The Landmines You Don’t See: How Smart People Get Taken Out at Work

Most career landmines don’t come with warning signs. They don’t look like a bad move at the time. And that’s exactly why people keep stepping on them.

In the last post, we talked about Charlie Munger’s rule: Don’t make big mistakes.
Now, let’s go deeper—because some mistakes are obvious, but others? They’re silent landmines.

These are the things that smart, well-intentioned people step on, thinking they’re doing the right thing… only to find themselves sidelined, overlooked, or even pushed out.

Most career landmines don’t come with warning signs. They don’t look like a bad move at the time. And that’s exactly why people keep stepping on them.

If you want to survive—and thrive—long-term, here’s what to watch out for.

Photo by JK Sloan on Unsplash

Landmine #1: The Hero Trap

Most engineers fall for this at some point.

You see a high-visibility, all-hands-on-deck crisis. A system is down. Leadership is in panic mode. You dive in, you work nights, you fix the thing, and you expect to be rewarded.

And at first, you are. People thank you. Your manager acknowledges your effort.

Then, a few things happen:

• You become the default firefighter – Congrats, you just signed up for a lifetime of getting called at 2 AM.

• You never get credit for prevention – The guy who kept the system from failing in the first place? No one noticed him. But he’s playing the smarter game.

• You get blamed when the next fire happens – If you own the fix, you own the next failure. And there’s always a next failure.

How It Sounds in Real Life:

🚨 Before the landmine:
VP: “This is a disaster. We need someone who can jump in right now and get this fixed.”
You: “I’ll take care of it. I’ll stay up all night if I have to.”

💥 After the landmine (a month later):
VP: “How did this happen again? Weren’t you the one who fixed it last time?”
You: “Uh… yeah, but—”
VP: “Then why wasn’t this prevented?”

🚩 Avoid this by:

• Stepping in strategically, not emotionally.

• Making sure the root cause gets fixed—so you don’t own permanent firefighting duty.

• Letting leadership see that while you can handle crises, your real value is in preventing them.

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Landmine #2: Being Too Honest About Office Politics

A lot of smart people have this belief: “I don’t play politics.”

That’s adorable.

Politics exists whether you acknowledge it or not. Ignoring it doesn’t mean you’re above it—it means you’re unprepared.