The Secret to Achieving More with Less - The 80/20 Principle

Richard packs a lot of great theory into his book but with so little examples of the theories it is hard to grasp the meaning of the them. I did learn something like the book should have 20% theory and 80% examples instead of 80% theory and 20% examples.

This book is basically a talking book with pictures. It doesn't really tell a story, it lectures you on how the 80/20 principle works. Fine his textbook does that. This SmarterComics is a repeat of that textbook with pictures scattered here and there.

I found this to be a useful book about prioritizing your life; there are similar concepts explored in other popular self help books (Essentialism, 7Habits come to mind) but the methodical structure of this book and its ease of reading made it an enjoyable read. The overall concept is that only 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our yield. I'm sure all of us have experienced this at one time or another - a project that gets pulled together at the last minute may take 20% of the time we'd normally have spent, but may be 80% as good as the best we could have done. Koch implores us to focus on what we are best at and optimize that niche. As a physician, I can't really cut down much on my hours (I'm a resident) and I can't avoid some of the so-called scut work, or red tape, of my job- they're part of the profession. But on my off time, I was forced to admit to myself that probably only 20% of my time is spent productively. Surfing the Internet when I get home from work is one I'm guilty of, as well as trying to sift through nonurgent emails, many of them journal updates or even advertisements -- not only do I not learn much, it's tiring as well. I can't control the 80 hrs I work per week (for the time being), but the rest is up to me. Spending that would-be web time doing yoga, working on research, or actually sitting down to read an article are much more productive and leave me with a sense of satisfaction. I definitely felt that this book was a nudge in the right direction to a more fulfilled, meaningful life.

