Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in David and Goliath, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Convention and the Status Quo
Hardship and Resilience
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy
Summary
Analysis
Gladwell turns his attention to dyslexia, a brain disorder that makes it difficult for people to distinguishes various sounds from one another. Dyslexia can also impact the way people learn to read, since it’s harder for people to grasp certain words on the page if they have “no concept of the sounds of language.” Taking this into consideration, Gladwell posits that nobody would wish dyslexia on their child, but he immediately challenges this notion by calling into question what, exactly, people tend to see as a disadvantage. He has already considered various advantages, he says, so now he wants to explore the things people think of as disadvantageous. In doing so, he references a concept known as “desirable difficulties,” suggesting that certain challenges sometimes have positive effects.
Having established that not all advantages are actually beneficial, Gladwell now considers whether or not there are ever any benefits that come from disadvantages. This, of course, is a rhetorical question, for he immediately presents readers with the idea of “desirable difficulties,” a self-explanatory term that champions the “desirable” qualities of some forms of adversity. In the same way that people are wrong to unquestioningly embrace advantages, then, Gladwell will demonstrate why it’s a mistake to turn away from all kinds of hardship, too.
Themes
To outline the concept of “desirable difficulty,” Gladwell presents readers with two questions, both of which comprise the world’s shortest intelligence test, which is known as the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). The questions are as follows: 1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? Answer: the ball costs $0.05. 2. If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? Answer: it would take five minutes. Though seemingly straightforward, people often get these questions wrong because they measure the test taker’s ability to recognize when something “is more complex than it appears.” The Yale professor who invented this test gave it to students at nine different colleges, and their results were in keeping with their scores on other intelligence tests. On average, Harvard students only get 1.43 of the questions correct, proving that the test is quite hard. Strangely, though, people end up scoring better on the CRT if the test becomes a little harder. In a study at Princeton, the questions were written in a font that was difficult to read, and the average overall score increased to 2.45 from 1.9.
There’s no doubt that the questions on the CRT are difficult—even high-achieving Ivy League students struggle with them, as evidenced by the fact that their average score is 1.43 out of 3. But when the questions become even harder, Princeton students improve their overall score. This is because the font change is a “desirable difficulty,” one that forces students to work just a little bit harder to read and, therefore, also forces them to slow down and really think. That this actually works aligns with Gladwell’s belief that disadvantages can sometimes become beneficial.
Themes
Gladwell argues that the reason Princeton students did better on the CRT when it was harder to read is that it forced them to work just a little more than they would have otherwise. This, he says, is a “desirable difficulty,” or one that brings about positive results. Needless to say, not all challenges are desirable, as evidenced by Caroline Sacks’s experience at Brown. With this in mind, Gladwell asks if dyslexia might be a desirable difficulty and, to answer his own question, points out that one third of all successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Gladwell hypothesizes that this kind of success isn’t in spite of a person’s struggle against dyslexia, but because of it.
The experiment with the CRT indicates that disadvantages can be turned into advantages, so it’s natural that other setbacks or hardships in life might lead to positive results. To further explore this concept, Gladwell returns to the topic of dyslexia, a learning disorder that very few people would think of as advantageous. And yet, Gladwell notes that an inordinate amount of successful people have dyslexia, and he even suggests that their dyslexia is partially responsible for their success.
Themes
Gladwell introduces David Boies, a man who grew up in rural Illinois and had a hard time in school from a very early age. Nobody knew it at the time, but he suffers from dyslexia, and to this day he has trouble reading because it takes him so long to get through even short passages. Fresh out of high school (which he barely finished), he took a job as a construction worker and eventually got married. When his wife became pregnant, though, she urged Boies to pursue more lucrative professions and the advanced degrees he’d need to do so. Deciding to go to law school, Boies attended to the University of Redlands, which Gladwell says was a small pond in which Boies could “excel.” While taking classes, Boies learned he could apply to law school without graduating college (something that is no longer the case).
