Below is a version of an internal memo I sent a few weeks ago to the Skift team, on the value of paying attention to details.
Three weeks after year three of Skift Global Forum, I am still thinking through the amazing reaction we’ve gotten since. I remember the reaction year one, where people were surprised by our young brand doing something cool, year two last year was a big upgrade but a risky effort with the venue and first two-day conference for us. This year almost everything on the editorial programming hit home. Based on the survey feedback we are getting, we created something very meaningful to the lives of people who came, and that really is the highest bar we can ever expect to reach.
The amount of feedback, so much of it public, is something I haven’t seen with any other conference in any industry in a long time. So that’s the amazing good news.
Here is the good-posing-as-bad news: the stakes are a lot higher now, post Forum. This is the biggest lever we could have been handed, for us to take ourselves to the next level, but the challenge now for is we better figure out how to use it or we will stay where we are and stagnate.
While I am a bit scared to think about it, I know we have the team to do this.
BUT.
You all have noticed that I have been very particular and pushy about details over the last few weeks. There is a reason for it: We know everything we have to do from here, and we can’t miss details. 101 matters. Allow me to explain.
Every small thing matters as the team grows and the stakes grow, or things will fall. For lack of attention to detail, or for lack of communication. If we are sloppy in anything, if we are not detailed in anything, if we assume anything when it comes to communicating, it will show and people won’t give us the underdog benefit of doubt anymore. For the simple reason that we aren’t underdogs anymore, we fucking own this industry now.
What does getting the details right mean?
It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
It means on sales, follow ups and persistence matters. In editorial, every photo matters, every Skift Take matters, every mistake in the daily or weekly newsletter matters. In marketing, every email we send out matters, what language we use, what types of buttons we put in there. In design, it is very easy to slack for the sake of finishing something. In research division, people now expect real original data from us, we can’t just do analysis anymore. In SkiftX, over-delivery to every client matters, whether they ask it or not, whether they verbalize their feedback or not. In Dev, every millisecond we shave off from loading the site matters. In HR and office, proper systems and permissions matter, not assuming anything matters.
That is why I will push and push and push, each of you. The promise that I made to every one of you when I hired you was that you will do the best work of your life here at Skift. And that means we stretch ourselves as much as we can and I will work darn hard to push you all to get that out of you such that it becomes a habit. Detail, presence and attention is a habit, and my job is to help you learn it.
I worry about the details because I have to. “Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.” That is why I push, even when you think we have achieved something amazing and we could take it easy for a while from here.
My ultimate goal is for each of you to be leaders in your work, here at Skift and beyond. The only way you will achieve that is if you develop independent decision making capabilities, and the only way to do that is by paying attention to details and carrying them out. This is how you develop the habit of making decisions, the habit to become a strategic leader. Trust me on this one, this is the how I learned to be where I am today.
Something seemingly silly on my commute back on Friday made me think of writing this memo. That above pic is my commuting train from Grand Central back to my home station, this is what it plays on the ticker at every station it stops at: “When leaving the train, please watch the gap between the train and the platform” For us, it means keeping the train on the tracks, and watching the gap between the train and the platform at each station we go along the way.
It is a pretty straight path from here, if we don’t derail ourselves due to lack of attention to detail.
We are ready to own the destiny we have created for ourselves.
