Sometimes you cannot with any degree of certainty determine if someone is really telling you the whole truth, so you need to create a situation that will force the other party to reveal themselves.
In the book How to Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors discuss how David Lee Roth of Van Halen used a simple trick to determine if a concert venue really read the entire technical and security specifications the band provided. Their live show involved a huge set with lots of heavy equipment and specific power requirements. These were needed to pull off all their special effects, but they could kill someone if not configured and set up properly. Because of this danger, it was important that each concert venue read the touring contract, including the technical and security specs, very thoroughly.
In the touring contract was a typical food and beverage requirement that included chips, pretzels, M&Ms, and so on. However, David Lee Roth included a warning that said “Absolutely no brown M&Ms”. When the band showed up they would make a beeline backstage and check to see if there were any brown M&Ms. If there were, they knew that the concert venue didn’t read the touring contract thoroughly. That meant every aspect of the show needed to be double checked.
How can you incorporate the use of simple tricks to determine if people are being totally truthful with you?
