Underdogs’ Triumph: Linking ‘David and Goliath’ to ‘Small Change’

The Core of "David and Goliath"

David and Goliath Malcolm Gladwell In “David and Goliath,” by Malcolm Gladwell, he tells the hidden facts referenced in the biblical story of a giant and a shepherd boy. To begin, Gladwell focuses the book on the likelihood of uncertain events occurring in situations where one outcome is greatly preferred over the other. David and Goliath engage in individual case studies and comparisons in order to provide a wide range of examples where major disadvantages can turn out to be the keys to David’s’ triumph against Goliath-like opponents or circumstances.

As stated in the Biblical version of David and Goliath, ‘underdogs’ are cast as those battling and mastering pre-fused odds, and giants tend to be their rivals. In Chapter 1 of “David and Goliath,” the main message was to figure out one’s weakness and convert it in order to find one’s greatest advantages. Gladwell proved this by using Vivek Randivé and his daughter’s basketball team.

His lack of experience was his great weakness. I was confused at first about what this meant, but looking back at the text, it makes sense now. After he realized what his weakness was, Randivé decided to organize a full-court press, resulting in a victory for the “underdogs” because they thought outside of the box by using outside strategic strategies. In my opinion, I thought this was pretty smart because the other players were so used to them playing a certain way and not knowing what they were capable of doing, thus resulting in a win.

Gladwell's Diverse Analyses

Secondly, Gladwell examines and analyzes the upside-down parabola in order to describe the connection between having too much of something and not having enough. He links this belief to class sizes by stating that schools around the United States brag about smaller class sizes so that it can allow for more student-teacher interaction. Either way, disadvantages can come from this situation regardless since there tends to be less discussion due to the lack of diversity when there are fewer students in a classroom and vice versa. I was surprised that I understood where Gladwell was coming from. I just don’t know exactly how to explain it, but the idea of comparing a parabola with the advantages and disadvantages of “having too much” and “not having enough” proves how far Gladwell went in order to get someone to think like never before.

Gladwell then starts out by talking about French Impressionist painters and proceeds to mention that every artist had one goal, which was to “get into the Salon,” - which forces artists to abide by what the Salon believed was real art, thus resulting in artists being forced to become the little fish in the big pond. I feel like people, in general, are allowed to decide what they believe regardless of certain standards set by society. It got to the point where some artists got sick of obeying and decided to create their own Salon with paintings that most likely wouldn’t have made it into the Salon. This idea made me think about how being “a little fish in a big pond” can include benefits for oneself, such as identifying how one can improve and grow from understanding what is available in life.

Personal Challenges and Overcoming Them

He talks about how tragic events can often lead to success because the victim involved learns to persevere and continue. Personally, I believe good things can come from the bad because we all tend to make mistakes and learn from certain events that happened to us. As Gladwell states, “It is possible to emerge from even the darkest hell healed and restored.” Gladwell also explains the effects of dyslexia, the inability to read and comprehend text, on an individual.

I’m actually astonished that Gladwell mentioned the topic of dyslexia because I’ve never read where an author mentions a topic like this and compares it to the ‘underdog.” This makes me think about how people diagnosed with dyslexia may react to his text and his opinions on it. He states that in most situations, in order to be successful in the world, one has to be able to do everything better than one’s competitor.

I believe one has to realize one’s weakness and make it one’s strength in order to be better and grow. Overall, ‘David and Goliath’ by Malcolm Gladwell has shown and proved that hardships can toughen people in order to improve and make them progress. Throughout this book, Gladwell effectively states his thoughts and ideas and has his readers “think outside the box.” I personally thought quite hard in order to understand Gladwell’s purpose of writing. It was very interesting and well-thought-out.

References

• Gladwell, M. (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits, and the art of battling giants. Little, Brown and Company.

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