Commit first

In an arranged marriage, two strangers first commit to being life partners. They then try and figure out how to live together and raise a family.

In our era of individualism, arranged marriages are a paradox. You will find it hard to propose a more preposterous idea.

One cannot say if arranged marriages are more successful than ones that aren’t. But that some of them work should cause us to wonder what enables this. One reason is because they put commitment first. The partners commit to spending their lives together and then fit in the other parts of their lives around this commitment – their jobs, their dietary preferences, their temperaments and their life’s priorities.

Several arranged marriages fail. Yet, for the ones that succeed against the odds, the commitment that comes up front serves as the center-of-gravity for the couple to orient the rest of their lives around.

Most of our projects have lower stakes than a marriage does. Starting with a firm commitment enables them to defy odds and primes them for success.