David and Goliath, the Tortoise and the Hair, The Little Engine that Could... these are the stories we grew up with that spoke to us about overcoming the odds. As if somehow learning as a child that overcoming the odds was not only possible it was a good thing. When you're a kid with nothing to lose you might dream big…”This only goes to show what little people can do” to quote from the Musical Les Misérables. As we grew older we understood more deeply just how impossible overcoming the odds can be. To truly overcome the odds the reality of the “Kobayashi Maru Scenario” sets in. From Star Trek the Kobyashi Maru Scenario is the no-win scenario that cadets going through Starfleet Academy must face. Only one cadet ever won the Kobayashi Maru Scenario. That’s would be Captain James T. Kirk. How did he win? He cheated. OK, for the most part, these “David and Goliath” tales of youth are fictional. Enter Malcolm Gladwell and his forth is a series of winning titles starting with “The Tipping Point”, “Blink”, and then “Outliers”. Now Mr. Gladwell brings us “David and Goliath -- Underdogs, Misfits, and the art of Battling Giants”. He’s not coining a new phrase as he did with his other books. We all know the story of David and Goliath and we know it’s about doing something that ought not be possible. Except instead of fiction, Mr. Gladwell brings us a series of real life accounts of underdogs prevailing against the mountain of odds stacked against them. These are real life David and Goliath stories as only Mr. Gladwell can tell them... deep, compelling, and expertly told...his trademark. How did these underdogs prevail? In some sense they cheated. As Capt Kirk would say, “He changed the rules”. In all cases it’s about seeking advantage from the strengths you have, versus trying to capitalize on the traditional strengths that you will never have. And no matter how hard you wish for it, the odds will forever, not be in your favor. If you're a Hunger Games fan. So changing the rules of the game is always necessary. Only after the fact can one judge whether the ends justified the means…and that’s a slippery ethical slope.
These real life “David and Goliath” stories stand well on their own, overcoming dyslexia, winning with a full court press in basketball, defeating childhood leukemia, prevailing in the race struggle in Birmingham Alabama, and outwitting the Nazi’s in Vichy France. And Mr. Gladwell brings them to us with epic and sometimes heart wrenching prose...tears were streaming down my face at least twice. He brings to us a different perspective on what’s necessary to win...and if an underdog does win, look closely, there’s something else going on, and then sometimes...winning big might mean ultimately losing. This is where his attempt to bring too many stories together...with a single logical thread...seems to break down. Is he trying to say if you're an underdog you should cheat? Is he trying to say, maybe, we shouldn’t win? That’s harder to tease out. The main premise however is that If you’ve grown up an underdog you have a hidden strength you can exploit...just because you’ve survived the adversity that makes you an underdog you must have some strength in you. And this is definitely inspiring. Sadly, many more underdogs don’t survive to be those underdogs...and those overwhelming numbers don’t show up in the text...but they must be huge. We only hear about the underdogs that win. David was the big winner and he rose to become a king. We don’t hear about he David’s that lost...and I can assure you there are many more of those out there...countless Davids have lost.
So in the end, Mr. Gladwell gives us something interesting to read, stories to tell, and true to his journalistic form, an extremely well written book. But he hasn’t given us the same game changing insights he brought forth in his earlier three works. This is only a must read for his fans, so I can’t give it 5 stars. And it is nowhere near the same book that is “The Tipping Point”, “Blink”, or “Outliers” so I will deduct another star. Three stars for “David and Goliath”, Mr. Gladwell may have reached a “Slipping Point” of his own. I hope he can recover.
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