THE APPLE AND THE STONE

Dawson offers insights into entrepreneurship and personal growth via the stories of two well-known figures.

The author, an information technology professional and doctor of education, channels Malcolm Gladwell in this business book. Dawson employs anecdotes from the lives of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and King David to inspire readers to meet present-day challenges. The author emphasizes the ways in which both men, one recent and one in biblical antiquity, found hidden opportunities amid obstacles. In the case of Jobs, Dawson recounts the CEO’s willingness to recalibrate his perspective on Microsoft. Rather than merely treating the Seattle-based software giant as a competitor, Jobs, and Apple, collaborated with their longtime rivals. In the case of David, Dawson focuses on the future king’s decision to fight Goliath at the proper time, pointing out that when David struck Goliath with a stone from his sling, he forewent conventional military means to defeat a rival who always fought within the standard dictates of battle. Avid readers of business books will note that this book follows a well-trodden path by using the lives of famous personages to frame advice. However, Dawson’s book is also a deeply personal account—a kind of bricolage of his own experiences, tips he’s received during his career, and reflections on two people whom he clearly admires. His own experiences drive home the book’s key lessons—emphasizing the necessity of working decisively in pursuit of one’s goals, rather than procrastinating and hoping for circumstances to change. He also writes of his own two-decade long odyssey to first complete a bachelor’s degree and then a doctorate, and he discusses how embracing one’s passions as an entrepreneur or creator can help to drive out self-doubt, which he sees as a silent, persistent enemy of progress.

Familiar wisdom that strengthened by the author’s own story.