How David Beats Goliath
Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite non-fiction writers. In this article he makes some very interesting observations about how little guys “Davids” can overcome the big guys “Goliaths”. In the article he points out:
“David’s victory over Goliath, in the Biblical account, is held to be an anomaly. It was not. Davids win all the time. The political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft recently looked at every war fought in the past two hundred years between strong and weak combatants. The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 per cent of the cases.”
One of the examples he gives is an analysis of a girls basketball team that, without much talent, nearly won the championship based on, of all things, superior effort. Simply working harder than their opposition was their secret weapon.
Now for success in life, of course, it is a bit more complicated than just working harder, but, according to Gladwell, not as much as you might think. According to him, superior effort applied continuously is the key to success. I think he makes a compelling case.
Check it out and let me know what you think.