David and Goliath

Brett M. Nelson - Tuesday, March 28, 2017

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell takes an interesting look at what is considered a benefit and what it a weakness. Through out the book Gladwell describes traits or situation that cause individuals to grow skill set to address their needs that later in life were put to advantage in unconventional ways.

Overall

One of the main themes in David and Goliath is that traits generally accepted as disadvantages: smaller size, less know college school, unorganized formal military to name a few, may under the proper circumstances be more advantages than their counterpart taits. In the case of David Vs Goliath the size and strength of the "giant" didn't come into play because David didn't enter close range combat. Graduate students who graduated at the top of class in what may be considered a lesser know school produce more research papers than those who graduated in the lower half of the class from more well known schools. When 2 nations go to war and one is considerably smaller than the other, if the smaller nation uses unconventional tactics the chance of the smaller nation being considered the victor is over 60% versus the <30% it is if the smaller nation followed conventional tactics.

These are some of the examples that are given in David and Goliath, obviously Gladwell is a more engaging writer and I suggest you read it if you haven't already.

What do You Think?

Already read David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants? What did you think about it? Let me know by leaving a comment below or emailing brett@wipdeveloper.com.