It is time to introduce the 'Chief Detail Officer' to the C-Suite

When I find myself with a free moment, I visit the TED talk site. To be fair, this doesn't happen often, and I tend to find that it comes by around 3pm or 4pm, when deep work is deprioritised, and I need a distraction from my to-do list.

I love the TED site. It is awesome. It is a great balm to my afternoon fatigue.

One of my all time favourite presentations is one that was delivered by the always fabulous Rory Sutherland from Ogilvy - titled 'Sweat the small stuff".

I loved Rory's delivery of creative solutions to seemingly large problems; and his debunking of the notion that big problems need big budgets, and the top people to make big decisions in order to solve them.

I couldn't agree more with Rory's sentiments. In fact, I want to double down.

In so many contexts, so much of the time, the solution lies in the arena of the deceptively simple.

It is the micro efforts, delivered consistently, and to perfection, over time, that creates impactful results.

It isn't always about having the multi-million dollar campaigns, with expensive and expert talent, with all the bells and whistles attached that make what you do and what you offer memorable to your stakeholders.

So often it is about getting the basics right - a good product, that solves a daily frustration, that is easy to use, that makes an impact.

From my perspective, it is because by achieving this, you are demonstrating that your consumer is at the top of your mind; and you intimately understand their perspective, and how your product or service fits within it (think the salt and pepper shakers in Rory's TED talk).

By executing a flashy campaign, but delivering a subpar experience (either online or offline) or selling a subpar product, you are passively communicating to your audience that your focus is on the sale - not on the user experience.

Developing a product, service, value proposition that behaves as a pain killer (thanks to Tony Fadell for the reference here), that is designed and produced with consumer ease front and centre. These are the areas to focus on.

On top of all this, it is important acknowledge that people are limited in their cognitive attention, their ability to be rational is bounded, they have biases, heuristics, and will purposefully aim to achieve a task with as little effort and energy invested as possible. It is in our evolutionary DNA. We have evolved to be a species that invests as little energy as possible to survive...

People will not engage with stuff that is hard.

This knowledge is well established in the literature - so my big question is why are things so bloody hard sometimes? So much of the time a customer journey stinks, the product is weak, the way to buy it is painful etc.

As a long time marketer who has worked in so many different industry contexts, I have seen the big stuff work, the big stuff not work, the small stuff not work, and the small stuff create impact.

So what is my biggest insight from my 20 years?

Is that the small stuff, is never really small.

The well written piece of content (of which I hope to classify this as by the time I press publish), the positive interaction online or in person, the brochure you print (and how you distribute it), the signage you place out the front of your bricks and mortar establishment, the customer service script and journey (press 1 for sales, press 2 for service...press 11 to speak to a consultant...blergh!), the emails you send etc etc etc - they are all part of an interlinked brand experience that is intended to connect your business to your stakeholders.

And so often, this experience is disjointed, inconsistent, and overly complex or complicated. These components can behave as independent actions, rather than as part of a cohesive brand effort and experience.

It turns good stuff into junk in a heartbeat. Which is a downright shame.

And - it pisses your consumers and customers off.

Around the 11 minute mark, Rory Sutherland refers to a great quadrant around the stuff that costs a lot of money on one axis, and the stuff that makes an impact on the other axis. In between strategy and trivia lies the opportunity to create organisational magic - and ultimately is the remit of what should be a 'Chief Detail Officer' in an organisation.

I love the concept of this position.

Imagine the opportunity to place a person in an organisation where their whole remit was to consider the micro efforts. They wouldn't need a huge budget, because ultimately their jurisdiction lies in making small decisions and changes geared towards impact. Putting their feet in the shoes of their customers, and voicing this experience around their fellow executives.

The opportunities are astounding.

Seeing the intersection of small decisions and small efforts to forge big impact would be ace to see around the big table where big decisions are made.

Thanks Rory Sutherland. I am indeed an advocate and believer in the Chief Detail Officer - let's hope one day this role is as ubiquitous as every other existing c-suite position.