Eleven Asymmetries - Living Leadership

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This post contains the eleven asymmetries included in my new book, Living Leadership, in chronological order.

Living Leadership: Winning @ Every Level

The ultimate warrior king: how David successfully used Guerilla Leadership and leveraged Eleven Asymmetries!

The depth of wisdom hidden in ancient texts is often stunning. You can hear, or read, a story a hundred times and still miss subtle nuances that can only be seen and/or understood when revealed through other lenses.

Guerilla Leaders view each situation through the lenses of asymmetry.

Even if you’re not a Christian, most everyone is familiar with the story of David and Goliath, and it is recorded in 1 Samuel 17 in the Bible. And it has even entered our vocabulary as a metaphor for being an underdog.

It doesn’t matter if you believe this story is true. The ancient wisdom that is shared in it is as viable and relevant today as it was 3,000 years ago.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants” dives into this story with some fascinating twists. You can Google Malcolm’s Ted Talk on this topic to hear his take on this classic.

You are going to explore eleven asymmetries and how David leveraged those to his advantage – and won! You will find out how David integrated the following Living Leadership principles and patterns: VSPT, Cascading Vision, the Flow Formula, Vision + Right People + 4D Model = Flow, the 4R Model, the 4A Model, and more, throughout this section.

The asymmetries from this account are woven into Living Leadership throughout the eighteen principles and patterns you will use to either combat or leverage the imbalances and/or asynchronous nature of communication when working to get stuff done.

Two Armies – A Tale of Two Visions

War is the ultimate metaphor for two visions that are in opposition. Portions of the Biblical account is included. And, again, it doesn’t matter if you believe, or even agree with, what’s shared. This is ancient wisdom that is foundational and precedes any first principles on which you are basing your leadership and management methodologies, philosophies, or worldview. Let’s join the story in 1 Samuel 17:1-3 (and rather than footnoting each Bible reference, those will be cited in-line in this section of the book):

“Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.”

So, you have two armies in a deadlock.

Neither will attack the other due to the terrain and since neither side was willing to sacrifice the high ground. Sun Tzu most likely borrowed the tactic that he taught about controlling the high ground, from this battle, or other similar, ancient battles, since this one occurred over 1,000 years before he arrived on the scene. So, there really is nothing new under the sun, pun intended.

Both sides had competing visions for how to win the battle, similar Strategies on holding the high ground, armies of people with similar training, skills, and experience; and everyone had the same task and that was to win. Tasks are included in Principle #14 in Living Leadership in the VSPT Model. And the black line represents the disconnect, and asymmetry, between the Vision/Strategy and the People/Tasks:

Send in the Giant (Right People?)

Everyone has a giant to slay, real or imaginary. Often, they loom much larger than they really are. Check it out in verses 4-7:

“A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.”

Talk about intimidating?!

However, as Malcolm Gladwell observed, why did the shield bearer go in front of Goliath? Was it necessary to lead the way down to the battlefield because it was for someone that couldn’t see or move very well? The conventional wisdom is that it was because Goliath needed to carry his spear and sword that he needed a shield bearer. Later you will get a hint at the extent of Goliath’s problems with his eyes and vision which was not unusual for someone with either gigantism or acromegaly.

So, he needed to be shown where to stand to fight his opponent. Talk about clunky logistics! Malcolm also pointed out that Goliath was weighed down with over one hundred pounds of bronze armor thus rendering him almost immobile, so he was not agile by any stretch of the imagination and had no mobility whatsoever. In essence, he was a sitting duck!

And what about the shield bearer?

He only had one job!

And that was to stop all incoming spears, arrows, etc.

On this fateful day, the shield bearer was an epic failure.

Agilists love to use an acronym for “fail” as a First Attempt In Learning. That’s a cute soundbite, but for Goliath, this was his first and last attempt.

One of our Living Leadership Virtual Coffee regulars, Wes Whitaker, shared an interesting plot twist he heard that was shared by Winkie Pratney, many years ago, that when David rushed toward Goliath, Goliath was forced to look down, which caused his helmet to slide up, thus exposing Goliath’s forehead! This makes sense but many of us missed that David rushed at Goliath. We now know why he did that, and it was an utterly brilliant tactic.

Goliath is a perfect example of the idea that you can prepare yourself for every possible scenario and that you’re ready for whatever is thrown at you. But then something completely unexpected reveals your vulnerability, like being rushed, and you are left exposed and completely vulnerable to a fatal attack.

Sometimes failure is fatal.

