At the height of his career Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth , became known  for his strange and extravagant demands when the band were on tour.
All artists have what’s called a ‘rider’ – basically a list of the things they need in their dressing room at an event.  Lee Roth’s rider was particularly demanding .

Not only did he specify that there must be a bowl of M&M’s in the dressing room, but he also insisted that all the brown ones be removed. Not only that,  he had it made clear that if there was even a single brown M&M in the bowl, he would have the right to call off the concert without financial recompense to the organisers.

At the time, this was put forward as the ultimate example of rock star excess – what happens when performers are given everything they want, and nobody dare say ‘no’. But in his autobiography, Lee Roth revealed a surprising and ingenious reason for his apparent Diva-ish behaviour.

Back in the 1980’s,  Van Halen concerts were at the cutting edge of what could be achieved.  The band would typically turn up with nine or ten trucks  packed out with expensive and complex staging, equipment and lighting. The norm at the time was just two trucks. Not only was the set complicated, but it was also heavy. It was very important that the floor in the venue was capable of supporting everything and that it was all positioned and assembled in the correct way. There was a genuine risk to life if mistakes were made, and the instructions and requirements for achieving all this were contained within a thick contract for the event – the same contract that contained the rider about brown M&M’s.

Now here’s the clever trick. When the band arrived at the concert venue, they would check the bowl of M&M’s in the dressing room for brown ones. If they found any, they would take it as an indication that the contract hadn’t been read properly and assumed that this could be the tip of the iceberg. The appearance of brown M&M’s would prompt them to insist on a full technical check and more often than not this would highlight other lapses that could threaten either the show, or the safety of  the performers and audience.

I’m sure you get the underlying principle here – it isn’t always necessary to check on every aspect of a job to get a good indication of how well it’s been done. Taking a very small, well-chosen sample can often tell you all you need to know. We might not all be rock stars, but all of us are in the position of entrusting work to third parties, whether they be tradesmen, contractors, professional advisors, employees or work colleagues. It’s not always easy or practical to check that everything has been done to specification, but perhaps with our own version of M&M’s we can get a good indication.

What form might that take? Well with written instructions to professional advisors, it could be a ‘deliberate mistake’ in the text. If they draw your attention to it, they’ve read your instructions in detail. If they don’t, how much have they really read?  Or with verbal instructions to tradesmen, contractors or colleagues, it could be insistence on a seemingly inconsequential detail. If that has been complied with, there’s every chance the rest of the instructions will have been followed too.

I once heard of a homeowner who used to test out new cleaners by leaving a little cash under the rug. If the cleaner produced the cash he could be sure she was both thorough and honest. If she didn’t, he knew she was lacking in at least one of those attributes.

Either way, she didn’t get asked back!