Little Details...Important?

Too Complex?

Are Little Details Important?


It’s your chance to shine, to show your peers and your management team what you’re made of. You know you’re ready for the challenge; you’ve done your homework, through hours of research, talking with clients and planning your presentation. There is no doubt you’re prepared for what lies ahead…and then as the hour approaches you question your research, your presentation lay-out, the hard thought conclusions and recommendations you’re about to make. And then it’s show time.

We’ve all been there, ready to make the presentation of a lifetime and our minds start to go blank and question what we’ve worked so hard to prepare. I remember the first time, early in my career I was asked to speak at the University of Puget Sound after a round of interviews on career day. No worries, I knew what to say, how to say it and best I’d delivered the same speech several times. This was in my mind a lay-up. To make sure I hit all the key points and because this was undoubtedly the largest group of college seniors I’d ever spoken to; the night before I decided to create a large flip chart (this was before PowerPoint) so the entire audience could see what I was talking about. The Dean of the Business School at UOP introduced me with great flair and set the bar quite high. Interestingly, many of the faces staring at me during my presentation were the same ones I’d interviewed earlier in the day. The presentation went great, I got a healthy round of applause and a line formed in front of me after speaking. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good, maybe a little smug because I thought I nailed the presentation. All I saw were smiling faces and a growing huddle around me, I was inspired. After another 20 minutes of question & answer the Dean tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come into his office. He thanked me for being so thorough and professional and then almost casually asked if I’d spell checked my flip chart? I responded, “of course!” You know where this is going, don’t you. The Dean thanked me again and invited me to speak at their next career fair in 3 months. As I walked to my car, I kept telling myself, “I must have done well, after all, the Dean asked me to come back.” It wasn’t until I got back home, that I opened my flip chart and on the last page, the one I left showing to the 100+ senior Business Students for the last 10 minutes of my presentation, and the misspelling jumped off the page. I felt terrible, I felt instantly humbled and have remembered it for more than 20 years, as if it happened yesterday.

My point, YES little details are important. I don’t necessarily think we need to be perfect in everything we do. However, something as important as a flip chart, PowerPoint or hand-out needs to be triple checked for accuracy, spelling errors and grammar. I suggest letting a colleague, friend or spouse take a look at your presentation. Deliver it to the same audience. Buy them dinner, coffee of some other form of bribery; just be sure to present your thoughts to someone besides yourself.

I take full responsibility for my early blunders. I may make similar mistakes today, but I do them with; spell & grammar check, a wife that is an English major and more years of experience to be sure I’ve done all I can to be accurate and humble. I’m not alone in my quest to the little things right. Below are a few quotes that sum up my now more enlightened path, I hope this helps you focus and strive to do the little things in life…they are more important than we think.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.” – Johann Schiller
“Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.” – Lawrence Bell
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”- Proverbs 16:3
“Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as simple as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. Simplify, Simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
"When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way you will command the attention of the world.” – George Washington Carver

Today’s assignment, make a list of the most important people in your life. I’d suggest making two lists; one personal and one business. Your list may be just a few people, and on the other hand you may have hundreds of people you’re connected with. After compiling your list, try your best to put them in order of importance. Starting with number one, do this today before you head off to bed; write a brief note of thanks. Thank them for being important to you; thank them for being in your life. If you can think of a specific role they’ve played, be sure to included specifics. Praise them, be real and provide a blessing to them. And the most important part, send this hand written note to them via snail mail; yes the US Postal service still works for more than just our monthly bills. With email, Twitter, Facebook and so many other social networking sites, people LOVE to get letters. I will tell you, the notes you send, will bring unexpected results in the receiver and sender. This is a simple and profound LITTLE thing that I guarantee will help mend a fence, a broken relationship and take a good one to new heights.

I leave you with this. I recently found a box of love letters that my beautiful wife of 32 years and I traded while living apart though our college years. While reading them it brought out two very keen emotions; one of nostalgia, how simple life was and how thankful I am to be alive with such a special person. It is through simple communication that you can make things special. It really is the LITTLE things in life that bring the most enjoyment and warmhearted memories that make a life.