Although Gladwell hasn’t yet finished telling David Boies’s story, it’s clear—given the context in which Gladwell narrates his tale—that he will most likely become successful. What’s especially worth noting, though, is that Boies’s success doesn’t develop in spite of his dyslexia, but largely because of the ways in which he’s forced to make up for his cognitive differences. To that end, readers should bear in mind that Boies has trouble reading but still attends college and law school, where people take it for granted that students can read well. To respond to this, then, Boies will have to come up with alternate methods of navigating his way through his education.
Themes
Get the entire David and Goliath LitChart as a printable PDF.
Boies starts as a student at Northwestern Law School, and though his courses require quite a bit of reading, he manages to find synopses of important Supreme Court Cases that enable him to pass his classes. What’s more, his listening abilities are far more useful than his peers’, so he ends up getting more out of his professors’ lectures than anyone else; while everyone is busy furiously taking notes (and consequently missing certain points), Boies manages to absorb everything his professors say. This leads him to such great success that he ends up transferring to Yale Law School.
Forced to find alternative ways of succeeding because of his disadvantages, Boies has developed impeccable listening skills. This is how he responds to the challenge posed by his dyslexia, and it’s important to recognize that he doesn’t simply get by—he excels. Indeed, his listening skills end up giving him an advantage over his peers during lectures, helping him more thoroughly absorb what his professors are saying. In this regard, then, his disadvantage is his greatest advantage.
Themes
After law school, Boies decides to become a litigator instead of practicing corporate law, since corporate lawyers have to do a lot of reading to prepare for their cases. Litigators, on the other hand, have to be quick-witted and responsive. This plays to Boies’s strengths because he’s so good at listening and compensating for his hindered reading skills. Not being able to read well effectively helps Boies hone his listening skills, turning him into an attentive prosecutor capable of picking up on important details and subtleties during cross-examinations. In this capacity, he becomes one of the most respected and high-profile litigators in the United States, taking on famous cases.
Again, Gladwell outlines the ways in which Boies’s dyslexia ends up benefitting him. Dyslexia, it seems, can indeed be a “desirable difficulty.” Of course, this all depends on Boies’s ability to not only cultivate alternative skills, but excel at those skills—not something everyone can do. Nonetheless, though, Boies’s story is evidence that Gladwell is perhaps correct in his argument that certain challenges can have positive results in the long run.
Themes
There are, Gladwell notes, several traits that psychologists consider when “measur[ing] personality”: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Innovators, Gladwell says, have to be open to new ideas. They also have to have a very specific kind of agreeability—namely, they have to be disagreeable. This doesn’t mean they have to be rude, but that they need to be willing to “do things that others might disapprove of.” Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, is a perfect example of somebody who is disagreeable. He is an innovative man who thought to sell disassembled furniture in the 1950s, a time when such a thing was unheard of. Moreover, his business was edged out of Sweden because other furniture companies instigated a boycott of the brand. In response, Kamprad took his business to Poland, where he was able to manufacture furniture without any roadblocks.
Examining the qualities that often lead to success, Gladwell suggests that many innovators are “disagreeable,” meaning that they aren’t afraid to go against the status quo. In the same way that Vivek Ranadivé decided to coach an unpopular basketball strategy to make up for his team’s lack of skill, Ingvar Kamprad devises a business model that is quite unconventional. But instead of shying away from the kind of innovation necessary to succeed, he embraces it wholeheartedly—a wise choice, considering that to this day IKEA is one of the most successful furniture companies in the world.
Themes
Gladwell points out that Poland was a communist country and that Kamprad brought his company there at a tumultuous time. It was 1961, the Cold War was becoming increasingly serious, the Berlin Wall was being erected, and the Cuban Missile Crisis would soon bring itself to bear on the world. Going to Poland at this time, Gladwell argues, would be like starting a company in North Korea right now. But even though most people wouldn’t have dreamed of “doing business in the land of the enemy for fear of being branded a traitor,” Kamprad didn’t care. This, Gladwell notes, is evidence of Kamprad’s disagreeability. And though something like dyslexia doesn’t simply turn people into innovators, it’s possible that it could make people just a bit more disagreeable.
