Summary

Malcolm Gladwell explores how a weaker party can emerge victorious over a stronger opponent. Play an intentional underdog strategy. Find the inverted U curve and be resilient. Sometimes making a task harder can lead to better performance. Legitimacy of authority must be loud, predictable, and fair. Trauma and having nothing to lose can lead to defiance and courage.

“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start, courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and discover that they aren’t so tough after all”

Key Takeaways

• Need to play intentional underdog strategy (eg. full court press)
• Inverted U curve: often a sweet spot in any scale, even wealth or attention
  • Annual income of $75k optimal for raising children, too high reduces grit
• Big fish little pond effect / relative deprivation: tendency to compare to peers leads to feelings of inadequacy even when superior in broader context
  • Middle students at middle universities produce more papers than bottom students at top universities
• Sometimes making a task harder / slower results in better performance (eg. basic intelligence test with weird font)
• Trauma can either traumatize or strengthen, lead to breakthroughs
• Principle of legitimacy: authority has to give subjects a voice that is heard, law has to be predictable, authority must be fair
• Nothing to lose → disagreeable → defiance, courage

Notes

Introduction: Goliath

• Series of stories about regular people facing outsized challenge
• Two ideas:
  • Much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty
  • We consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong. We misread them, misinterpret them. Goliath’s strength also often a weakness. Underdog spurs an edge

1: Advantages of disadvantages, vice versa

1: Rivek Benadiv

• Weaker country wins fight 1/3 the time
• Advantage of resources versus advantage of lack of resources
• Need to play intentional underdog strategy (eg. full court press)

2: Traca Dubrito

• Studies show no effect on class size
• Things that my trivially appear advantageous may not be, need to prove
• Annual income of $75k optimal for raising children, too high reduces grit
• “Wealth contains the seeds of its own destruction”
• Inverted U curve: often a sweet spot in any scale, even wealth or attention

3: Carolyn Sachs

• Should we accept convention at the cost of true desire and originality?
• There are times where it’s better to be a big fish in a little pond than a small fish in a big pond (eg. art, college choice)
• Relative deprivation: tendency to compare to peers leads to feelings of inadequacy even when superior in broader context
• Big fish little pond effect: ↑
• Eg. 55% of STEM degrees go to top 1/3 of class at both Harvard and Hartwick despite massive caliber difference of class tiers
• Middle students at middle universities produce more papers than bottom students at top universities
• Affirmative action puts top minority students at bottom of class by bumping them up a notch (50% in bottom 10%) as cannon fodder, leading to bad outcomes

2: The theory of desirable difficulty

4: David Bois

• Sometimes making a task harder / slower results in better performance (eg. basic intelligence test with weird font)
• Outsized amount of successful entrepreneurs, businesspeople who have learning disabilities
• Forces proficiency in other skillsets
• Capitalization vs compensation learning
• Innovators:
  • High openness to experience
  • High conscientiousness
  • Need to be disagreeable

5: Jay Farrak

• Trauma can either traumatize or strengthen, lead to breakthroughs
• Genius is more likely to emerge from broken families, lost parents
• In certain circumstances, a virtue can be made of necessity
• “Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start, courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and discover that they aren’t so tough after all”
• The world needs people who have emerged from trauma, have the courage to take risks

6: Wyatt Walker

• The unexpected advantage of having nothing to lose
• Eg. MLK, blacks during segregation

3: Limits of power

7: Rosemary Lawler

• Principle of legitimacy: authority has to give subjects a voice that is heard, law has to be predictable, authority must be fair

8: Wilma Dirksen

• Criminals don’t have a stake in society, thus increased jail time doesn’t do much
• Going to jail has broader negative effects, eg. fatherless child, no work
• Inverted U curve: if over 2% of community goes to jail, rates start to increase
• 3 strikes policy inconclusive, ended up being scaled back in CA (past U curve)
• Walking away from grief, power gives room for forgiveness and understanding

9: Andre Truckme

• Nothing to lose → disagreeable → defiance, courage
• Only way to defeat is excessive use of force, legitimacy questioned, leads to defiance