Historical DETAILS

Many people say, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” According to Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, that is exactly opposite of what you should do. During a TED talk, Sutherland said, “Our own sense of self-aggrandizement feels that big important problems need to have big important, and most of all, expensive solutions attached to them.”¹

Rory Sutherland

Sutherland goes on to say through behavioral economic studies the answer to a problem is disproportionately smaller that the problem itself. It usually takes far less effort to encourage people to do things, but most companies and governments are unwilling to focus on details. Paying attention to small details can lead to success. Thomas Jefferson, John Wooden, and Steve Jobs are examples of great success, due in part, to their attention to details.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, realized many accomplishments during his lifetime. His list includes authoring the Declaration of Independence, being the governor of Virginia and the third President of the United States, founding the University of Virginia and constructing his beloved Monticello. Jefferson spent more than forty years designing and redesigning, building and rebuilding his home and its gardens.²

Thomas Jefferson

Architectural features of the home include an alcove bed, open on both sides, with an indoor privy nearby. One important detail Jefferson designed for Monticello is the Great Clock in the Entrance Hall. The clock has a face both in and outside the house. It is a seven-day clock with cannonball-like weights that mark the day of the week as they rise and fall. The gong alerts all household members both inside and out, of the time. “Its design evinces Jefferson’s desire for order, which he exerted in equal but different ways over his family and his slaves. It also reveals his love of innovation and his ability to modify the traditional to suit his needs.³

John Wooden

John Wooden is one of the most revered basketball coaches of all time. Wooden was the men’s basketball coach at UCLA for more than 25 years. He had a winning record throughout his coaching career of 664-162 and won ten national championships, seven in a row.⁴ Wooden said, “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."⁵  
     Wooden’s attention to detail helped lead to his success. One detail that was extremely important to Wooden was character. Wooden was being considered for the head coaching jobs at both UCLA and the University of Minnesota in 1948. After a miscommunication due to snow, Wooden had accepted the UCLA offer, thinking the University of Minnesota had changed its mind. Moments later, Wooden was offered the job at Minnesota but turned it down, having given UCLA his word.⁶ After retiring from his extremely successful tenure at UCLA, Wooden went on to share his well-known pyramid for success in basketball, but more importantly life. Central to his plan is skill, which includes covering every detail.⁷

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has been hailed as a genius and a visionary. As co-founder of Apple Computer Inc., he helped to create a brand that has revolutionized not only computers, but also the music industry, and personal communication. After Jobs dropped out of Reed College, he audited classes that seemed interesting to him. He was particularly interested in the calligraphy class and found it and Sans Serif “fascinating.”⁸ Jobs admitted, at the time, there was no practical use for such things. Later when designing the first Macintosh computer, he was able to put that skill to work, creating the “first beautiful typography” on a computer.⁹
     Research and development for new products were kept top secret, but when new products were announced, the hype was incredible. While one of Forbes most powerful people of 2010¹⁰, Jobs still paid attention to individual customers. Devir Kahan wrote an email to Steve Jobs about his keyboard, and Jobs responded himself saying, “Software fix coming soon. Sorry for the bug.”¹¹ Details also allowed Jobs and Apple to maintain a sense of consistency. He was known for wearing his “uniform,” tennis shoes, a black turtleneck, and faded jeans, to announce exciting news.

While paying attention to details will not automatically land you on Forbes Most Powerful People list, these examples show how being attentive can help lead to success. Rory Sutherland advises, “Although logically it’s quite a good idea to have a lift with no up and down button in it, if it only serves two floors, it’s actually bloody terrifying, okay? Because when the door closes and there’s nothing for you to do, you’ve actually just stepped into a Hammer film.”¹²

---

1 Sutherland, Rory. TED. June 2010.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rory_sutherland_sweat_the_small_stuff.html (accessed February 17, 2012)
2 Monticello.org. House & Gardens. February 2003. http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens (accessed February 2012).

3 Ibid.
4 Wikipedia. Wikipedia. February 14, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wooden (accessed February 17, 2012).
5 Wooden, John. The Wizard's Wisdom: 'Woodenisms'. June 4, 2010. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5249709 (accessed February 17, 2012).
6 Puma, Mike. Wizard of Westwood.http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Wooden_John.html (accessed February 17, 2012).
7 Wooden, John. The John R. Wooden Course. http://www.woodencourse.com/woodens_wisdom.html (accessed February 17, 2012).
8 Jobs, Steve. Steve Jobs: How to live before you die. June 2005. http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html (accessed February 17, 2012).
9 Ibid.
10 Forbes. Most Powerful People 2010. 2010. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/20/powerful-people_2010.html (accessed February 16, 2012).
11 Stone, Brad. Ding! Mail. OMG! It's Steve Jobs. March 24, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/technology/25apple.html (accessed February 17, 2012).
12 (Sutherland 2010)

---

Images

Rory Sutherland- laurenceschuberth.com

Thomas Jefferson- www.visitingdc.com

John Wooden- www.economicnoise.com

Steve Jobs- edudemic.com