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David and Goliath (Book Review)

Andrew

Publishing

Agate Studio

Book Review

3000 years ago on battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and every since the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants.

• David’s sling is a devastating weapon • Medical experts believe that Goliath

was suffering from acromegaly

THE ADVANTAGES OF DISADVANTAGES

Ranadive led twelve years old team consists of two serious basketball players and six girls who had never played the game to national basketball championships.

Which do you think is better, school with larger or smaller number of students in their class? A class with 30 students or a class with 9 students?

Big pond or small pond? Brown University vs University of Maryland

DESIRABLE DIFFICULTY

David Boies was born with dyslexia. Now, he perhaps the nation's most highly acclaimed and sought-after attorney.

BUSINESS LESSON

Source: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131002224632-80844253-5-critical-businesses-lessons-from-malcolm-gladwell-s-new-book

Use Your Competitor’s Success Against Them

According to Gladwell, “it is good to be bigger and stronger than your opponent. It is not so good to be so big and strong that you are a sitting duck for a rock fired at 150 miles per hour.”

Never Forget the “Principle of Legitimacy”

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was in a tough situation during the recession. But with a mission statement to “inspire and nurture the human spirit” of the customer, how could Shultz justify not doing the same for his employees? How could he expect his baristas and store managers to put people over profits, if he couldn’t do the same? Schultz had to decide between his short-term economic interests and his long-held beliefs. He kept the benefits.

Never Mistake Size for Power

In the battle against giants like Amazon and Walmart, Zappos was powerful in it’s own right—not because it was the biggest company, but because it found strength in other forms: by it’s ability to take bigger risks, by shattering industry conventions, by wowing customers with unrivaled customer service. Just like Gladwell writes in his book, “Power can come in other forms as well - in breaking rules, in substituting speed and surprise for strength.” Just because your competition is bigger than you, doesn’t make them more powerful.

Choose to be a Big Fish in a Little Pond

Entrepreneur Elon Musk said, “I recommend that people consider arenas outside of the Internet.” Instead of starting another Internet company like most entrepreneurs, Musk entered fields in which few people are crazy enough to venture to: a rocket ship company (SpaceX) and an electric sports car company (Tesla).

Your Visible Disadvantage Is Actually Your Hidden Mega-Advantage

"I never felt like a victim," director Steven Spielberg said of his dyslexia in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Spielberg channeled his disadvantage into an advantage by honing his skill of visual storytelling. "Movies really helped me... kind of saved me from shame, from guilt... Making movies was my great escape." Other dyslexics such as Richard Branson had to make up for his disadvantage by honing his verbal communication skills and charisma. What was once his biggest disadvantage eventually led to his biggest mega-advantage.

Thank You!