It is amazing how many times shallow posts on LinkedIn pop up along the lines of “failure is only the first step in learning.” Again, another cute soundbite, but that statement simply is not true.

For example, trusting Tesla’s autopilot and then plowing into the back end of a tractor trailer would be a good illustration of why that soundbite is false. Yes, learning occurred, but that was totally irrelevant for the passengers in the car since what they experienced was catastrophic, deadly, and permanent. It would be great if people would think through their pithy soundbites before opening their mouths.

Psychological warfare – communicating your vision for change

It was a custom of that day to select a champion from each side. Whoever won that battle was then victor for the entire army, it was a humane way to prevent unnecessary loss of life on both sides of the battle line. Wise leaders understand that using fear as a motivator only works in the short term. And Goliath instilled not just fear, but absolute terror in the hearts of his enemies. Sooner or later, someone sees through the bluff, but here was Goliath’s daily tactic in verses 8-11:

“Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”
Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”

Goliath must have been a remarkable sight. He would have towered over everyone. Being afraid, dismayed, and terrified seems to block outside-the-box-thinking. So, no one took up the challenge since they couldn’t think of a way to beat Goliath in hand-to-hand combat. No one was big enough or strong enough to even dare to try that.

Meet the shepherd boy that became King

But it was not someone big or strong that would change the course of history. It was someone that was young, quick, and nimble as we find in verses 12-15:

“Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.”

David’s formative years were as a shepherd.

This feels like a highly unlikely training ground for a future warrior king, doesn’t it? The following eleven asymmetries are included in the new book, Living Leadership. These are out of sequence as compared to the original story from the Bible. This is so that the asymmetries line up with each corresponding principle. This blog post has the Assymmetries in chronological order, as found in the original text.

Asymmetry # 1 – Persistently communicate your vision for change.

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind as to what Goliath and the Philistines had as their vision in verse 16:

“For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.”

After 40 days, anyone on either side of the battle could have written it down, word-for-word, from memory.

Communicating vision effectively and efficiently via Cascading, using principle #15 in Living Leadership, requires that it must be short, memorable, and easy to communicate. And that’s what Goliath did, persistently, for 40 days.

Without exception, most organizations miss the link-back to the next level up. We’ll see further down in this story that David somehow intuitively knew that if he persisted, the link-back would happen organically, as in Asymmetries #2, 3, and 4 below.

The shepherd boy sent to the front lines

Now Jesse said to his son David in verses 17-24:

“Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle line and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

Goliath instilled fear, which is an acronym for “Forget Everything And Run.” And they didn’t just run, these “mighty-men-of-power-and-valor” fled the field of battle. Yes, it’s another cute soundbite, but this time it is spot on.

The giants you face daily can create uncontrolled fear resulting in paralyzing friction, confusion, higher costs, and underperformance.[i]

Asymmetry # 2 – What’s in it for me and what’s your why? (Assessing the Situation)

Now the Israelites had been saying in verse 25:

“Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

David asked the men standing near him in verses 26-27:

“What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

Wow. Talk about being on the fast track to promotion? You would get to marry the boss’s daughter and be permanently tax exempt, as well? Cool! Sign me up, right? Wrong!

There were no takers for the King’s offer! Why had no one stepped up to complete the task? You need to cut King Saul a little slack since he didn’t have access to Daniel Pink’s research on what really motivates people and that is autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

In Asymmetry #6 below you will find out what David’s higher purpose really was. What is also interesting is that David applied a leadership pattern that is captured as Principle #13 in Living Leadership:

Upon his arrival, David Assessed the situation, the first “A” in this pattern. Throughout the balance of this account, David uses the remaining parts of this pattern.

Asymmetry # 3 – Who do you think you are (right People)?

A classic case of family hierarchy emerged with this asymmetry in verse 28:

“When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.””

Family hierarchies can be amazingly harmful when the older siblings are completely clueless about the skills, experience, and results that a younger sibling may already have delivered, as it was in this instance. David was already “typecast” since he was the youngest. Having the right person in the right role is a prerequisite to winning.

The oldest brother made a rash judgment about his youngest brother’s motives, abilities, role, and tried to shame him, publicly, to get him to shut up. Well, that tactic didn’t work.

Managers or leaders that use shame or humiliation as a tool should be fired on the spot. It’s a form of bullying and is toxic behavior that creates a toxic work environment. No organization can afford to have pools of poison in their midst.

Asymmetry # 4 – I heard it through the grapevine

So, sometimes you must push back a little like David did in verses 29-32:

““Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.””

