(Lessons learned from reading Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the art of battling Giants)

Although the story of David and Goliath has become a metaphor for improbable victory; underdogs win all the time and so can you.

This article is for:

• Anyone aspiring to Be More

•Anyone who has ever felt like they are not enough (smart enough, tall enough, slim enough, rich enough, black enough white enough or any of the other enoughness that clouds the truth of who we are)

• those that dare to believe that there is something within them that is greater than their circumstance.

• This article is for the ‘so called’ Underdog. I say ‘so called’ because you know as well as your creator that there is NOTHING under about you.

This is a guide for Underdogs on how to take advantage of your disadvantages.

Top 4 Things you should know about David’s and Goliaths of the world.

1.       Goliath is not always the giant he thinks he is. One of the things about the Goliaths of the world is that they frequently over-estimate their ability. While the David’s of the world tend to under-estimate theirs. Goliath’s over estimation is as much a disability as it is a strength. So much of the giants strength lies in the disbelief of your own. The more the giants of your world are able to convince you of your inferiority the bigger they become and the smaller you shrink.

 2.      Don’t be afraid to be an Unknown, Unknown for a little while. This can work in your favorite as you go through you growing pains. Because you know, you won’t be unknown forever. There is an advantage to not being seen as a threat. Because the giants never see ‘the little guy’ as a threat (s)he can develop a weapon more formidable than any Giant has ever seen. Then emerge unexpected with skills and abilities that none of the giants have prepared for. Giants, typically keep their eye on other giants and in doing so they learn and sharpen defenses against them. However because you were never considered formidable they never built up safe-guards against your unique strengths. I remember when we all first learned of an African-American man name Barack Obama running for president against some of the usual suspects. Oh, sure now that we know better it’s hard for us to see him as an underdog now. He had countless strikes against him in this pursuit. Even with the possibility of Hillary Clinton being the first female; Barack was still considered the underdog of underdogs. The difference between Hillary and Obama is she was a known underdog and one with known advantages. She was a known unknown. Barack Obama was an unknown unknown. Unknown, unknown are something nearly impossible to plan for.

 

3. We tend to miscalculate and mislabel advantages. 

The top 3 ways in which we tend to miscalculate advantages:

a. Size: We typically think the bigger the better. There are several examples in life where this is not always the case.  The larger the presence the quicker your mistakes go viral.  Larger organizations and personalities tend to be less personal and hands on. There is value in the fact that people can access you more readily than some others. You can easily understand them. You are also more relatable.   In most cases larger says organizations are not as flexible and are unable to move as quickly to keep up in a constantly changing environment. Organizations smaller in size have more maneuverability. You ever notice how even though Hummers are bigger than VW beetles. They have their disadvantages. They use more gas, they are more of a challenge to maneuver and it’s harder to find a place to park them. As the old saying goes the bigger you are the harder you fall.

b. Wealth: He who has the most money wins…. Or do they? What good is any resources if you don’t know how to properly leverage it? Wealth in proud and arrogant hands contain the seeds of its own destruction. Money Giants often lose perspective and underestimate the hard work and determination that make underdogs a threat. There is also a point of diminishing return where having more does not increase Goliath’s power. The kinds of things we associate with wealth; quality, prestige and value are often time misplaced. How many times have we spent more money on something and have not gotten more value or quality. Sometimes those with less monies are more creative with their resources, because they have to be. Overtime they build a strong innovation, negotiation and problem solving muscle that the wealthy sometime have loss along the way. With those skills they are able to maneuver out of situations that money can’t buy.

c. Education: Education is readily available to David’s and Goliaths alike. So the same information that Goliath has access to is the same information that David has access to. Determined Davids are just a few Google clicks a-way from an Intellectual Goliath.

4. What David thinks of his ability is more important than any circumstance. Relative Deprivation, this occurs when impressions are formed locally as oppose too globally. Our sense of how much of an underdog we are is relative to the Goliath that we are comparing ourselves to. This matters because how well you do is directly related to how well you think you’ll do. When there is little or no confidence in ability this reduces the likelihood that you will make certain attempts. In some cases we are only underdogs by our comparison to giants. We underestimate our ability.

Rethink advantages and disadvantages. Power comes in several forms, intelligence, passion, charisma, work ethic etc. When we look at power in limited terms it closes us off from not only our own personal strength but also the weaknesses of our opponent. There are places where innovation and community gives you a creative freedom that causes the world to stand up and take notice.

Posted by Rasheem on Wednesday, January 8th, 2014 @ 4:34PM
Categories: Latest Post, Uncategorized