It’s almost unconscionable how easy it is to overlook details while thinking you have “the eye”. I recently learnt how a detail can be staring you in the face and still pass under your radar as if it never existed.

I was online buying an Apple Watch as a birthday gift for my sister-in-law, when a blue and green striped wristband caught my eye. My current band was starting to show some wear and tear from the sweat of everyday life and from swimming in the ocean. I’d been looking to replace it for some time. So, when this colourful substitute caught my eye, I decided to hit “buy”.

Unfortunately, my eye for detail wasn’t as finely tuned as I thought. I had missed something obvious: the connector on the wristband was stark white and wouldn’t match my space grey watch. Irritated by my mistake, I decided to stick with my ageing wristband and regret the purchase.

Since then, I’ve wondered how I managed to overlook an obvious detail that was glaring at me from the screen. The only defence I can allow myself is that I wasn’t conditioned to look for such a detail. In fact, I wasn’t even aware that the connector on the strap could contrast.

For sure, now that I am aware of it, it’ll be one of the first details I check next time around. How many times has this kind of thing happened to you? How often do you overlook the one detail that makes all of the difference?

I thought I was detail-oriented — the type of person who pays attention to details and makes a conscious effort to understand them. That’s when it hit me: noticing the details only comes as second nature to me when the object or topic in question falls within my areas of expertise and experience. The instance of the Apple Watch wristband taught me a lesson.

That is, you can’t rely on experience alone.

Attention to detail is a beneficial trait as a leader. You’ll execute better judgement, course correct faster and avoid wasting $49 (Dh180) on a watch band because you overlooked a glaring detail.

Detail obsession is one of the traits of the great leaders that I’ve come to respect and is one of the qualities that, I believe, sets them aside. It’s mesmerising to watch a CEO zero in and pick the proverbial needle out of the haystack without getting lost in all the hay.

They aren’t micro-managers, they unrelentingly pursue the details that matter. And it is only the ones that matter that will make the difference between succeeding and failing.

It’s interesting that the founders of headline companies such as Apple, Amazon, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Emirates Airline and Majid Al Futtaim have all been criticised for their fanatical attention to detail. They’re unbelievably detail-oriented and most of their work focuses on the executional aspects of their job where detail really comes into play.

This leaves me with the question: would many of the world’s top CEOs have made the headlines if they weren’t detail obsessed? I certainly doubt it. Paying attention to the details and addressing them swiftly when necessary are hallmarks that built their brands.

It’s easy to gloss over details in the interest of speed of work, or because you’re too busy. But when you do, you put your delivery, your reputation and your ability to fulfil your ambitions at risk.

The frustration is that it doesn’t have to be this way; paying attention to detail is 100 per cent in your control. It is a choice you get to make on your own.

Unfortunately, many senior leaders wear their disinterest in detail as a badge of honour. They believe they are above the detail, claiming to be big picture thinkers.

It is a worrying stance to take. Why? Because a good leader understands that a picture, no matter the size, is comprised of thousands of pixels, the details that give shape, depth and clarity that bring it to life.

Tommy Weir is a CEO coach and author of ‘Leadership Dubai Style’”. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com.