Our CEO and chairman Mike Coates is an avid reader with a voracious appetite for works from many genres. In the January/February 2014 edition of Policy Magazine, Mike was asked for his thoughts on the latest effort from best-selling author and speaker Malcolm Gladwell. Here is a taste of what Mike wrote:
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, is a must-read for political and business junkies. As in his previous books, The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, Gladwell demonstrates his knack for organizing seemingly simple principles into something more thought-provoking.
Don’t get me wrong, though—Gladwell is no philosopher king. Indeed, since The Tipping Point, which I’d argue was a truly prophetic precursor to the explosion of social media, his books have been rather thin. In Blink, he told us that the best decisions are the ones we make without thinking, and in Outliers, he reminded us that practice makes perfect—two very basic lessons. But however simple the takeaway message, his stories are always insightful and uplifting, and his use of research clever.
David and Goliath is Gladwell’s best work since The Tipping Point. His central thesis is that the victorious underdogs in politics, business, and life are often the products of challenging backgrounds. It’s these difficult circumstances that make these individuals inherently stronger than others—they’re conditioned by the school of hard knocks.
Mike’s full review of David and Goliath can be found here.

Authored by: Mike Coates