Mentoring Questions > > Being a Problem Solver
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Being a Problem Solver
A friend in New York had on his wall a sign reading :”Problems are my business and business is very good.” Many years ago I was complaining about the problems of running a business when someone said, “If there were no problems, then they would have schoolboys running it.”
Maybe it is good to define a problem. A problem is something I can do something about --- it I can do nothing it, it is not a problem for me; it is a fact of life. This is a bit of personal philosophy which has kept me from spinning a lot of wheels over a lot of things I cannot change.
Executives are oriented to solving problems. This sometimes makes them appear critical. Occasionally I try to solve the problems for my wife in the kitchen. This doesn’t solve problems; it creates problems. The average executive sees what is wrong rather than what is right simply because he is a problem-solver. Sam Buchanan put it this way, “A perfectionist is a man who has a general impression of what is good, but a specific impression of bad.”
The imagination to work out a solution and the courage to apply the solutions are necessary for successful living.
Where have you confused problem and fact of life? Work on clarifying this week.
