Elephant in the room

Ignoring a problem never makes it go away.  While this fact of life is seemingly obvious too many people, it still remains a fact of life for many in leadership.  You will never solve a problem at work, or your home, unless you take the time properly understand it and address it.  A seasoned warehouse general manager was recently given aggressive deadlines to address quality defects occurring in the shipping process.  Hoping to move quickly and show initiative, he did not take the time to properly understand what happened.  His days quickly became mired in daily firefighting that extended his daily hours at work by more than 3 hours. 

Any issue can be solved.  The longer an elephant in the room goes ignored, the resources needed to solve the problem will increase.  The emotional toll that the process takes on you will increase as well.