Here’s a young man stepping up when all the other “valiant” warriors had stepped aside. Saul heard about David through the grapevine, via informal communications and link-back, as shared in Principle #15, Cascading Vision. He had an effective link-back all the way from the teams at the front line back to himself.

One can only imagine the half-amusement, half-confusion that Saul must have felt at that moment when he met David. If you could read Saul’s mind, he must have been thinking something like “seriously, is the smallest dude in the camp going to take on a giant that no one else in my army dares to fight?”

Asymmetry # 5 – Lack of training, experience, and too young?

Saul’s response in verse 33 is so typical for a leader where he raised an objection:

“Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.””

This is always the Catch-22 situation that young people face when trying to land that first role out there in the real world. Too young. Not enough experience. Needs more training, etc. On top of that, Saul misunderstood what constitutes a true warrior. As we’ll see shortly, David had been training his entire life for this moment.

So, the blockers in Saul’s mind were nothing other than inventions of his own imagination and Saul simply didn’t understand how to leverage asymmetry to win.

However, David did have the insight, understanding, walk, and wisdom to know how to leverage asymmetries to win.

Asymmetry # 6 – Transferrable skills and experience (Distilling Agreement through Gaining Alignment)

Having slain both a lion and a bear, David was giving Saul examples of similar experiences that were relevant to the task at hand and that would help him defeat Goliath. David’s response to King Saul in verses 34-36 is superb:

“But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.””

It highlighted that David’s proven lethal skills and experience could be utilized against this giant. This is Living Leadership’s Principle #2, the 4R Model, Right Truth, Right Values and Attitudes, Right Actions, and Right Results, in action:

David’s actions and results could be duplicated and utilized against the enemy. So, Saul bet the entire kingdom on a young, confident, and experienced shepherd boy in verse 37:

“Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.””

Asymmetry # 7 – Don’t saddle a slinger with unnecessary tools, rules, or structures

In other words, don’t saddle your team members with unnecessary armor, helmets, swords, etc. That’s a classic mistake and even Saul fell into that trap in verses 38-40:

“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.”

Again, we need to cut Saul even more slack because he was thinking hand-to-hand combat, like someone in the infantry, and he wanted to afford David as much protection as possible. David realized that the constraints of the armor that were meant for his protection would be a hinderance if he wanted to defeat Goliath. A slinger needs to be fast on their feet, balanced, and nimble. In this case, agility is an asset.

So, David put Saul’s “tools” to the side and went and stocked up on ammunition instead. David’s agility and innovative approach was counter-intuitive to Saul and Goliath’s “operational excellence” worldview:

The slingshot David used was far different than our modern slingshots, so don’t confuse the two. Malcolm Gladwell points out in his Ted talk and book that the stones were twice the density of any other of the rocks in Israel. Also, the speed of delivery/velocity from the sling with that type of stone had a lethal power nearly equal to a 45-caliber gun.

Why did David take five stones?

No, it’s not because he thought he might miss hitting Goliath’s forehead.

He was an expert marksman with his weapon.

It is more likely he took extra ammo because Goliath’s brothers were there at that battle as well. And David was prepared to take down as many Philistines as he could, including additional giants, if necessary.

Asymmetry # 8 – Are my eyes deceiving me (the curse of overconfidence)?

Goliath was truly insulted, and he should have been. Instead of sending out its most mighty warrior, the King of Israel sent out a small shepherd boy instead. How humiliating for Goliath to be shamed this way in front of the army of Israel and, worse, his own army in verses 41-44:

“Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!””

It was no surprise, then, that Goliath wanted to tear David apart, limb by limb because of the deep insult. The only problem was that Goliath would need to get his hands on David first.

So, it is interesting Goliath said, “come here” instead of moving forward and engaging David in battle. Clearly Goliath’s mobility was hampered and limited by the sheer weight of his armor along with his diminished vision.

Goliath’s mistake was being overconfident that he, as a seasoned, infantry warrior, could tear David to shreds. This is a perfect example of pride going before the fall.

It’s also an example of Flow versus Anti-Flow. For Goliath to step into Flow, he needed to engage David in close quarter, hand-to-hand combat. For David to step into Flow, he needed to keep his distance and use his agility. David stepped into Flow. Goliath didn’t. If a person is unable to step into a state of sustainable Flow, the odds are against them winning.

Goliath’s victory was predicated on proximity and hand-to-hand combat and tactics. That never happened. And David’s artillery-based weapon allowed him to inflict fatal damage at a distance.

His sling was a true equalizer.

