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Foreign. Welcome to Leading Organizations that Matter, a podcast about leadership and how we find impact, meaning and joy in our work. I'm Ray Spadoni and today's topic is Seeing the Forest and the Trees. I enjoy photography and if you follow this podcast regularly, then you already know that fact and the fact that I sometimes draw parallels from that part of my life and apply them to the topics that I cover here. Today is going to be one of those days, but fear not, I'm not going to get too technical or get down into the weeds. You'll appreciate why that's a teaser for this episode as we go along. I have a good photography friend. We have traveled together, gone to some pretty photo rich environments, and often compare notes and images afterwards. I'm always struck by how we can stand in the exact same places and sometimes use the same cameras, yet walk away. With such different photos, we see the world very differently. For example, we walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain together a couple of years ago and I shoot wide. That is, I enjoy a focal length lens that lets me capture the entire scene. Whenever I entered into a beautiful village, I wanted to get all of it. When I witnessed a idyllic farm, I got the cows, the goats, the chickens, the farmers, the buildings, the tractors, everything. Mountain vistas, same thing. After the Camino, we reviewed each other's images and you know, true to form, we capture different things. My friend sees smaller looks for the littlest details. He notices those things. Many of his shots are of micro scenes, ones that tell a story. Very simply. He captures the faces of the people he meets and oftentimes those tell stories too. He and I see the world very differently. Okay, now the leap. Many of the people who I encounter in my work tend towards big picture thinking. They see the full chessboard, they like to have a panoramic view, and they'll bemoan the times that they have to get down into the weeds. And then there are the ones who are most comfortable in the details. They like seeing how the pieces fit together and they want to focus in on how and where the different gears are placed and how they turn People see the world very differently. Most organizations are comprised of a mixture of the big picture thinkers and the smaller detail thinkers. Takes a village and so it's the piecing together of different interests, skill levels and viewpoints that makes most companies roll forward. But here's the thing. Now recently I've been reflecting on the fact that it can be a tremendous asset for a leader or an aspiring leader to develop a proficiency and a comfort level in both separate realms. Thinking strategically in bigger picture while also being willing to to get down into the gears themselves. These leaders demonstrate a better understanding of how work gets done and the impact on the people doing that work and also the implications of decisions and things like environmental factors. These leaders are more credible in more places and that helps build confidence among their different constituents. I've had some experiences in my career given that I tend to think big just like I like to photograph wide that forced me into the details. I once took on a role in a turnaround that resulted in my becoming responsible for the claims and member services function for a decent sized hmo. Talk about getting into the weeds and while I didn't love it at first, I eventually developed an appreciation for the true work of the organization and that helped as my responsibilities shifted and evolved to a much broader role later on. Understanding operations informed my strategic thinking and at the same time having a bigger picture view helped me understand the organizational context much better for those times when I had my head down in the engine room. Better leaders learn to think and see both ways. Thanks for listening. Leaving a positive review and letting others know about this podcast will help a great deal. My mission is to help empower organizations that matter by supporting those who lead them. I offer coaching, mentoring and consulting services. You can learn more about me and my work@racepadoni.com.