Nearly everyone knows the general story of David and Goliath.  Although this story is used for religious teachings in the Jewish and Christian faiths, there are several take-aways that can be used for personal and business purposes.  Actually, the David and Goliath story has reached people of all nations and even is detailed in the Qur'an as having meaning to Muslims. 

The summary of the story is as follows:  David was a teenage Sheppard-boy, the youngest of 8 sons.  He was called to bring food to some of his military brothers who were in a stand-off with the Philistine army.  The champion of the Philistine warriors was Goliath, who was a giant of a man...as tall as the tallest basketball player and as big as the biggest football player.  For several days Goliath had challenged the Israelites to send their own champion for a single-combat dual to decide the outcome of the war.  David hears of the challenge and asks his king if he can represent the Israelites in the dual.  David rejects his king's amour, but does collect 5 smooth stones from a nearby creek.  Goliath is weighted with amour nearly from head to toe.  After an exchange of a few words David uses his sling shot to score a direct hit into the skull of Goliath causing him to fall lifelessly to the earth.  At that point, David becomes famous and a future king of Israel. 

The story commentary focuses on David's faith as being the driving force for his victory.  However, if you read the whole story you will realize that David just didn't show up as an underdog with a positive attitude.  His function as Sheppard-boy, along with serving his family,  prepared him for the "giant" encounter.  In ancient times, the youngest had to care for the oldest.  David spent most of his life serving his family's needs.  This "care work" prepared him for his job to Sheppard sheep.  Texts preceding the individual battle story details David practicing with his leather slingshot on trees and targets in preparation of protecting his flock.  Additional accounts describe David encountering attacks by a bear and a lion where David kills these beasts in defense of these sheep.  The occupation of a Sheppard carries several hazards that requires extreme preparation and a creative response to any given circumstance.  David's preparation moves into the text of the individual battle as he collect's 5 stones from a nearby creek.  There are two thoughts to David collecting 5 stones.  Supposedly there was a rumor in the camp that Goliath had brothers, who could possibly retaliate regardless of the terms of the single-combat dual.  David may have picked up additional arsenal for that reason or he may have wanted additional stones in the event of a misfire.  Either way, the text personifies preparation. 

When you read on either side of the story, it is clear that David had unknowingly prepared himself for battle and victory against Goliath.  Preparation is defined as to make ready or putting one's self into proper condition.  How many times do we fail to properly prepare for something gigantic in our business or personal lives?  We should learn from David's example that advanced preparation for the known or unknown will allow us to face our personal giants.  Maybe Ben Franklin says it better, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."   Advanced preparation allows us to achieve "giant" successes.

The interview process had whittled down between two candidates.  Each candidate was brought in for a series of "one-on-ones" with several members from the management team.  One candidate, Davis, connected well with some key people who would make the decision to hire.  Davis asked all the right questions and sensed positive vibes with much of the non-verbal interaction.  Davis was convinced that he would be chosen. 

A week elapsed and there was no word from the company.  Confused and eager, Davis contacted his Human Resources contact in search of an update.  The next day he received a letter thanking him for his interest, but the company had made a decision with the other candidate.  Davis was shocked and replayed in his head the events of the interview process.  This frustrated him as he felt he was lead to believe that he was the obvious choice.  In frustration he reached out to a key decision maker asking for some feedback.  The decision maker agreed with Davis that he would have been a good fit; however, stated that the group's decision was trumped.  Davis concluded this final decision could only come from the president of the company so, with courage, Davis asked the president's assistant for a call.  Kathy, the president, agreed to a short follow up discussion with Davis. 

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Davis acknowledged Kathy's busy schedule and simply recapped the disparity between his positive interview experiences and the decision.  Kathy thanked him for his interest in the company and added, "Durwin is the name of our janitor." 

Davis didn't understand what Kathy said and replied, "Were you speaking to me?  I don't understand." 

Kathy expounded, "Mr. Davis, our company requires every single employee to push or pull in the same direction for us to achieve any level of success.  Although we have different responsibilities, our functions are critical to each other.  You might say our sum total is greater than our individual parts.  No one is less important including our janitor and, again, his name is Durwin.  Mr. Davis, when we visited I asked you if you knew your janitor in your existing job...do you remember what you told me?"

 The phone line was silent as Davis was trying to remember the details of his conversation with Kathy.  Davis eventually replied, "I don't think I remember, but I know I but I am sure the janitors at my existing employment do fine." 

Kathy responded, "Ok, Mr. Davis that may be fine but when we talked, you referred to your cleaning service as a commodity and joked you would replace them if the trash cans were not emptied." 

Davis said, "I understand everyone in an organization is important, but surely my talents supersede any sentiment towards a janitor." 

Kathy replied, "Mr. Davis, you are a talented person and I am speaking to you in hopes to make you more valuable to any organization you represent.  In your career, you will meet many people.  They are all significant and deserve your attention and care.  Even if all you do is smile and say hello to your cleaning service...you will be a company conduit connecting them with the greater company purpose." 

