The First Mistake Was Not Technical

Many international projects look for problems in logistics.

Or in the budget.

Or in management.

In reality, however, things sometimes fall apart much earlier.

I have seen projects fail not because funding disappeared, but because of a seemingly insignificant mistake —

nobody understood who needed to be greeted first.

This may sound like a small detail only in societies where relationships have been reduced to formality.

But there are places where greeting is not simply etiquette.

It is the recognition of a social map.

Of power.

Of dignity.

Of the local order.

And if you cannot read that order, you often cannot understand the project itself.

Author

Vakhtang Imerlishvili

Strategic Analyst | Cultural & Diplomatic Observer