David and Goliath
Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
The giant's advantages may be his weaknesses. A case for what disadvantage quietly builds.
Gladwell rereads the Bible story as a contest Goliath was always going to lose, then looks for the same pattern elsewhere: dyslexia that forces compensating skills, the loss of a parent early, a girls’ basketball team that presses relentlessly because it cannot shoot. Advantage, he argues, curves rather than climbs. Past a certain point more of a good thing starts to cost you, and difficulty can build capacities that comfort never would.
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