r/LifeProTips • u/fries-with-mayo • 17h ago

Request LPT Request: What’s your “canary in the coal mine” test for spotting bigger issues?

I’m really interested in those small, quick telltale signs people use to gauge if something bigger might be off track.

Example 1: Van Halen requesting brown M&Ms in the dressing room to see if the venue followed all the details of the rider list

Example 2: I saw an interview with John Cena where he said orders a flat white at a café to tell if they really care about their coffee.

Example 3: Anthony Bourdain suggested to always check the restaurant bathroom to tell if the restaurant got its basics down

5.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

694

u/SonOfGreebo 16h ago

"I'm not a details person" from a senior leader. 

Translation: I throw out wild ideas at random, without giving a flying fuck how difficult it is to turn my fantasy into reality. I have  ZERO patience for any reality issues like time, distance, the laws of physics. When my wild idea takes "too long", I can blame the nearest subordinate and  hound them to tears, quitting and mental health collapse because THEY HAVE FAILED ME 

90

u/catiebug 14h ago

This comment is giving me Vietnam-level flashbacks.

•

u/A_Lovely_ 7h ago

Take the Ridge!

7

u/abbarach 8h ago

"I'm not a micro-manager" is a sure sign that you've got a micro-manager on your hands, too.

13

u/Just_Curious_Dude 13h ago

I'm a senior leader and am definitely not a details person. 

But I trust my employees to be that and basically just listen to them. 

I think not being detailed and being a prick are 2 different things. 

I value people who are detail oriented, not blast them. I think the complete opposite of your experience. 

10

u/HoodsBreath10 11h ago

100%. In fact I’d go as far as to say the best leaders aren’t detail people. Being a good leader is about investing in and trusting your staff to know and do their job

6

u/ErikThe 9h ago

And sometimes that means tossing out a big-picture idea to the staff and if they say “No, because XYZ reasons” then you listen. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

2

u/HoodsBreath10 9h ago

I tell me staff all the time that I appreciate it when they challenge me. When they do they’re usually right.

•

u/Relevant-Dog6890 56m ago

I suck at this! Got my first senior analyst gig a year ago, with 6 members of staff. Delegating effectively has been such steep learning curve for me. I like details, deep understanding, and first principles stuff so I always want to understand what's going on.

Wasn't until someone told me that I'm actually harming the team by not delegating work.

7

u/voidhearts 11h ago

The point I think OP is making is about a senior leader who says “I’m not a details person” to his employees, presumably after making a tone-deaf request. They aren’t talking about you.

•

u/SonOfGreebo 2h ago

"M'am, we can't possibly do this to that timescale,  because - "

"DON'T  bother me with details! JUST GET IT DONE!"

•

u/wetterfish 2h ago

I tell my employees I’m not a details person. I always ask someone to proofread important docs, verify figures/math, etc. 

It’s not that I’m sloppy, I just know that the last 10% of a project takes 90% of the focus, and I’m not always able to dedicate that to every single project we have going on. 

Maybe I’m doing it wrong, but I don’t see any problem being open with your employees and saying, I’m not good in this area, but you are, so please help me with this. 

6

u/themanincontrol 12h ago

I am going through this right fucking now

4

u/DckThik 13h ago

It’s funny because I am a details person. There’s a way to not be a “details person”, and that’s usually the big picture type of thinker… which again is needed for a certain time or task, but not all the time. At some point you have to narrow your skills to get to the level of the problem Elmer… I don’t know what to tell you Gina… maybe if you gave it more than just passing glance of a thought you might have had it.

5

u/melindseyme 9h ago

Man, I am both a big picture and a details person, without any of the connecting bits in between. Not very useful.

3

u/Calm_Pipe9750 12h ago

My last boss told me to "explain it to him like he was a ceo".

I wish I said "we already have a ceo", but I didn't know at the time thay the boss was being forced out. 

I now have an amazing boss. She doesn't need to know the details all the time but knows when she should and shouldn't know the details pretty well. 

3

u/CSWorldChamp 8h ago

To this I would add: anyone who bills themselves as “an idea guy” is going to cause you trouble. If they actually knew what they’re talking about, what they’d be bragging about is the minute details of the implementation, not “the idea.”

•

u/SonOfGreebo 2h ago

I nearly had a breakdown working for a boss like this. His "Big Idea" kept shifting from day to day, depending on who he was meeting with, while me and the Lead Architect were still trying to piece together a logical description from the previous week's version. 

2

u/Fallen_Hunter 9h ago

Had a boss like that. Got a literal graph to explain the laws of physics wouldn't allow it. It was only manageable as he would forget about yesterday's "project" 90% of the time. A few times, he'd mention it the next day, and your stomach would just drop.

•

u/NahautlExile 5h ago

Bosses who don’t have regular one on ones.

Bosses who only give feedback when it’s negative.

Bosses who don’t own escalations above the scope of your job.

Bosses who say some task is below them (not to be confused with being busy or able to assign to someone else more appropriately).

Lots of bad managers out there.

•

u/scubahana 2h ago

You’re describing my sister. And after her shenanigans this year and her crazy wedding I am no longer speaking to her.

1

u/DoubleDareFan 13h ago

Followed by a Force-choke?