Goliath is a Philistine. He was one of the strongest and biggest giants. He was over nine feet tall, which is taller than any person recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. He would've had to bend way down to get through a regular door.
David lived in Israel. He took care of his father's sheep in the fields. When he didn't have much to do in the field, he played instruments, and wrote songs and poems that you can find in the book of Psalms in your Bible.
The Israelites weren't getting along with the Philistines.
Every morning and every evening for forty days Goliath shouted to the Israelites in his big deep voice, "Hey, you guys! I dare you to find one man to fight me. If he beats me, we will become your servants, but if I win you will all become our servants."
Goliath was covered with armour to protect himself and carried a big spear.
One day, David asked King Saul, "Isn't someone going to stand up to this man? Then I will fight this giant Philistine."
King Saul had no other choice, because no one wanted to flight Goliath.
So, King Saul dressed David in heavy armour to protect him from Goliath, but David took it off. It was so heavy he could hardly walk. Instead, David went to a stream nearby and found five smooth stones, put them in a pouch around his waist, and with his sling he went to Goliath.
As David approached Goliath, Goliath looked at David and thought it was a joke. Goliath thought that he could easily beat David and found it funny that Saul would send a small boy to fight him. Goliath shouted out to David, “Come closer and I will kill you!”
David did't care what Goliath said.
David ran quickly to meet him. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a stone, put it into his slingshot and shot it at Goliath. The stone had hit him right between his eyes and suddenly Goliath started to lose his balance.
He fell with a loud thud right on his face. David had done it, he beat the giant Philistine! When the rest of the Philistines saw this, they ran away, and David became a hero to all the people in Israel.
What have we learnt from this story?
This story has inspired me a lot in my business world. There are “Giants” everywhere in our business world; how can we compete with them?
The good thing about being small is that we are flexible and fast. We can react quickly to the market, whilst the “giants” are always there for you to study. If you study them enough, you will know where you can "attack" to bring yourself to victory.
Goliath said "Come closer and I will kill you”. Why did he have to say 'come closer'? It is because he was slow, and if David didn't get close to him, he would be powerless.
So, if you are following the same concept and product as the “Giants”, you will get killed very quickly.
Let me give you an example. If Starbucks opens next to my coffee shop, I will do the opposite of everything they do. They don’t provide table service or craft coffee, they don’t get fresh bread and pastries from local bakeries, they don’t organise networking events or have board games, they don’t use loyalty cards, and so on; therefore I would make sure I do. There is a business term known as "opposite value cure". What it basically means is don’t do or do less of what they are good at. And whatever they are not good at or lacking, is what you should do more of . So, study all aspects of the market, and properly, before you make any business decisions.
Comments