Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

How has understanding whether you’re a “big picture” thinker or a “detail-oriented” thinker helped you move your business forward?

1. Make a Conscious Effort to Incorporate the Other Mindset 

When you understand what type of mindset you naturally approach business with, you can then make a conscious effort to incorporate the other mindset and/or seek out team members to help. For example, if you’re naturally a big-picture person, set aside time in your schedule to work on the details or assign a detail-oriented person on your team to help bring the big picture to life.

– Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR 

2. Understand Past Successes and Failures 

Realizing that I’m more of a detail-oriented thinker has allowed me to better understand and evaluate why certain business decisions I’ve made have worked and, more importantly, why others have not. I have been able to avoid repeating mistakes because of this and our customers have recognized the growth of our business over time.

– Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports, LLC 

3. Talk Through Big Decisions With Colleagues 

I tend to be a detail-oriented thinker. When I decide on a goal, my efforts go toward achieving it. I don’t spend much time re-assessing whether it was the right goal in the first place. I’ve learned it’s beneficial to take a step back every now and then to reconsider, and to talk to colleagues who might see something I don’t. Talking has often helped me see “big-picture” issues with my approach.

– Justin Blanchard, ServerMania Inc. 

4. Reevaluate Decisions and Opinions 

Understand what type of lens you use to see the world and what the alternative is so that you can be more rigorous when reevaluating your own actions. Asking myself, “Do I think this only because I’m a detail-oriented thinker?” and “What would a big-picture thinker do in this scenario?” expands my options and helps me arrive at an optimal solution, not just the one that I’m comfortable with.

– Roger Lee, Captain401 

5. Distinguish Between Working “In” or “On” Your Business 

The difference between being a detail-oriented or big-picture thinker really comes down to the critical distinction between working “in” or “on” your business. Details matter most when you are working in your business — the day-to-day stuff like meeting payroll, hiring new employees and selling stuff. In contrast, the big picture is working on your business, like future goals and opportunities.

– Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com 

6. Surround Yourself With Different Thinkers 

I’m definitely a big-picture thinker, and that’s not always a good thing. I tend to miss important details along the path to success. Realizing that I need to surround myself with detail-oriented people has been a huge part of the success of Go Overseas. We have three co-founders and our strengths are well balanced. We’ve also grown to more deeply appreciate the value each of us brings to the table.

– Mitch Gordon, Go Overseas 

7. Focus on Strengths and Delegate to Others 

This realization allows me to delegate better knowing that detail-oriented tasks should be given to someone else. It also allows me to better decide what task I should spend more time on and to whom I should give a task to. My business moves forward as my strengths complement my team’s individual strengths. As a big-picture thinker, I allow the details to come from my team.

– Daisy Jing, Banish 

8. Find the Right Team 

As a former physicist, there is a duality in nature that I find everywhere in business. Both big-picture and detail-oriented thinkers are key to driving an organization. The difficult part was understanding my strengths — based on conservation laws — and recruiting complementary executives to create a holistic team.

– Michael Gleason, Consumer Brands, LLC 

9. Train at Both 

You actually have to be both. No matter which one you think you are, you have to train yourself to be a big-picture thinker and a detail-oriented thinker. Otherwise, you’re either going to be stuck on the little things or you’re going to be in the clouds.

– Ross Resnick, Roaming Hunger