The Lair

The Chief Exec of Wipro technologies is moving into the VC business. The news link is here. While this wouldn’t be anything significant on the radar ordinarily, an interview with the person in question, Vivek Paul, had an interesting quote.

Paul was curious why an elephant tied to a small stake in the ground did not yank it up and be on its way. The animal’s handler explained that baby elephants tied to similar stakes learn they can’t break free. As elephants grow older and stronger, they don’t test the stake again–thereby remaining trapped by what should be an obsolete restraint.

Cool. I didn’t know that, but it certainly makes sense. The puny iron chains I’ve seen don’t look like they’re capable of restraining many elephants either. Now, here’s my take. Remember that whole deal with an elephant never forgetting ? Ah. There is a downside to this, as is apparent by this story. Forget your screwups from time to time, because a retry may yield better results. Things change. A long memory for failures sometimes hinders the best course of action.

But I still like Homer Simpson’s quote best.

Trying is the first step to failure
(Homer (to Bart): Well son, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.)