Building Tree Forts

When I was a child, it seemed that every kid in the neighborhood owned a few boards. I don't recall how this came about, but I seem to remember that we would beg our fathers for whatever scraps he had laying around.

During the summers we would often gather with our friends du jour and build some kind of tree fort. Most of these structures would surely be condemned by the local authorities, but being children we were unaware of the proper procedures to follow. But I digress.

Often we would spend the better part of the day "designing" and building our fort. And nearly as often, by the time the structure was complete a disagreement had erupted. It was not unusual for demolition to occur the same day as construction, as each of us took our lumber and went home, only to repeat the process a few days later.

In retrospect, the whole thing was silly for several reasons. One, we seldom got to enjoy our work for long. Two, I had one of the largest lumber supplies in the neighborhood and I should have exerted more authority over the proceedings. Three, you can only pound so many nails into a board before it becomes splintered and useless.

But a lesson was learned. On the rare occasions when everyone would cooperate for a prolonged period, we built some pretty fabulous forts. Well, they seemed fabulous to us at least. We would use the fort for a variety of purposes, such as hiding from the Indians who frequently attacked the neighborhood. Or, if the fort were perched among the lofty birch trees, we would use our position to lob various items at unsuspecting kids who were not "in" on that particular day.

As kids we could not get past our petty differences to see the benefits of working together. Instead, we would act like children (which I guess was appropriate) and stomp off, dragging a pile of 2"x4"s behind us. We all would have been better off to take a deep breath, talk about our dispute, and work together to our mutual benefit.

The same is true in our paint contracting business. As owners, we can easily fall into the mindset of "my way or the highway". While this makes for a pithy comment, it is seldom an effective way to build a business. That approach resulted in forts that did not last long. The same will happen to a business that adopts it.