If there’s one concept that all entrepreneurs can agree on, it’s the idea that whatever thoughts we have, they must be big ones. I’ve yet to meet the go-getting, high-flying business person who says, ‘Oh I don’t know if we can do that’ or ‘Let’s take time to weigh up all the options’, or ‘Let’s choose the safer path.’
For better or worse, caution isn’t high up on the entrepreneurial tick list. Would Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson be as successful as they are today if they’d simply stuck to selling books and records? Had David Beckham simply kicked a football towards retirement, would he have built the brand he has? Of course not. These entrepreneurs, and many more, take big-sky thinking into all areas of their businesses and while they may hit a few bumps along the way, they almost always make it to the top and beyond.
However, such achievements are not made by grand ambition alone. Because while we’d like to think of our entrepreneurial heroes as visionaries who only ever look to the stars, the truth is that becoming an overnight success is much, much harder than it looks. We often hear that the highest-achievers never ‘sweat the small stuff’ because the niggling details are for the ‘little people’ to consider.
This, frankly, is rubbish, and I know because I’ve met many people with great ideas that are going precisely nowhere, simply because they refuse to pay attention to the small stuff. In fact, they’ve given themselves permission to ignore the annoying details because they only want to concentrate on the grand plan.
Take it from me: if you’re building a business that you intend to last, you absolutely must sweat the small stuff. Not obsessively, because that can have the same effect of not doing it at all, i.e. you end up paralysing your ambitions. However, you need to look at it consistently and deliberately, because in business the small stuff is rarely small.
Of course, the grand strategy has its place. Vision matters because it informs direction, and without that you end up drifting. But the real test of leadership lies in how carefully you engage with the ordinary, repetitive and sometimes dull parts of the job. That is where reputations are formed and fortunes are either protected or erased.
Early on, I fell into the same trap many entrepreneurs do. I thought my primary responsibility was to think big, move fast and leave the finer points to others. If the general thrust was right, surely the details would fall into line. What I discovered, sometimes painfully, is that details do not fall into line. Instead, they have a nasty habit of unravelling when you least expect.
For example, an ambiguous clause in a contract that is overlooked becomes a disagreement months later, or cashflow forecast that is not reviewed properly creates stress that could have been avoided. Maybe a rushed recruitment decision introduces problems that linger long after the initial urgency has passed. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you’ll know to your cost that none of these situations begin dramatically. The devil, as they say, is always in the details – or lack of them.
Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a series of bold moves. In reality, it is more often a series of small judgements. Do you return that call today or next week? Do you read the full report or skim the summary? Those choices accumulate, creating either a culture of precision or a culture of approximation.
The effect of approximation is subtle at first. One slightly unclear brief leads to minor rework, or a missed deadline is forgiven. That’s fine, because we’re all human. Over time, however, minor compromises like these can begin to define the organisation if they’re allowed to continue. And before long, you find yourself spending more time correcting avoidable mistakes than pursuing new opportunities.
By contrast, when you insist on getting the basics right, momentum builds in a different direction. Clear instructions reduce friction, while honest, properly documented agreements reduce anxiety. Believe me when I say that customers notice when you do what you say you will do, when you respond promptly and when your invoices match your promises. They may not applaud it, but they rely on it.
So rather than dismissing the details as distractions from the “real” work, consider that they are the real work. Do this repeatedly and the cumulative effect is powerful. The bigger picture, which everyone is so keen to talk about, is nothing more than the sum of those small decisions made well. If you want a business that stands up under pressure, then yes – sweat the small stuff.
