We have often discussed the importance of keeping the Big Picture in mind. But, perhaps I have not emphasized enough that a Big Picture is not accurate/trustworthy if it’s not based on a good knowledge of details.
This point was made clear to me recently in the following series of events, and I share it with you as motivation for you to examine where you can get into more details:
While watching a recent CNBC interview with Warren Buffett, I noticed a segment that showed him getting deep into the details of the arrangements and stats for one of his annual meetings.
This reminded me of a presentation made by the now-retired UPS executive Calvin Dardin, which he made at a conference of about 200 CEO’s and COO’s. Mr. Dardin talked about measuring everything, and went through a list of what seemed like a few dozen things they track. They even track the average time it takes for a delivery person to reach your door from the truck: 14 seconds. It was one of the most fascinating presentations I’ve ever heard.
In turn, this reminded me of something I had observed in my 32+ years of professional life: the most insightful CEO’s and executives I have known were the ones who got into the details.
Yes, they were also visionary and kept the big picture in mind, but they loved getting into the details.
This motivated me to really dig into the details of my blog. I went into the Google Webmaster console and dug down deep into my data, instead of just looking at the broad stats as I had done before. I found problems that I should have known about months ago.
I used the Google URL removal tool to correct the problems, and can already tell that it has helped traffic.
Based on this, I recommend that you add a project to your list that says “Figure out what I can look into in more detail,” so you can find and address hidden problems and opportunities.