When I first started managing a team, I was advised to become effective at delegating, removing myself from the details, and to not take on too many problems directly so that I can scale.  It was something I never felt comfortable with and I didn’t necessarily aspire to “be” the people giving me this advice.  So, I started observing what other managers around me were doing.  I was surprised to see entire layers of “successful” middle managers do little more than handle basic administrative and people-management overhead.  They contributed little if anything to the product or it’s sales.

As I started getting more senior at Microsoft, I noticed something even more interesting about leaders at the very top of the organization - they had a deeper understanding of detail then managers two or three levels beneath them.  What was more impressive is they carried that detail across multiple business units.

My conclusion (and opinion), is the link between successful senior leaders and attention to detail is actually more about causality than anything else.  It’s not that the senior leaders I worked with were smart (they were), but they are actually at the top because they understand the detail.  Great team members are the same - they understand in detail what’s going on around them, can spot opportunities that others don’t, and therefore become tremendously successful in their job.

The lesson I took away from observing and reflecting on this space is it pays to understand the details of your business or product, no matter how junior or senior you are.  Contrary to the advice I was given early on, aspiring leaders should immerse themselves in the detail.  Study all the detail you can find until the sea of data starts to make sense.  It will give you clarity about your business that makes being a leader so much more productive and satisfying.  Don’t get lazy and don’t ever say you don’t need to understand a product or business.  You’re never too busy or too important to distance yourself from your business.