Davis responded, "I think I understand now, thank you for your time, and I will never forget this lesson."  Tomorrow, I will start learning more about people and make my organization better. 

Kathy said, "wonderful, the moment you do that you will also make yourself better.  Good luck."

Colin was a bus driver in England.  The company’s key measurement was the recording of actual time to scheduled time at selected stops.  Colin was a below average performer and, over the course of a month, he received the necessary discipline to reflect and correct his performance.  As a result, Colin's metric began to substantially improve.  His name catapulted through the employee ranking until he ranked among the top of the list of drivers.  Colin became a celebrated employee and one who was dubbed with advancement potential.  Colin now walked with a swagger and others marveled at his changes in himself and his success.  He was on the fast track to a leadership position when the climax swiftly came about. 

The complaint department trended feedback on Colin's bus number and the results warranted his immediate dismissal.  How did Colin go from first to worst?  To improve the metric, Colin started passing by scheduled stops with the assumption that a bus behind him would pick up the delayed passengers.  Once Colin received praise, he confused the metric with his intended purpose and increased the bypassing of scheduled stops.  The good metric became short-lived, though, as the repetition of missed stops angered the passengers to the point of filing multiple complaints.  The metric could not supersede the authenticity of the nature of the complaints; therefore, he was terminated.  Colin’s defense was that other buses were on the same route so the passengers were only slightly delayed and he had his metrics to beat.  

Commentary - Colin was hired to transport people from one location to another and perform that service on a specific time frame.  Colin lost his sense of purpose with his job.  He morphed his serving people function into a metric result that did not correlate to his service performance.  Although this story makes the loss of purpose easy to understand, there are several situations in business where it's hard to keep the core purpose of our function in focus.  How do you keep yourself in focus?  Be truthful in evaluation of yourself and compare your performance with regards to known company goals.  Additionally, ask yourself...what I am here for and what am I supposed to be doing?  Regardless of the organization, it is safe to say that you are specifically here to meet the needs of others.  If you operate with that sincere premise, then you'll maintain a customer focus, which will allow you to sidestep the pitfall that drove Colin down the road to termination.  

"Dad, I don't think I can do it," gasp the daughter.

Dad, who was sitting on the couch reading, looked up and noticed a sincere look of worry on his daughter's face.  Dad tried to calm her by saying, "Ah honey, it's normal to be nervous.  You have been preparing and you'll do fine. 

The daughter replied, "I petrified I am going to screw it up." 

Dad smiled and tried to sooth his daughter's nerves by pointing to his head and saying, "Ah honey, anything important that you do in life will be played out in your mind before any actions reach your mouth, hands and feet.  The most important thing to do is develop an enhancing attitude.  Once you do that you will fear nothing in life and you will enhance whatever you endeavor." 

The daughter replied, "I need any help I can get so please tell me the difference between a normal attitude and an enhanced attitude." 

The dad put the paper to his side, motioned to follow him to the kitchen and with a grin said, "Let me show you."  Once in the kitchen dad said, "I need you to get a pot full of water and set it to boil."  While action was heating up on the stove, dad rummaged through the refrigerator looking for his props.  Dad found what he was looking for and partially concealed his findings as he turned towards the stove. 

"What are we eating?", his daughter asked with tinge of sarcasm in her voice. 

Next to the stove on the counter, dad sat a carrot, an egg and a handful of coffee grinds.  Before his daughter could speak, he continued, "I want you to inspect each element and then place it into the boiling water.  She did as instructed and they both stood in silence for a few moments watching the elements react to the boiling water.  Dad took a spoon and fished the carrot and egg out of the pot and sat them on the countertop. 

Dad looked at his daughter and said, "There are three types of attitude we can possess as we face challenges in our lives: soft, hard and enhancing. 

The daughter lost her patience and quipped, "Dad, you could have told me that without bringing me here to the kitchen.  Is there a point in all this?" 

Dad felt the props had reached their purpose so he pointed to the boiling water and said, "See that?  That pot represents life and the boiling water represents situations we face in life.  Then dad pointed to the carrot and asked her to pick it up.  She picked it up and grimaced as it started to squish in her hands.  Dad chuckled and commented, "That carrot represents a hard person who encountered the boiling of life and that person came out with a soft attitude."  Dad then picked up the egg and let it drop on the counter creating only a few cracks.  Dad added, "Look at that.  The egg represented a fragile person who experienced life and came out with a hard attitude." 

The daughter interrupted, "Ok, I bet the coffee represented a person with an enhancing attitude. 

The dad replied, "Absolutely, the coffee grinds represented a nervous-to-pieces person, such as yourself, but came out of life making it actually better for everyone...just smell."  Dad continued, "That is my wish for you to witness life with an enhancing attitude."