Book Review: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

David and Goliath

Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: October 1, 2013

Pages: 320

     Malcolm Gladwell has produced another wonderful book of counter-intuitive thinking.  I marvel that all of his books seem to make so much sense and yet they scoff at the politically correct or majority opinion way of thinking.  

     In David and Goliath, Gladwell takes us on fascinating statistical surveys which underscore his main point which is that much of what we would normally perceive as hindrances or handicaps may actually be advantages.  From physical limitations to adverse socio-economic circumstances he shows us how many have been motivated by these life circumstances to become super successful.

     He opens the book by re-examining the fabled Old Testament story of David and Goliath.  While this story is traditionally understood as the classic example of the triumph of the underdog, Gladwell presents cogent reasoning to convince the reader that things aren't always the way they seem.  David, in Gladwell's vision, is actually the favorite in this lop-sided battle.  The author sums this premise:

"We have, I think, a very rigid and limited definition of what an advantage is. We think of things as helpful that actually aren't and think of other things as unhelpful that in reality leave us stronger and wiser."  (Page 20)

     He then uses multiple studies and statistical surveys to examine everything from sports to classroom size.  He introduces the concept of the "inverted U" phenomenon.  This refers to graphical analysis of data where at some point more of something produces the opposite of the desired effect.  There comes a point where there can indeed be too much of a good thing.  He applies this principle to wealth and states: "Wealth contains the seeds of its own destruction."  (Page 38)

     He then relates several more interesting stories.  The first tells of the Impressionists in France and their difficulty finding acceptance in the traditional Parisian art world.  The second is more contemporary and introduces a college student who went to an Ivy League school and couldn't finish in her field of choice because of the high level of competition.  The point of these stories according to the author is "that there are times and places where it is better to be a Big Fish in a Little Pond than a Little Fish in a Big Pond."  The Impressionists were successful because they operated outside of the expected behavior and the student would more likely have been able to pursue her original dreams in a less competitive environment.

     The next section of the book relates how many with handicaps defy odds and become successful.  Gladwell reasons that their handicap may actually be perceived as an advantage because of the psychological benefits of overcoming their handicap.  Their resolve may be the ticket to their achievement.

     The last three chapters deal with legitimacy of authority.  According to Gladwell, the principle of legitimacy relies on three principles.  First, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice.  Second, the law has to be predictable and, finally, the authority has to be fair.  He applies this test to several examples, including positive parenting, an effective police program in Queens, New York and military action against civilians in Northern Ireland.  He further explains that "when law is applied in the absence of legitimacy, it does not produce obedience.  It produces the opposite.  It leads to backlash."  The author then explores how this applies to misuse of power.  He spends a lot of time discussing the California "three strikes" law  and how the extension of prison sentences over a long period of time actually led to the opposite of the desired effect (lowered crime rates).  He has compelling explanations for this, again using his "inverted U" principle.  The logic is that the same strategies that work really well at first stop working past a certain point. He concludes with a story from Nazi occupied France.  This story illustrates his point that "the powerful are not as powerful as they seem - nor the weak as weak."  Gladwell points out that "the excessive use of force creates legitimacy problems, and force without legitimacy leads to defiance, not submission.

     Gladwell's books are always entertaining, well written and thought provoking.  I admire his contrarian view of the world.  Some may argue with his statistics and others may carp about his conclusions, but no one can claim that Mr. Gladwell is not an original thinker.  

Book Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date Published: November, 2008 (Hardcover)

Pages: 336 (Trade Paper)

“Outliers are those who have been given opportunities –

And have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

-          Malcolm Gladwell

     Malcolm Gladwell is a former business and science reporter for “The Washington Post” and is now a staff writer for “The New Yorker” magazine.  He has written many best-sellers including The Tipping Point and Blink.  He uses counter-intuitive logic to take new and different looks at our world and how humans interact.  In Outliers Gladwell uses both well-known and obscure stories to explain why certain individuals are super successful or become “outliers” – that is their performance deviates greatly from their cohort.

    

        In the opening chapters the author explains that sociologists feel that success is a result of what they call The Matthews Effect or “accumulative advantage.”  Most folks would feel that the biggest advantage a child could have would be being blessed with above average intelligence or ability. Gladwell contends that IQ is just a threshold and that “practical intelligence” (knowing how to say the right things, what’s appropriate behavior in certain situations, etc…) is just as important.  There are many other factors in play which determine if an individual is to become and “outlier”.  He uses the Canadian National Hockey team as an example of the advantage of birth date.  Because the cutoff birthday for the select youth hockey teams is arbitrarily set at January first, the teams tend to be stacked with kids born in the first few months of each year.  These kids are bigger and more physically mature than children born later in the year in their same grade level.  The players on the select teams then receive better coaching, play more games and eventually become the elite players that go on to receive college scholarships and even play professionally.  Gladwell backs up this contention with real data from the Canadian National Hockey team and the National Hockey League, showing that most of the players have birthdays in January, February or March!

    

     Gladwell then goes on to explain what he calls the “Ten Thousand Hour Rule.”  He contends that in order to perform any skill at the highest “outlier” level, an individual must practice his craft for at least ten thousand hours.  He notes how hard that is to accomplish, not only from a personal commitment standpoint, but also from an opportunity level.  Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time for those ten thousand hours to be attainable.  He uses two examples of this rule coming into play.  The first is Bill Gates, who happened to go to a high school where a “personal computer station” was available  and through family connections was able to access computers at the University of Washington to further hone his passion for software design.  By the time he was a young adult he had his ten thousand hours of computer experience under his belt when none of his contemporaries came even close.  Another fascinating example of this the author uses is The Beatles.  In the late 1950s The Beatles were just one of hundreds of young British bands playing clubs and getting by.  They were hired to play bars in the red light district of Hamburg where they were forced to play eight to ten hours a day, seven days per week.  After several stays in Hamburg, The Beatles had their ten thousand performance hours and rose above their contemporaries in their ability and stage presence.

     

     The author does not neglect the influence of cultural and socio-economic class difference.  He notes that there are different parenting approaches to education.  He expounds on the fact that middle and upper class parents practice a style of “concerned cultivation” of their children, generally being very involved in the child’s education and often extending the learning process at home.  The poorer class tends to utilize a style of “accomplishment of natural growth”, tending to leave the education of their children to the schools themselves and being more “hands off” in their approach.   

    

     Gladwell uses the last half of the book to delve into the factor of cultural influence.  He studies a group of Jewish lawyers who were all born in the era of The Great Depression.  Their parents were all immigrants with strong work ethic who worked exceedingly hard to succeed in the garment industry in New York.  These young men did not have the cultural advantages of their non-Jewish peers, went to lesser law schools (being denied admission to the Ivies because of their ethnicity and religion) and took work that the bigger established firms felt were beneath them.  This work involved corporate mergers and take overs, work the larger firms wouldn’t touch.  Along came the 1970s when these men were approaching their most productive years and the laws changed and corporate work became very important and lucrative.  These lawyers were in the position of having the most experience and over the next several decades prospered greatly, becoming the legal “outliers” of their generation.  Gladwell notes that these men were indeed lucky AND they helped themselves through the rigid work ethic they learned from observing their parents.  “Luck is winning the lottery.  They were given an opportunity and they seized it.”