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There is an old quote, old for me at least, old because it goes back to my student years, it was a usefull quote:

“Culture is what is left when you have forgotten everything.”

In fact, i have even forgotten who wrote this.

First you learn, then you understand, then only you know. What is taught should make you understand, the lesson has no value in itself, its value resides in what you get from it. From a teacher, from the books, or from life, knowledge is what is left in yourself, the progress accomplished in the structure of the brain. What you remember is only worth if it has created a change in the way you think, act, adapt, live in the world.

When we started the 3 Elephants project, we were technically as unprepared as one can be. In a way it was a chance, maybe the necessary condition for success. We had no rules to break, no preconceived ideas to give up. How to do business in India, how to build, how to manage the climate or the people, i don’t think we could have been prepared. The page was white, but ready, willing, to be filled. We knew this at least, that we had to learn, and understand on the way, on the field.

To our guests curious about our story, we often confess that we were inconscious, that if we had known before we’d probably have given up the project. We had no plan, but a dream. A plan faces the risk of failure. A plan carefully crafted in Paris would have exploded, or rather melted, under the Indian sun. A plan is rigid, it can break. a dream is shapeless. A dream is like a shapeless wave of desire, unstoppable if big enough.

We had no plan, and left with no way back. We sold our flat, burned the professional bridges. As they say, failure has never been an option. So we succeded.

Don’t wait to be ready, nobody ever is. Act. We had a dream and a white page…