David and Goliath

Sun, Aug 10th 2014, 11:19 PM

I was watching "60 Minutes" on CBS TV a few weeks ago and Anderson Cooper was interviewing Malcolm Gladwell best-selling Author whose latest book 'David & Goliath': Underdogs, Misfits and the art of battling Giants, has just hit The New York Times best seller list. I'm quite sure, that just about everyone in my reading audience is more than familiar with the Biblical story of David & Goliath, the story of how the puny, small David defeated the Huge, strong giant of a man Goliath with a slingshot.
So one may say, so what is his book all about? Well Malcolm Gladwell who was born in Toronto, Canada explained to Anderson Cooper during the 60 minutes interview, that from his extensive research, so many of the people who make it big time in life, did indeed appear at first glance to be underdogs. That's right, contrary to popular belief, coming from an affluent background and attending prestigious, hallowed educational institutions like Yale, Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge does not necessarily mean that a person

will be successful in life.
On the contrary, many who come from extremely poor backgrounds, who attended very ordinary government schools and colleges, and who had in fact some impediment like dyslexia for example, went on to have great careers and became outstandingly successful in life.
So the great lesson which I got from watching this fascinating interview with Malcolm Gladwell Author of 'David & Goliath', is that so-called underdogs can, and indeed do make it in life, and in so many cases, they make it big time.
An excellent actual example of what I've written about here today is David Neeleman. When David Neeleman, who was born in Brazil to American Parents, was young, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and was indeed not expected to do too well in life at all.
His Parents returned to The U.S. when he was seven years old. David Neeleman went on to have an outstanding career in aviation actually starting four very successful low cost airlines; namely Morris Air which he and his Partner subsequently sold to Southwest Airlines, Canada's WestJet, Jet Blue Airways, and Brazil's Azul Airlines.
So to me, David Neeleman is the proof of the pudding, so to speak.
The long and the short of it is this. No one, nothing can keep you back from succeeding in life, if you really want to, and do the work necessary to be successful.
o Think about it!
Visit my website at: www.dpaulreilly.com.
Listen to 'Time to Think' the radio program on STAR 106.5 FM at 8:55 a.m. & 6:20 p.m.

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