David beat Goliath, because he had a plan
Provide encouragement to kids but don’t sugarcoat the difficulties, says Hannah McQueen.
Iencourage my kids to dream big. I encourage my clients to dream big. I dream big.
I love the story of the underdog who conquers, and I genuinely believe that for every Goliath there is a David.
Telling our kids to reach for the stars is something parents should do, but we’re doing them a disservice if we don’t explain the rest of the equation.
Because for every measure of inspiration, there must be an equal dose of motivation, hard work, a generous serving of strategy, served with a side of good timing.
This is true when it comes to choosing a career, and it’s true when it comes to starting a business.
Being inspired to pursue a particular career doesn’t ensure you’re suited to that career, that you will excel at it, or even that there are jobs in that field.
The same can be said for business. Anyone can come up with an idea, but not everyone can make that idea into a business, and not every business will become a success.
In fact, according to Bloomberg, 80 per cent of new businesses fail within the first 18 months.
I would wager that these entrepreneurs dreamed big and were motivated, some may even have had the right strategy, but that still didn’t get them there.
For some it may have been that their timing that was off, or they ran out of money and resources.
For many start-up business, lack of funding is their main constraint. Helping your child understand their constraints is not bad parenting, but rather showing them how to overcome or work around these handicaps is powerful.
Don’t teach them to expect plain sailing, teach them how to sail into the wind. This is the start of teaching the importance of strategy.
A good strategy identifies where the opportunities lie, but more importantly, it identifies where the challenges are, and when you will need to think creatively.
As for David, he first had to acknowledge Goliath the giant existed, then formulate a strategy based on the tools he had at his disposal.
He was too small for armour, but worked with what he had – five stones and a slingshot – and won. That result was a combination of creative thinking, timing, confidence and strategy.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the job of the dreaming child, or even their parent to come up with the strategy, but usually someone needs to.
Lofty goals are a dime a dozen. A strategy to achieve the goal is less common; and a wellexecuted plan is surprisingly rare.
As parents, we shouldn’t just tell our kids they should reach for the stars, we need to be brainstorming with them on how they can, and the challenges they may face.