Being in the Details

Brian Chesky’s comments in his interview with Lenny paraphrased: Leaders must delve into the details. Being in the details means having a comprehensive understanding of what your team is working on. It involves being aware of the processes, challenges, and progress, which allows you to make informed decisions and provide meaningful guidance, and then trusting the team to execute. Without an understanding of these details, it is impossible to know if the team is doing a great job.

Jason Fried of Basecamp advocates something similar when he says that at Basecamp, they always do a new role’s tasks personally before hiring someone for the first time. This is to grasp details and nuances about the job and understand what success looks like.