Do you think of yourself as “detail oriented” or a “big picture” person? Maybe you fancy yourself a master of both; I’ll not judge, although I consider the two incompatible if confined between only one set of ears. But, one thing is for darn sure; the world must have both.
Recently, I considered the concept when an annoying person bragged about being a big picture guy. I have always thought of myself as a person that could foresee an end result at the beginning because I didn’t bog down messin’ with minutiae—yes, a big picture guy. But, on that day, I argued the case for being detail oriented just because Mister Annoying boasted the other. In the process, I learned something of myself that needed changing.
As I artfully (my opinion) debated the finer points and benefits of sweating the small stuff, it occurred to me that I was actually building a micro case for the macro mess this country is in the beginning stages of miring in.
Now, this is where I’d expect to hear my first rebuttal with a, “What the hell are you talking about?”
Okay, here it is: I don’t see much, if any, difference in this concept and the cliché of “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians”. Think about it; big picture people lead board room discussions, surrounded by other big picture people who are desperately seeking detail-oriented people to fulfill numero uno big pic guy’s wishes.
And, guess what? Countries like China, India, Pakistan, etc. are masters of sweating small stuff and they parlayed it into a massive defection of talented detail people right out of this country. Those countries, over a period of years, have surreptitiously drawn away a critical number of our technical geniuses, people who have mastered the art of sweating the small stuff, craftspeople of all sorts, electronics, medical research, inventors, and on and on and on. In the meantime, every good boy and girl in the good ol’ US of A has aspired to be that person leading conference room discussions with grandiose ideas for the direction of companies and countries. No one these days seems to care anything about being the person that takes the ideas and brings them to fruition.
Now, we have a government of big pic people tossing out ideas on what needs to be done but their thoughts are falling into an empty well that, once upon a time, was filled with people who implemented all these ideas. Bottom line: A big picture person can’t tell another big picture person what to do and get anything done. Yet, Congress, the Executive Branch and every bureaucracy is doing just that and then collectively scratching heads wondering why nothing changes (ie FEMA and Hurricane Katrina as but one example).
Sorry folks, but any plumber will tell you that crap flows downhill but if there’s no one at the bottom to pick it up, it just pools into a smelly mess. Sound familiar? My hat is off to plumbers and all others in the technical trades that are the ones getting things done these days.
Here’s my lesson to me: Start paying attention to details. I may get bogged down occasionally enroute to the end result, but when all that crap starts pooling, there may be no one around to clean it up except me. And, I’d better know how it’s done because our government sure as hell isn’t going to do it for me. They don't have the expertise and know only a shrinking number of people that does.
Have a great day, y’all.
Daniel Lance Wright, Author of
"Six Years' Worth"/Father's Press/2007/print & ebook
"Paradise Flawed"/Dream Books LLC/2009/print & ebook
"Where Are You, Anne Bonny?"/Rogue Phoenix Press 2010/ ebook only
“Trouble”, short story/CrossTIME Science Fiction Anthology, Vol. IX/print only
“Dancing Away”/short story/Untreed Reads/ebook only
COMING SOON
“Phobia”/Booktrope/2011/print & ebook
“Defining Family”/Whiskey Creek Press/2012/print & ebook
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”
“The Last Radiant Heart” (re-release)
“Hackberry Corners, Texas 1934”
“Helping Hand For Ethan”
“The Lost Decades”
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