </div>
+          ) : null
+  )
   // Only what THIS user may run. The workflow refuses the rest server-side
   // anyway; showing them a row of buttons that all 403 reads as a broken app
   // rather than as a control.
@@ -441,6 +517,8 @@ export default function Lead() {
         ) : null}
       </header>
 
+      {statusStrip}
+
       {/* Measures, not fields. Age and dwell time are computed — neither is on
           the record — and they are the two that answer "is this lead moving?",
           which no label/value pair on the page could. */}
@@ -497,78 +575,6 @@ export default function Lead() {
             </div>
           ) : null}
 
-          {/* An AI-carried stage has no empty action bar and no idle screen: it
-              says what is happening and who is doing it. The activities below it
-              stay available — ops can run them by hand — but they are not the
-              answer to "why is nothing moving?". */}
-          {blocked ? (
-            <div className="doing doing--blocked">
-              <span className="doing__stop" aria-hidden="true" />
-              <div>
-                <strong>Stopped — {blocked.what}</strong>
-                <span>
-                  {blocked.fix} The agents will pick the lead up again on their own once it
-                  is there; nothing else is running in the meantime.
-                </span>
-                <button
-                  type="button" className="doing__fix"
-                  onClick={() => setOpen(blocked.via)}
-                >
-                  Open Collect Documents
-                </button>
-              </div>
-            </div>
-          ) : stalled ? (
-            <div className="doing doing--stalled">
-              <span className="doing__stop" aria-hidden="true" />
-              <div>
-                <strong>{stage.doing} — nothing for {stalled.mins} minutes</strong>
-                <span>
-                  {stage.by} has not come back. That is usually the model provider being
-                  slow or dropping a request, not a problem with this lead — the work so far
-                  is safe and nothing has been lost.
-                  {stalled.nudge
-                    ? ` Running ${stalled.nudge.label.toLowerCase()} wakes ${stalled.nudge.by} to try again.`
-                    : ' There is no step to re-run from here; the actions below are the way on.'}
-                </span>
-                {stalled.nudge ? (
-                  <button
-                    type="button" className="doing__fix"
-                    onClick={() => setOpen(stalled.nudge.uid)}
-                  >
-                    {stalled.nudge.label}
-                  </button>
-                ) : null}
-              </div>
-            </div>
-          ) : stage?.kind === 'customer' && stage.doing ? (
-            /* Not an agent working, and not a task of yours either — the lead
-               is with someone outside the business. Without this the screen
-               went blank at exactly the stage where an operator is most likely
-               to wonder whether something has broken. */
-            <div className="doing doing--waiting">
-              <span className="doing__wait" aria-hidden="true" />
-              <div>
-                <strong>{stage.doing}</strong>
-                <span>
-                  Their answer comes back to this lead on its own — Engage reads it and
-                  records the acceptance. Nothing is waiting on you.
-                </span>
-              </div>
-            </div>
-          ) : stage?.kind === 'auto' ? (
-            <div className="doing">
-              <span className="doing__pulse" aria-hidden="true" />
-              <div>
-                <strong>{stage.doing}</strong>
-                <span>
-                  Handled by {stage.by}.
-                  {stage.after ? ` The lead stays in ${stateName} until a quote exists — nothing is waiting on you.` : ''}
-                  {' '}Typically completes within two minutes; this view refreshes automatically.
-                </span>
-              </div>
-            </div>
-          ) : null}
 
           {/* WHAT TO DO NEXT, not what is permitted.
               Every action carries a role: `do` is the step this stage is
@@ -661,6 +667,10 @@ export default function Lead() {
 
                 {again.length ? (
                   <div className="alt">
+                    {/* With no required step, these optional actions floated at
+                        the top of the column reading like the next step. A quiet
+                        tag frames them as optional without repeating the status. */}
+                    {!step.length ? <span className="alt__note">Optional</span> : null}
                     {again.map((a) => (
                       <button key={a.uid} type="button"
                         className={'alt__btn' + (open === a.uid ? ' is-open' : '')}
diff --git a/src/screens/screens.css b/src/screens/screens.css
index ea66307..1294a9e 100644
--- a/src/screens/screens.css
+++ b/src/screens/screens.css
@@ -888,31 +888,32 @@
   margin-bottom: var(--sp-5);
 }
 
