Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game: Lessons from David vs. Goliath

I just read a fascinating article from the archives of “The New Yorker”, “How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break the Rules" by Malcolm Gladwell.  You may recognize Gladwell as the best-selling author of the books "Outliers," “The Tipping Point” and “Blink.”

Gladwell features the stories of victorious underdogs in many contexts, but spends the majority of his time chronicling the ascendance – in one season - of a basketball team of 12-year-old girls, from not knowing how to dribble or shoot, to runner-up national-champions.  (Hint: the success does not involve convincing a depressed basketball savant to join the team, as it did in the movie “Hoosiers.”) The key to success: insurgent strategy.  Before attacking the opponent, attack the “game” itself.  Through his stories of unlikely success, Gladwell offers a simple set of instructions for informing your competitive decisions when facing a “Goliath” opponent.

First, recognize that the “rules” of most competitions are established to reinforce the dominance of the incumbent order. For example, big armies attempt to draw opponents into head-to-head battle because big armies have an advantage in these conflicts.

Second, recognize we have the choice to play by conventional terms, or to redefine the competition in a way that suits our abilities - not those of the incumbent.  We often impose a set of “rules” upon ourselves, which are defined by convention rather than law. Before any competition, consider whether your strategy is based on what is expected, or what is to your advantage.

Finally, assuming you elect to compete in a way that defies convention, you must recognize what is required to achieve success under the new terms of engagement.  Changing the terms of the game will inspire the antipathy of an establishment that wishes to reinforce the old standard.  It may also require significantly greater effort than losing “honorably” under the standard terms of competition.  If the point is to do more than compete, then you must recognize the cost of success, and accept these costs.

Like most people, I love a good underdog story.   If you read the article for only that, you’ll come away happy.  More than this, it served as a reminder that we are complicit in establishing many of the impediments we perceive in our lives.  We choose what we strive for, we choose how we prosecute the campaign to achieve it, and we choose what is an acceptable price to pay for that achievement.