From a couple weeks back, Seth Godin talks about “solving problems (vs identifying them”. He talks about how we can be hesitant to identify problems when we might not be able to solve it. And that it can seem easier (or feel better) to avoid the whole mess by ignoring it. That way we don’t have to deal with the awkwardness of not knowing how to solve the problems.
Another side of this discussion is where we can be all too eager to point out problems … but only to complain about them. To me, that is the bigger (or at least more common) issue. We settle for complaining about things and talking about how someone sure ought be doing something about all these problems.
In both instances we miss the opportunity. We need the courage and discipline to honestly assess the situation, identify the real (and oftentimes big) problems, and then commit ourselves to the hard work of taking real action towards crafting solutions.