As Malcolm Gladwell shared in his book, there was a 1960 Indiana Medical Journal article on the potential physical ailments that Goliath clearly had and researchers have speculated that it might have been either gigantism or acromegaly, for example, including not being able to see well.

That’s hinted at when Goliath roars, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” David only had one staff in his hand and a sling in the other. David didn’t have a bunch of sticks with him. Goliath was so focused on the “sticks” that he thought he saw that he completely missed David’s sling. That was a bad mistake, grave error, and fatal miscalculation on Goliath’s part.

Asymmetry # 9 – The power of a higher purpose (Activating)

David wasn’t doing this for the money, the women, or power. He did this because he had a higher purpose that transcended earthly rewards like getting a wife or income tax exemptions, and because it was the right thing to do. And he won in verses 45-47:

“David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.””

In Living Leadership, higher “Purpose” is included in Culture:

David’s higher purpose was his devotion to and belief in God. It served him well in this battle.

Asymmetry # 10 – Agility once again beats classic command-and-control thinking (Accelerating)

The following reminds me of the iconic scene in Indiana Jones where a swordsman is going to attack Indy, so Indy takes out his pistol and shoots him. It was a similar scene in verses 48-51a:

“As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.”

The moral of this story is you shouldn’t bring a knife, or a sword, to a gunfight, or a fight with a slinger like in this historical story.

Another interesting side note is that it is not recorded in the Bible if David ever used his sling again in battle. It appears that after his triumph over Goliath, David started using a sword in battle. So, the weapon we use for a given situation is contextual. In this situation with Goliath, David understood he needed to use a slingshot to create an advantage to win.

And David understood and leveraged the asymmetry of this epic battle to his advantage. He even accelerated the impact of his projectile, the stone, by firing it on the run, demonstrating the ultimate in mobility. By rushing Goliath, he forced Goliath to look down and expose his forehead, giving David the clear shot at where Goliath was most vulnerable and the target that he needed to slay his giant.

As a leader, at any level in the organization, you need to do the same in your daily work. Sometimes you need to shoot on the run by rushing and exposing your enemy’s forehead. That’s what Principle #7, the 4D Model, is all about:

If you are unable to define the asymmetries that abound all around you, then leveraging them to your advantage is out of the question.

When looking at this short encounter between David and Goliath, it is easy to almost feel a little sorry for Goliath. When you understand the true asymmetry of the situation, it wasn’t David that was the underdog, it was Goliath. David understood that and won. Goliath didn’t understand that, and his loss is one of the all-time epic failures of recorded history. How embarrassing for Goliath and the Philistines.

Asymmetry # 11 – Who are you?

King Saul wanted to know who David was. If you read further in 1 Samuel in the Bible from chapter 18, forward, you will find that the relationship between David and Saul became strained, asymmetrical, and dysfunctional, at best. In 1 Samuel 17 verses 51b-58 we read:

“When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.” The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.” As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head. “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him. David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.””

This is one of the earliest recorded stakeholder management assessments ever done:

King Saul later becomes insanely jealous of David for all the wrong reasons. I’m quite certain this could be the origin of the ancient adage: “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

But that’s a story for another time.

Political Asymmetry Retrospective

David, upon slaying Goliath, got everyone moving in the right direction, and they won!

The terrified Philistines fled the field of battle, turned tail, and tried to run home before getting killed. If a shepherd boy could kill a giant, then what could the full-grown Israeli men do? And the Israelites took heart, pursued the fleeing Philistines and more-or-less wiped them out.

The eighteen principles of Living Leadership will enable you to slay your giants, and win!

It is not just about winning the battle, but also about winning the war. And David may have won the battle, but he would soon learn that success can also cause unintended political fallout. It didn’t take Saul long to realize that David was now a threat to his kingdom since he did not lead Israel in the victory over the Philistines and that it was David that did that. In the very next chapter in 1 Samuel 18:7-9 we read that:

The women sang as they played, and said,
- “Saul has slain his thousands,
- And David his ten thousands.”
Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

Being successful doesn’t mean that the CEO is going to welcome you with open arms. David eventually is given the kingdom by God. But Saul was out to get David for the rest of Saul’s life.

When you can use all eighteen principles and patterns of Living Leadership in your work to deliver remarkable results, do not expect that the leadership up the food chain is going to automatically be on your side. You now represent a threat. Especially if the leadership up the food chain is unable to duplicate your outcomes.

It is possible to win the battle and still lose the war, your job, and/or assignment.

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[i] Peter Drucker’s “friction, confusion, and underperformance” quote.