One of the most valuable lessons I have learned at Ford AV came from our CEO, Mr. Ford, who says it often enough that it has become part of how our team thinks: run toward the problem.
When something goes wrong on a project, the instinct is almost always to wait. We wait for more information, or for a clean solution, or simply for the moment when making the call feels less uncomfortable. But waiting rarely improves the situation, and it usually makes the eventual conversation harder than it needed to be.
Running toward the problem means calling the customer early, letting them explain the situation fully, and staying receptive even when the first version you hear is frustrating or incomplete. It means getting the facts and then working the issue alongside them rather than retreating until you have everything figured out.
A problem you move toward while it is still small is usually a problem you can shape. A problem you avoid tends to grow into one that shapes you instead.
I have come to believe that none of us get better on our own. We grow by standing on the shoulders of the people who took the time to teach us, and this is one of the lessons I am most grateful to have been given. It has held up on small projects and on the most complex ones I have been part of.
So when something goes wrong, resist the urge to wait. Run toward the problem.