“Getting the details right is good management, getting the priorities right is good leadership” - Nodjame Fouad.

In 2024 I had the opportunity to attend an Executive Women’s conference in Dublin. There was some truly amazing and inspirational women and men speakers at it and there were a few specific speakers and nuggets of information that really struck a cord with me. Things that I think are particularly poignant to women navigating a career and trying to balance a full family and/or personal life.

One such nugget of information, was the phrase “getting the details right is good management, getting the priorities right is good leadership” - Nodjame Fouad, CEO of Irish Distillers.

This hit me. Mostly, because I am a details person. Give me ALL the details. I want the facts, the stats, the budget estimates, your passport number, you blood type, bank account details, your date of birth and your star sign - I want it all. Especially if you want me to weigh in and contribute to a decision. It’s for that reason that this phrase really struck me. It was about the same level of “holy crap thats insightful” as Sheryl Sandberg’s “done is better than perfect”. Details are great, but you cannot lead effectively if you are overly obsessed with the details. You need to spend more of your time within the strategy and the vision.

I’ll give you a flavor of why I think lightbulb moments like this are useful for careers.

When something like this strikes a cord with women who, in my humble (if not slightly biased) opinion, have incredible depths of self awareness, we need to pay attention. It's our intuition saying, “listen up.”

I’ve had conversations in the past with a previous boss of mine who explained to me that my attention to detail, ability to engage people on common goals, and ability to get things done and over line has gotten me to where I was to date in my career. This next bit was the key, to get to the next level, he said, you need to focus on the bigger picture.”

Unless it's a very niche and specialized area that you work in, one cannot expect the things that brought you to the level you are at now will bring you to the next level. Especially if that next level is leadership. You might remember we spoke in a previous article about how your habits become your default actions. They are your baseline, and they are incredibly valuable. However, to be a truly influential and effective leader, you need to see, think and act bigger. Show people you see the vision. Show them that you can execute the strategy to get to that vision AND that you have the actions and habits to ground it all.

“How do I do that?” Asked nobody, but I’m (unsurprisingly) going to give you my opinion anyway!

Step 1

Take the time to interrogate yourself. Get clear on what your skills are, and what your weaknesses are. For example, I’m good at communicating and negotiating & influencing. I’m also patient (although I have ex-boyfriends that would probably disagree with me on that one!) These are definite strengths for me. On my weaknesses, I’m a typical introvert and it gets in the way of networking and putting myself out there. I know it sounds dramatic but there are times I would genuinely rather pull my own finger nails out than engage in water cooler chat. Knowing both these things about myself helps me be clear on what I need to do to progress my career.

Step 2

How do you want to be perceived in work. When your name comes up in a meeting room and you are not there - what to you ideally want people to think and or say about you? I decided that above all else I want to be known as somebody who gets the job done. Someone who delivers. That doesn’t always mean actually achieving the original target by the way - sometimes getting the job done is getting started and then calling out that the target is not going to be achievable unless x,y,z is addressed.

Step 3

When you understand 1 and 2 about yourself, it frees you up to not only see the vision but you look at things through a lens of honesty and realism as to how you can achieve the vision. This honesty will differentiate your strategy from a “hope for the best” to a “this is how we execute and achieve”. Knowing your strengths means you can take the foot off the pedal with your natural abilities/strengths. You know you already do these well, just keep them ticking over. Knowing your weakness and your blind spots will help you to align with the things and the people you need in order to deliver on the big picture.

In my experience, I find that women, by nature, also tend to be multi-taskers. This can be both a blessing and a curse but theres a metaphor that my friend Marian once told me abut multitasking, that now lives rent free in my brain. It has helped me exponentially and I hope it will for you too.

She heard this at a Women in Leadership conference she attended (and I can’t help but love the “closing the loop” feeling of this article - opening with a Executive Women’s conference and closing with one). The metaphor is that imagine every day you are physically juggling a considerable amount of balls in the air. Some of these balls are plastic, and some of these balls are glass. If you drop a plastic ball, it’s not that big a deal, it's a little blip but not going to cause too much disaster you just pick it up again and recommence juggling. Dropping a glass one is more messy, shards are everywhere you probably have to put a handful of the other balls down to clean it up properly and it’s generally just more of a time consuming pain or a difficult scenario.

Just like your strength and weaknesses awareness, take the time to decipher which balls are plastic and which balls are glass, and let them pull your attention, care and focus accordingly.