“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw
The legend of David and Goliath never made sense to me until I read the version as told by Malcolm Gladwell. First, let’s take a closer look at Goliath.
According to Gladwell, Goliath was indeed a giant, who also moved extremely slowly. Add to that, the 100 pounds of armor he wore. There are medical experts who believe that Goliath was suffering from acromegaly, a hormone imbalance that causes a human to grow to an extraordinary size. If that was the case, Goliath’s vision was most likely impaired as well.
How about David? Yes, David was small in stature, but he was an accomplished “slinger” and could target and strike large beasts from great distances. Light on his feet, David could move unsuspectingly on a target and still win an attack from far away.
For all these years, humanity has been made to think that David, the underdog, was shown favor by God and defeated Goliath, the heavy favorite. In actuality, Goliath had no chance to win. God favored David by helping him discern a better strategy. The fight was over before it ever began.
Changing the game
David won because he played an entirely different game than Goliath. If David had fought Goliath as tradition stated, one warrior against another in hand-to-hand combat, he would have lost.
And this is what happens to almost every entrepreneur dreaming an idea. Entrepreneurs, whether bootstrapped or funded, have literally no resources compared to the large enterprises with which they are competing.
How Entrepreneurs Can Conquer Goliath with Content Marketing [Announcing Content Inc.]
