When you go up against Goliath, don't play by his rules

Bob Durtschi sent me a link to a cool column by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm explains in How David Beats Goliath that when David engages in a contest following Goliath's rules, almost always David will get beat. But when David thinks out of the box and looks for weaks points in Goliath's strategy or approach, David can often beat Goliath.

To illustrate his point Malcolm writes about how Lawrence of Arabia was able to beat the Turks in World War I:

----------
Consider the way T. E. Lawrence (or, as he is better known, Lawrence of Arabia) led the revolt against the Ottoman Army occupying Arabia near the end of the First World War. The British were helping the Arabs in their uprising, and the initial focus was Medina, the city at the end of a long railroad that the Turks had built, running south from Damascus and down through the Hejaz desert. The Turks had amassed a large force in Medina, and the British leadership wanted Lawrence to gather the Arabs and destroy the Turkish garrison there, before the Turks could threaten the entire region.
But when Lawrence looked at his ragtag band of Bedouin fighters he realized that a direct attack on Medina would never succeed. And why did taking the city matter, anyway? The Turks sat in Medina “on the defensive, immobile.” There were so many of them, consuming so much food and fuel and water, that they could hardly make a major move across the desert. Instead of attacking the Turks at their point of strength, Lawrence reasoned, he ought to attack them where they were weak—along the vast, largely unguarded length of railway line that was their connection to Damascus. Instead of focussing his attention on Medina, he should wage war over the broadest territory possible.
----------

And by destroying parts of the long six hundred mile supply line, Lawrence was able to inflict great damage. If he had gone for a frontal assault at Medina, Lawrence and the Bedouins would have been destroyed.

This is a great lesson to learn. If you are trying to make changes in city hall, if you are trying to increase your market share, or you are engaged in some kind of conflict where the conventional wisdom is you have no chance, then step back and look for Goliath's Achilles heel. Then you may have a chance.

How David Beats Goliath is worth reading twice. But the more important lesson is learning to apply this attitude.

Good luck.


---------
Technorati tags: david goliath