How David Beats Goliath

How David Beats Goliath

In the article, Gladwell starts with the case of a basketball. In the game, the Redwood City team used a strategy revolving around two deadlines that all the basketball teams should meet so as to advance the ball. The second deadline required the team advancing the ball towards the mid-court to the opponent’s half within ten seconds. 

The girls took advantage of the two deadlines through adopting the full court press strategy and preventing their opponents from catching inbound pass and also trapping the opponent that caught the inbound pass so as she cannot meet the second deadline (Gladwell, 2009). The article is good as it teaches how to overcome struggles in our lives and what advantages can come from disadvantages.

A lesson learned from the article is that the underdog can devise strategies, which can boost the odds of winning although it can not necessarily lead to the victorious outcome. Something also learned is that it is possible to improve the odds of victory through effort. For instance, the full court press strategy that Ranadives and Pitino adopted required high fitness levels that would only be achieved through fitness and conditioning (Gladwell, 2009). Lawrence was able to lead his troop across the desert which was only possible through considerable effort to cross. At most times, we normally tell ourselves that the skill is the previous resource, and the effort is a commodity. However, it is the other way round where the effort may trump ability because relentless effort is something that is rare than the ability to engage in finely tuned act of motor coordination.

In business, there are many challenges. I believe that at times, I will face competitors with superior size, resources, and strengths. However, my plan so as to achieve victory will be to wage an unconventional battle, outwork my opponent, and not fear any social disapproval. In the fight between David and Goliath, the incredible accuracy of David with the sling was not a match for enormous and slow body of Goliath. The strength that David had come from his ability to break down the assumption of the battle that size equals power (Gladwell, 2009). Just because a person looks like an underdog, there is more to the situation that what others see.

Something else that I will apply to my work is never to mistake size for power. In business, I will not be afraid of size, but consider the power that is to me and focuses on finding strengths in other forms and my ability to take bigger risks. Power can come in many forms, and because something might appear to be bigger than me, it does not make them more powerful.  There are many lessons learned in this article that can apply in my life. My plan is never to try hid my difficulty, but make sure that I deal with it. As Gladwell says, most successful people have dyslexia, but they have managed to be successful, mostly because of dealing with their difficulty. Gladwell says that what one learns out of necessity is inevitably more powerful than learning that comes in an easy manner. Therefore, my plan is to consider identifying my shortcomings and determine a way in how to change it and become my greatest strength. With this information, it is easy to identify my disadvantage and determine how to benefit from it.

Reference

Gladwell, M (2009). How David Beats Goliath. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in research paper services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for professional research proposal writing services.