Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Eh, not really. Attention to the small things means there's attention being made to the big things.
Can't use a phrase correctly? Probably skimping on something that is a big deal...
That phrase completely ignores a concept called "task prioritization", in which a human makes a relative value judgment of different tasks and their potential impacts. That judgment allows each task to be given merit relative to both its overall impact on a situation AND the other tasks that are to be performed. Put simply, all tasks are not equal in importance or significance, and thereby failure to perform a particular task has a different impact depending on that importance.
In fact, task prioritization (and the judgment that allows pilots to task prioritize) is a core aspect of airmanship. This is a skill that pilots need, value, and practice on a daily basis. We judge and assign relative importance to tasks with every situation we encounter, and we act in accordance with that. We cannot/don't assign equal value to all required tasks, and perform them all with equal effort all the time.
So, no...just because you are skimping on the small stuff DOES NOT mean that you are also skimping on the big stuff. Wearing a non-standard belt with your airline uniform does not mean that you are also buzzing your home when your leg goes through your home town. Making a non-standard callout, or missing a standard callout, does not mean that you are also forgetting to perform the "before landing check".
There's a lot of General Patton leadership wisdom I admire, but this concept, unfortunately, is not one of them. In my experience as both a military officer and aviator, it is bollocks.
In big generalities, things that look pretty probably are pretty (e.g., if a pilot is doing the small things well, he's probably also doing the big things well), but to make it an absolute is ridiculous.