+/* FLAT, TO MATCH THE REST. This was four heavy dark-navy cards with shadows —
+   the cards-on-canvas language removed everywhere else, so on the flat white
+   page it clashed. Now light tiles, each read by a coloured left rule: blue
+   for the AI, amber for a person, teal for the customer, red for risk. The
+   number takes that colour, so the row is read as colour before text. Prominence
+   comes from a big figure and the accent, not from a dark fill. */
 .now__cell {
   position: relative;
-  padding: var(--sp-6) var(--sp-6) var(--sp-5);
-  border-radius: var(--r-lg);
-  background: var(--zk-navy);
-  color: var(--zk-white);
+  padding: var(--sp-5) var(--sp-5) var(--sp-5) var(--sp-6);
+  border-radius: var(--r-md);
+  background: var(--zk-white);
+  color: var(--zk-ink);
+  border: 1px solid var(--zk-line-soft);
   overflow: hidden;
-  box-shadow: var(--sh-md);
 }
 
 .now__cell::before {
   content: '';
   position: absolute;
-  inset: 0 0 auto 0;
-  height: 4px;
-  background: var(--zk-blue-light);
+  inset: 0 auto 0 0;
+  width: 4px;
+  background: var(--zk-blue);
 }
-.now__cell--person::before { background: var(--zk-amber-line); }
-.now__cell--cust::before   { background: var(--zk-cyan); }
-.now__cell--risk::before   { background: var(--zk-danger-line); }
-
-/* A live person-queue or a lapsed renewal is the one thing on this page that
-   is actually owed. It warms up; the rest stay navy. */
-.now__cell--person.is-live { background: var(--zk-amber-ink); }
-.now__cell--risk.is-live   { background: var(--zk-danger-ink); }
+.now__cell--person::before { background: var(--zk-amber); }
+.now__cell--cust::before   { background: var(--zk-teal); }
+.now__cell--risk::before   { background: var(--zk-grey); }
 
 .now__l {
   display: block;
@@ -921,24 +922,35 @@
   font-weight: var(--fw-semi);
   letter-spacing: .09em;
   text-transform: uppercase;
-  opacity: .78;
+  color: var(--zk-grey);
 }
 
 .now__v {
   display: block;
   margin-bottom: var(--sp-2);
-  font-size: var(--fs-3xl);
+  font-size: var(--fs-2xl);
   font-weight: var(--fw-semi);
   line-height: 1;
-  letter-spacing: -.03em;
+  letter-spacing: -.02em;
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums;
+  color: var(--zk-blue-dark);
 }
+.now__cell--person .now__v { color: var(--zk-amber-ink); }
+.now__cell--cust   .now__v { color: var(--zk-teal-ink); }
+.now__cell--risk   .now__v { color: var(--zk-ink); }
+
+/* A live person-queue or a lapsed renewal is the one thing actually owed. It
+   warms its whole tile; the rest stay plain white. */
+.now__cell--person.is-live { background: var(--zk-amber-tint); border-color: var(--zk-amber-line); }
+.now__cell--risk.is-live { background: var(--zk-danger-tint); border-color: var(--zk-danger-line); }
+.now__cell--risk.is-live::before { background: var(--zk-danger); }
+.now__cell--risk.is-live .now__v { color: var(--zk-danger-ink); }
 
 .now__s {
   display: block;
   font-size: var(--fs-2xs);
   line-height: var(--lh-snug);
-  opacity: .82;
+  color: var(--zk-muted);
 }
 
 /* KPI strip. Whitespace rather than rules — see .lmetrics for why the cage
@@ -1830,3 +1842,16 @@
 }
 .cta__txt b { font-size: var(--fs-sm); font-weight: var(--fw-semi); }
 .cta svg { width: 16px; height: 16px; flex: none; }
+
+/* Frames optional (again) actions when there is no required step, so a
+   secondary button stops reading as the next move. */
+.alt__note {
+  display: inline-block;
+  align-self: center;
+  margin-right: var(--sp-2);
+  font-size: var(--fs-3xs);
+  font-weight: var(--fw-semi);
+  letter-spacing: .07em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: var(--zk-grey);
+}