The concept of “disagreeability” is important to Gladwell’s central argument, since it underscores the fact that it’s not particularly easy to break from convention while also overcoming various “desirable difficulties.” In fact, it’s quite challenging to triumph when going against the status quo, which is why it’s helpful if innovators don’t care what others think—if, in other words, they’re disagreeable. To turn a disadvantage into an advantage, Gladwell intimates, a person must set aside any hesitations about upsetting society in the process of defying tradition. Gladwell suggests that a challenge like dyslexia (which Kamprad also has) could reshape the way individuals approach other challenges: in this case, Kamprad unapologetically seeks unconventional paths and eschews others’ doubts—often key factors of successful entrepreneurship.
Themes
Gladwell introduces Gary Cohn, a man who—like David Boies—had a hard time in school. Cohn is dyslexic and was held back a grade as a result, though this didn’t help him learn to read. He was even expelled from elementary school for fighting back when the teacher put him under her desk and kicked him. Still, he worked very hard, though nobody considered this because they thought of him as nothing but a disruptive presence. Finally, though, Cohn graduated high school and got a job selling window frames and aluminum siding. While on a business trip to Long Island one day, he convinced his manager to let him have the day off, and Cohn made his way to Wall Street, where he was determined to find a job.
Gary Cohn’s story is noteworthy because of his determination. Even though nothing in his life has indicated that he will be successful, he doesn’t hesitate to take a chance by going to Wall Street to find a job. Needless to say, this is a rather bold thing to do, considering that he barely graduated high school and has trouble reading. And yet, Cohn doesn’t back down, instead doing whatever he can to set himself up for success. In a way, then, he too displays an element of disagreeability, since he clearly doesn’t care what other people think of him, or at least isn’t afraid that people on Wall Street might laugh at his lack of knowledge.
Themes
In the lobby of the commodities exchange, Cohn waits to see if he’ll be able to talk to somebody. Finally, he hears a well-dressed man loudly telling another person that he has to leave because he’s on his way to LaGuardia airport. Upon hearing this, Cohn jumps in an elevator with this man and says he’s going to the airport, too. The man agrees to share a cab with him, giving Cohn a full hour to convince him to hire him. This man, it turns out, works at one of the biggest brokerage firms on Wall Street and has been appointed to run a new business buying and selling options. And though Cohn doesn’t know anything about options, it seems that the other man doesn’t either, so Cohn lies and says he’s an expert. By the time they reach LaGuardia, the man tells Cohn to call him on Monday.
Cohn’s method of getting a job is unconventional—most people wouldn’t dare to fake their way into such a high-stakes industry, nor would they lie about their background in order to get a job. However, Cohn knows that this is perhaps his only chance to succeed. In this regard, his disadvantage (dyslexia) pushes him to skirt convention in ways most people wouldn’t. In the end, his boldness leads to a job interview he would never have gotten if he’d played by the rules.
Themes
Cohn calls the man on Monday, and they schedule an interview. In the meantime, Cohn reads a book about “strategic investments” and learns about options trading—a difficult task, since it takes him six hours to read just 22 pages. Thinking back, Cohn notes that he never told his boss that he knew essentially nothing about options trading before starting at the company. However, it didn’t matter because he was ready by the time he started in his position. Gladwell suggests that most people wouldn’t have gotten into the taxi with the powerful Wall Street executive. Cohn, however, had nothing to lose. Cohn himself says that his childhood made him “comfortable with failure,” which is a common feeling among dyslexic people because they face so many challenges early in their lives. Gary Cohn is now the president of Goldman Sachs.
At this point, a new aspect of Gladwell’s argument about hardship emerges: not only does adversity lead to innovation, it can also lead to a productive kind of desperation that propels people to pursue opportunities that might otherwise seem hopeless. Because Cohn has grown used to failure, he no longer fears it. Consequently, he’s free to put himself in positions where failure is quite likely. This, in turn, sets him up for success, allowing him to take chances most people would shy away from.
Themes
