How David beat Goliath…
An insight into competitive strategy
I saw the best basketball player in the world get completely annihilated in the 2018 NBA Finals. It wasn’t even a contest. Lebron James scored a heroic 51 points in Game 1 and his team still lost. They were swept of the floor in 4 games. Their opponents, the Golden State Warriors.
Anyone who knows the sport will tell you that the Warriors are at epicentre of the basketball universe right now. They have won 3 of the last 4 championships and posted the best regular season record in NBA history. This off-season, they did the unthinkable and acquired arguably the best Centre in the game. In the 2018–19 season all their 5 starters will be all All — Stars.
The question arises, is it possible to overcome dominance like this?
Like the Warriors, there are some teams so dominant in their field of endeavour that it seems impossible to fathom how they could be beaten. This doesn’t only apply to sports teams, but to individuals, organizations and companies too.
Nevertheless, the mighty have been known to fall.
The Book of Samuel in the Bible tells the story of the Philistine conflict with the Israelites. At the culmination, the battle grinds to a stalemate. It is broken by the emergence of Goliath, the great Philistine champion. For days he taunts the Israelites, bellowing for a challenger to step forth and decide the conflict by single combat. None do. Goliath is a Giant. Wielding his bronze sword and javelin he is a formidable and ferocious opponent. Single combat would result in certain death.
David, the shepherd boy emerges. He goes to King Saul of the Israelites and tells him he will do battle with the Philistine champion. He wears no armour, and arms himself with only a slingshot and 5 stones from a nearby brook. He approaches his opponent. With skills honed after years of practice, he uses his sling from a distance to strike Goliath on his unprotected forehead. The blow incapacitates him. He cuts of Goliaths head with his own sword. The Philistines fled, and the battle is over.
In this archetypal tale, David overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to defeat his opponent. But how?
If he fought his foe at his own game, close combat, it is clear he would have been quickly defeated. But he didn’t. He changed the rules of the game to one that suited his own strengths and exposed his opponents’ weakness.
Many stories of underdog victories seem to follow the same pattern.
The 2011 film Moneyball tells the story of Billy Beane, the manager of the Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics. With a limited budget and infrastructure, he understands quickly that he does not have what it takes to compete with the New York Yankees’ of the league. He needs a new strategy. Challenging them at their own game will only result in failure.
After investigation, he meets a graduate student who presents him a new way of approaching the game of baseball, predicated on analytics and statistics. Much to the displeasure of his scouting team he does away with traditional methods. He uses this new — found method to redefine his player selection and drafting choices. The changes are radical and controversial. For many weeks and months, it simply doesn’t work. The pressure increases. And then, serendipitously, things click into place. Mid way through the season, the lowly Oakland Athletics flip a switch and go on to post the longest winning streak in National Baseball League history. He reinvented the game.
Beane realised that there was no use at playing the Goliath’s of the league at their own game. He needed to find a way to change the rules. Analytics provided him with a tool to do just that.
In 1974 Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman for the Heavyweight Championship of the world. The bout took place in Kinshasa, Zaire. It was billed as the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. Ali was seen as an aging former champion, past his prime. Foreman was the undisputed King of the Ring. He had run through the division, knocking out all in his path in the 1st or 2nd round on his way to the Championship. Commentators were certain he was unbeatable. As the fight approached, Foreman was the heavy favourite with pundits predicting an early and brutal knockout.
On October 30th 4:00am, 1 Billion viewers tuned in from around the world to watch the fight. It was to become one of the most memorable nights in sports history.
The fight started as expected. The first round saw Ali coming out ‘dancing’, gliding around the ring with a style and grace he had become so famous for. Foreman prowled after his opponent, knowing with only a single punch could end the night.
The first round came and went. Ali stopped dancing. He went to ropes, his legs seemingly bereft of all energy. This was as the pundits had predicted, Ali was washed up, and couldn’t last the distance anymore. He lay on the ropes protecting his face, and Foreman began to tee off. Striking him with thunderous body shot after body shot, round after round. The end seemed inevitable. Rounds passed, the 3rd, the 4th, and on and on, and suddenly Foreman found himself in unknown territory. He wasn’t used to going past the first few rounds. Soon, it became clear that Foreman was tiring. The effort put into the body shots were taking their toll. The 8th round came, and Ali’s strategy was becoming apparent. He began to goad his tiring opponent, holding him and talking to him.
Mid way through the 8th, Ali smelt blood. Foreman was exhausted. He left the ropes, hitting him with a speculative right, and then a left. Foreman teetered. He hit him another combination, the stadium was erupted, and George stumbled and fell.
He was counted out before he could regain his feet. The fight was over. Ali had done the impossible. He had regained the heavyweight championship of the world.
Ali knew he couldn’t go toe to toe with Foreman from the outset. He used his experience and intelligence to exploit George’s weakness. He used the ‘Rope a Dope’ to tire his opponent out and then take advantage when he was exhausted and into unknown territory.
Our underdogs prevailed by changing the rules of their respective contest. David used a sling and a stone to defeat Goliath from range. Billy Beane turned to new age analytics to build his roster, knowing he couldn’t compete with other teams’ budgets. Muhammad Ali who used the ‘Rope a Dope’ to defeat the seemingly unstoppable George Foreman. Each used a novel strategy to take the game out of the hands of their opponents.
They changed the rules of the game to one that suited their own strengths and exposed their opponents’ weakness.
Going back to basketball. This past season the Golden State Warriors were pushed to the brink of elimination by the Houston Rockets. The Rockets to had put together a formidable squad with one goal. To beat the Warriors at their own game. They came incredibly close. But in the end, they fell short. The Warriors proved too strong in the end.
Perhaps it wasn’t the right strategy.
As individuals, teams or organizations, we are often faced with situations where we find ourselves face to face with a Goliath. Challenging Goliath at his own game never seems to be a sensible path. Instead, it may prove more favourable to find a way to change the rules of the game. The game should be re-strategized to one that suits your own strengths and exploits your opponent’s weaknesses.
