Have you ever considered that what society dictates to be weakness could in fact be a strength?Every now and then we need our world to be tipped upside down to make us realize that perhaps we actually haven’t quite figured it all out yet.
Have you ever considered that what society dictates to be weakness could in fact be a strength?Every now and then we need our world to be tipped upside down to make us realize that perhaps we actually haven’t quite figured it all out yet.
Perhaps we have had it all wrong.
Perhaps our weaknesses are our strengths.
Three thousand years ago in battle a shepherd boy brought down a powerful warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling.
Ever since this event the names of David and Goliath have been used to explain battles between underdogs and giants in business and in personal lives.
The story of David and Goliath is said to be an unbelievable one, often referred to as a miracle.
Over the years society has developed the general assumption that David shouldn’t have won – or should he have?
Malcolm Gladwell in his latest novel, David & Goliath, Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants takes the reader through multifaceted ways by which the seemed-to-be weak can conquer the seemed-to-be strong, using various examples.
Gladwell guides the reader through the traditional story of David and Goliath explaining that Goliath was in fact the vulnerable one in the story.
Goliath’s grand stature made him clumsy and would have warranted him medically half-blind.
As Gladwell says, Goliath had as much chance against David as a man with a sword would have against someone armed with a .45 automatic handgun.
Gladwell uses practical narratives matched with provocative academic literature to demonstrate that the strong are often surprisingly weak but people who seem weak can turn out to be surprisingly strong.
As an example, Gladwell asks the reader if you would ever wish dyslexia on your child (probably not) and examines David Boies, a well-known American lawyer, who attributes his success to his dyslexia.
His difficulty reading is said to have forced Mr. Boies to compensate by developing skills of observation and memory which he found to be useful in the courtroom.
The story of Mr. Boies makes the reader realize that hard work despite what society might consider a setback can actually make you come out the stronger one.
It is stories such as this (and there are many in the book) that make the reader realize that how we think about our disadvantages and how we interpret these disadvantages or setbacks can make all the difference.
If you're in need of some new year's motivation, this book comes highly recommended.
David & Goliath, Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell
ISBN: 9781846145827
Price: R255.00
Rating: 4/5
Published: Penguin Books October 2013
