Gladwell also compares stories of parents after horrific murders of their children. The book uses historic known examples of the limits of strength during the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Northern Ireland and during the civil rights movement in the United States. Understanding that strength has its limitations is a key aspect of understanding our challenges. Gladwell makes the case that strength can be overused and eventually will result in diminishing returns. The third part of David and Goliath exposes the limits of strength. In the same manner, Gladwell opines that each of our difficulties can be desirable and our giants defeated if we turn them into strengths. Examples include the development of extraordinary memory skills to compensate for dyslexia, an uncommon self-reliance that results from the loss of a parent, and an entire country that finds inspiration from the survival of continuous bombing attacks. The second segment focuses on the importance of “desired difficulties.” Gladwell describes desired difficulties as challenges that people are forced to face that initially discourage them.Īlthough these difficulties can have devastating effects, if one can learn to adapt and overcome the challenges, the capabilities they develop often prove to be advantageous. Whereas, the smaller and apparently inferior approach can be an advantage when the rules of engagement are changed in the same way that David changed them against Goliath. He then aptly illustrates how the very strength of a traditional approach can become a disadvantage because of the inherent constraints. Gladwell uses historical examples of paradigms of strength and prestige that would be considered a giant against a lesser opponent. The first segment of the book analyzes the advantages of disadvantages and the disadvantages of advantages in a number of contexts from military battles to basketball and from Ivy League college to Parisian art societies. Society tells us that, because Goliath was big and David was small, David was an underdog however, because David was the underdog, he was able to change the rules of engagement and use his strengths (and maybe a little providence) to defeat his Goliath and save a nation. Slingers had the same deadly effect as a modern handgun with pinpoint accuracy. Gladwell explains that David was really at an advantage because he was a trained type of soldier called a slinger. We see David as an underdog because of our lens the same lens with which we view our own everyday Goliaths. Goliath was advantaged because he was battle-tested, strong, and fierce, while David was a shepherd boy, who slew the giant by a miracle from God. The book centers on the ultimate underdog story of David and Goliath and the parallels of that ancient battle in our modern life. Too many books for your bookshelf? You may need an e-reader.
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