David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell is all about the underdog succeeding. Stories of the little guy overcoming adversity to overcome a larger, highly favored adversary. While you may never tire of stories like this, Gladwell is exceptional at detailed storytelling.
The story of David cutting off Goliath’s head reminded me that I have largely forgotten the fable’s details since childhood. And it his opening chapter, it was in childhood that I can fully understand the story of a junior girls basketball team in silicon valley that used a full court press throughout the game to defeat their bigger opponents.
In chapter four, you learn David Boies (David) had dyslexia. He could still defeat Goliath (law school). I found this chapter very inspiring. From time to time as a child, dyslexia forced me to question what level I was confronting in grade school reading. The ability for David Boies to utilize other learning skills to succeed, looking back…sure wish I knew this story back then.
Ever work at a Children’s Hospital? I found from time to time my trips to the hospital required a stiff upper lip walking the hallways. At Children’s Wisconsin, administrative units are two miles from the main campus in an old renovated factory. Nikola Tesla worked in this factory 1919-1922. But that is different story.
Gladwell’s fifth chapter was also surprisingly personal. His David moment focused on tragic events that led to success over great odds. This includes the bombing of London during World War II. The story transitions to this ‘David’ moment of perseverance….the early treatment of childhood leukemia. As parent of young children I remain deeply moved passing kids in the hallway undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The tragic description of early treatments resulted in many painful deaths, again a stiff upper lip moment. I found satisfaction when he expanded the story by the valiant efforts of Dr. James Holland. His “David” treatment mixing powerful drugs is how he began to defeat Goliath.
Rewind to my departure from Apple, I landed at the University of Chicago as their manager of information systems at the new Cancer and Leukemia Group B research cooperative group office. The office just relocated from Dartmouth Medical School due to the retirement of chair, O. Ross McIntyre. Dr. Richard Schilsky assumed the leadership role in Chicago.
I recall meeting Dr. Holland at a group meeting in Miami. It is a small world. CALGB later merged with the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) and North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) forming The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. These four doctors were ‘The Beatles’ of oncology to my colleagues in the office. This chapter’s story was happier at the end than the introduction. The young Davids are receiving better treatments to defeat Goliath.
David and Goliath closes with chapters reflecting social changes from tragic events. His story of Rosemary Lawlor and her fellow Irish Catholics living in Northern Ireland during The Troubles illustrates that the lives of the Catholic minority confronting both Protestants and British military rule in Northern Ireland was similar to his civil rights story of Wyatt Tee Walker and his confrontations with the city’s racist police chief Eugene Bull Connor in Birmingham Alabama. I believe Galdwell’s references to Brer Rabbit in chapter six, showing how Walker (in the role of David) defeated Bull Connor. Connor unwittingly gave into Walker’s briar patch strategy to win public support. Very well researched.