Quit Taking It Personally
Does Adam Savage have advice for managing the aftermath of a bad job that you didn’t have influence over? Have you ever had …
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March 5, 2026
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"Harmony in Every Heartbeat
Does Adam Savage have advice for managing the aftermath of a bad job that you didn’t have influence over? Have you ever had …
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I've never really had older mentor figures in my life, so having internet mentors just talk through this stuff is super helpful, thank you. Beats going through it inexperienced and alone lol
Helpful hint: I have had POSITIVE results when I TELL THE OTHER PERSON: RESPECTFULLY, I AM GOING TO CHALLENGE YOU AS I QUESTION YOUR CHOICE. I AM ONLY TRYING TO DETERMINE HOW YOU REACHED YOUR CONCLUSION.. SO THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU BETTER. This ACTUALLY HAS BEEN EFFECTIVE! Gratitude
Well SAiD!
SHOUTOUT TO BULGARIA! WE LOVE YOU!
Respectfully and delicately.. the mai lai massacre presents the problematic situation commonly encountered in wars. While I understand that the matters are “disturbing” they nonetheless OCCUR. If the events are not examined.. then how will an individual “recognize the indicators of an atrocity” to thereby avoid such events from occurring again. GRATITUDE Mr. SAVAGE!
It's not your fault Adam. She doesn't know you the way a lot of us do, and for a lot of women, it's safer to assume men are creepy and move on.
good advice
0:32 OMG!!!! My dad got caught in this same exact situation (except he was one of the lead project engineers on it, yet still got out-voiced.)
A wise father.
Documentation is a WONDERFUL thing. Every job I have had, including the US Navy, I had a big ole CYA file. If I saw something coming, and it might hit me even though I had no control over it, I wrote a document to my supervisor then placed it in my file. When I got called in, I brought my folder, the issue was brought up, I pulled out my documentation, and that was that. Can't blame me when I told you upfront, it was going to fail. Every conversation I had, with anyone above me, if it could put me in danger in any way, I documented the time, place and date of the coverations and what it was about, and placed it in my folder. This is PURE Lawsuit fodder. You never have to use this info, but TRUST ME, when you need it, and having it, is magical.
Over correction should NOT be the response.. PAYING ATTENTION should be the priority. Thank you all.
So much work to be done.
You see what I just did there?
Thank you ladies.. and gentlemen
So.. I am “free to leave?”
The algorithm doesn’t …
Gratitude . Shout out to Carol Burnet. You can’t see that I’m pulling my ear.
Dues. Yeah.. I have receipts for all of “dues” I have paid.
It feels like you aren’t respecting “my time.”
I know you know.. but my redundancy seems to be necessary.
Mr. Savage.. I respect you so much.. tolerance also applies to “not taking it personally.” It seems to breed animosity as…
Also if a big walrus in human form tells you "it broke, so this is how it's gonna be", well, you kinda have to go "I guess tha'ts how it's gonna be then" :p
If you tell your superiors it's going to fail, they don't listen to you, and when it fails, they put the blame on you, that's a toxic work environment and you need to leave ASAP.
What type of shirt are you wearing, Mr. Savage? I really like it.
Several things are important. First, poopie happens. Get over it and assess the problem. Secondly, tell the director, client, or whoever is in charge, immediately. Like, right now. Thirdly, come up with viable options, even as you’re going to deliver the bad news. Fourth, deliver the bad news like a professional. Don’t fawn, grovel, or be weak. Almost to the end, do not underestimate the time it will take to fix the problem. Don’t lowball the time to make somebody happy, because they sure won’t be if it isn’t fixed when promised. Finally, never throw your crew under the bus. Never. If you’re delivering the bad news, then you need to own the problem, and have options and/or a solution. It’s why you’re paid the big money to be in charge.
At least she didn’t say it like a lead balloon because you already debunked that. 😂
Let me guess — You're posting this because of *me*? You can go pound sand!!!
dement, document, document.But when things go south and you have to tell your boss, have some possible solutions as well. Most bosses will tell you, "I don't want to hear about problems, I want to hear solutions."
Yes… ☝
Jamie was brilliant in offering 3 ways forward rather than simply stating that the deadline couldn’t be met. That idea can and should be used in many situations. Great story.
At apple we had a method of handling any situation that gets thrown at you gracefully. And if you master it, it works really well throughout life. It was called the Triple AAA's. Align, acknowledge, assure. Align with the situation that's happening to them and fully understand the position their in, Acknowledge how they're feeling with empathy, Assure them that you're going to go above an beyond to solve the issue they're having. This can be used throughout your life and it works wonderfully. I use it on my wife all the time and she still has no idea.
Quit taking it personally. That’s great piece of advice that the bosses should either learn or remind themselves of. A lot of these stories always seem to relate back to the employer receiving something personally as if you as a worker are robbing them or betraying them.
I feel like there’s a very open line where you can easily provide efficient feedback with no sugar counting that while might be “cold” simply gets to the point without getting into anybody’s feelings.
Just say what it is, how it is, don’t waste time on speaking in code and trying to dance around what you’re trying to say just say it. If it comes out wrong use more words to elaborate instead of either side jumping to conclusions.
I’ve had many talks where this was vital to actually get to the bottom of how the relationship between me the employee and my employer was anchored.
Where are we at? Are we cool? Are there problems? Where do I need to adjust? And a lot of it was stemming from the fact that the employer wouldn’t voice their concerns or speculations when they had them.
They’d let that doubt foster and develop personal suspicions till they would pull me aside and ask all these awkwardly worded questions out of nowhere when 99% of it could’ve been easily resolved with no issues right as those things occurred had the people above me not taken things personally or simply addressed any suspicions they couldn’t silence in their minds.
Idiotic and wastes a ton of time and only causes confusion relative to team dynamics and who you think you are cool with.
I like peers or supervisors who are focused on resolving an issue rather than pointing fingers. I have had several great individuals who might say "you/we screwed up, here is how… Let's do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again" clean cut. Whereas one person in particular has spent more time trying to find who to blame rather than simply trying to resolve the problem.
I remember an example of where he and I discovered an issue with something. We were each tasked to fix a section of it. He walked around trying to find who was to blame. Meanwhile, I fixed my section and most of his section. He came back pissed at me for nearly fixing all of it because 'I was making him look bad'. The supervisor said, "Why are you complaining? He is the problem resolved single handedly"