farmdoc's blog post number 448

Malcolm Gladwell. I wrote of him last April. Do you think he’s right or left-handed? The latter, of course, because he has an unusual – right brain – way of looking at the world and how it works (or doesn’t work); especially human behaviour. His mind, and thus his writing, is original, quirky, iconoclastic and interesting. He’s had a rapid rise to the fame he deserves. In this article in last 11 May’s New Yorker, Gladwell writes of David and Goliath contests, astutely using basketball to highlight his argument. He quotes research that in contests when Davids fought Goliaths on equal terms, the Davids won only 28.5% of the contests. But when the Davids acknowledged their weaknesses and competed with unconventional strategies, they won 63.6% of the contests. Gladwell’s conclusion – that the essence of such strategies is supplanting ability with effort – is applicable in all contests of human endeavour, including military, political and environmental. It’s a long-held axiom that perseverance will defeat genius. Gladwell extends it with a new ingredient – using tactics the opponent doesn’t expect. His 11 May article is long, but well worth reading. Because I’m very much a left-brain person, I’m grateful to him for being my right-brain surrogate.