Good Morning,
At our condo development, we were, recently, dealing with a section of concrete sidewalk that had become about an inch higher than the rest of the sidewalk and, therefore, a tripping hazard. Several years earlier, this had happened and the problem was solved by grinding the joint so there was a gradual taper rather than a sharp drop. We were told: "Problem solved." Was it?
Not on your live. This year it happened again and the initial thought was to grind it once more. Each time it was ground, the slab got thinner and thinner. We decided, instead, to tear out the raised section of concrete. Lo and behold, there were several large diameter roots coming from a tree about 20 feet away, actually beginning to go under the building, itself.
- Symptom = raised sidewalk.
- Problem = large root continuing to grow and raise the sidewalk.
Many of life’s situations, both business and personal are quite similar. The obvious is only the symptom of a deeper problem. We can implement the, usually, cheaper quicker fix on the symptom but the problem does not go away. It just springs up at a later date or in some other place, many times, worse than ever.
Let’s all do our best to dig a little deeper, locate the problem and fix the problem once and for all rather than jumping on the symptom, doing a quick fix, only to regret it later. As a saying we had when I was in charge of a maintenance operation at GM: “DO IT RIGHT, NOT OVER.”
Be a problem solver even if it takes a little more work and a little more time.
Jim