I'm a successful entrepreneur, investor, former C-level executive, and a successful one at that. I've maintained and manged over $2.8bn in income producable companies and assets for decades. I read non-fiction books as a past time. Most business/leadership/self help books are intended to benefit the author financially, and hoping most people know and remember this, I rarely publically review what I read.
Some reviewers note that the 80/20 principle (as Koch defines it) shouldn't be over-applied outside of the business or leadership realm. I'll let others address that, I'm reviewing this specifically in the context of being a business book.
Firstly, allocating business capital, whether it be human, financial or brand equity to the most profitable areas is not a novel idea; it dates back to the formation of the concept of market force capitalism itself ( https://www.the store.com/Wealth-Nations-Coterie-Classics-Smith-ebook/dp/B01DR2DN4W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1535550362&sr=8-2&keywords=adam+smith+wealth+of+nations ). The most recent example of communicating this in a simpler way was in the 1960s by Peter Drucker ( https://www.the store.com/Essential-Drucker-Druckers-Management-Essentials/dp/0061345016/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535551991&sr=1-4&keywords=peter+drucker ).
However, Koch delivers this same information in this book, analogizing to a Pareto distribution, as if he's discovered a novel concept. He's also making quite a bad mistake by misinforming others by doing this. A Pareto distribution, rarely ever referred to as an ("80/20") for good reason, is a good tool to use within leadership at a high level. The Pareto principle is not the Pareto distribution itself, it's the generalization of the outcome of the logarithmic distribution. The author is inaccurate and misleading that there is a circumstance where it would account for a number greater than 100. He also has no grasp of the usage of either; it's neither is an actionable piece of information by any Fortune 1000 company (nor) by any entrepreneur of measured success. It's also incompatible as a use case for those who prescribe a single-analysis theory to profitability and business growth. There are actually much better models, if you prescribe to any of the single analysis theories; such as % of Market Penetration, awareness and brand recognition % by targeted demographics, etc., which are substantially more profitable long term.
He goes onto write, as his time as a consultant, that he used this tool to consult a company to double-down on the most profitable 20% customers and shed the least profitable customers by harvesting them or eliminating human resources to their needs completely. This is the motivator behind the business decisions that Toys R' Us had recently used on their way to bankruptcy court.
Consulting companies, such as his, are used to "pump and dump" a company, generally, by making the financials look better for a few quarters so that there can be an exit to a few already wealthy shareholders. If you recall, Anderson Consulting and others were focused on short term techniques, like this thecnique, with Enron. Bain & Co, where he's also been a consultant, has prescribed this over and over again with terrible results: outsource everything you can, or what you can't do or which has a higher cost internally. How many of you loved the experience you've had with companies who have neglected you and have outsourced their support? How do you compare a face-to-face experience with, say, the Apple Genius bar with a call-in tech support person who can't relate to your issue and you can barely understand them? And while product production outsourced to offshore production have improved in quality recently, how would you rate the average imported toy, for example, on the basis of durability and sustainability versus internally manufactured ones? This isn't xenophobia; companies (like GE, Apple, Dell, etc) successfully manufacture overseas but they are doing so largely under the umbrella of their own management. This is called capital allocation using geographic considerations (such as cost) as a factor of production. Neglect the input and the output, long-term, will not sustain growth.
Furthermore, to take the simplest example of how bad the advice given in this book is, if 80% of your profit is being generated by 20% of your customer base, it moves onto a decision tree [thus it leads to more complex analysis, not a simpler decision]. Many times, this is because that 20% customer base may be mature in the sales pipeline wherein the 80% is new business or maintains a backup relationship with your company (i.e. you aren't their primary supplier). His action would be to strip that new business away. However, every successful CEO I know will point out that it's this base where the greatest amount of profit is, not the other way around. So the customers who are asking for the most innovative products (which can lead a company to further marketshare, and with that, growth) would be cut away in his opinion. These customers are also generating competitive insight, since they are frequently the ones which have a longer list of suppliers they use.
If Jack Welch in the 1990's would have utilized Koch's advice, GE would have stuck with lightbulbs and not diversified into medical and aerospace technologies. It was entrant consumers of theirs during this time (which clearly took 80% of their R&D & managerial budget) that drove their innovations in this area that have insulated them from self-destructing when lightbulbs later became unprofitable to them in 2010.
Finally, there are better written books on customer or business focus ( https://www.the store.com/Pumpkin-Plan-Strategy-Remarkable-Business-ebook/dp/B0064VPS24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535543081&sr=8-1&keywords=pumpkin+plan ) & ( https://www.the store.com/Closing-Execution-Gap-Leaders-Companies-ebook/dp/B003M69WC6/ref=sr_1_16?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1535543141&sr=1-16&keywords=focus+on+customers ), if that is indeed the goal. But remember, this was the underlying strategy behind much of the defunct airline industry (TWA, Pan Am, etc) and now many retailers. From an entrepreneurial or business perspective, the information in this book is as useful as an MBA from 1940.
Innovation simply requires iteration with testing & experimentation. Testing is done on the entrant customer(s) (often the least profitable customers!). Growing business CEOs will always define that decisions are made more on probabilities of success on whether to green light each capital allocation. A good primer on this is Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke ( https://www.the store.com/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions/dp/0735216355 ). While her terms are different, the DNA of decision making is spot-on to an entrepreneur with a growth agenda.
For an entrepreneur determining to simplify their business and their lives down to a minimalist effort, there are also better primers on this strategy. Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Workweek ( https://www.the store.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tim+ferriss+4-hour+workweek&sprefix=Tim+Ferr%2Cstripbooks%2C186&crid=BBKJ6JI4KOK6 ) is obviously the best known primer, and while it's not a new strategy either, Mr. Ferriss doesn't hide anything about his intention of making himself money from the sale of his books.
Business books should be digested as either entertainment or, in rarer cases, as insightful and thought provoking ( https://www.the store.com/Malcolm-Gladwell/e/B000APOE98/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1535556350&sr=1-1 ); Malcolm Gladwell's background in journalism assists in being the latter because he's an excellent writer. He can synthesize business in a way that can insight - and even inspire - many of us.
But please readers, beware! There is no panacea that should "change your life forever" (as some reviewers have said about this book). Your goals aren't achievable by a hack; there are no secrets, and yes - hard work is still required if your goal is business growth and/or long term profitability.

This was the MOST REPETITIVE Book I have ever seen. The author Kept mentioning How great and amazing the 20/80 principal all the time. By the way he mention "The 20/80 Principle" in almost every sentence of the book. That was very annoying. We know the book is about it no need to keep saying it in each sentence. In addition, he did not use enough supporting data, Instead, he used his observation and opinion to force this principle to all life aspects. It is good principle but not to the extent he goes to. At certain points I felt like reading a book of False Sconce. Where he link the secret of life with this principle.
I wish if the Author used his principle and included the only 20% useful.
I feel I wasted my money on this book.
If you want the benefit of this book, go and read a summary of the useful 20% from any place. You will get better results and save your time. and money

Personally; having read this book, at least 5 separate times in the past. It's a hidden gem in the world of "Mind-feed". I don't recommend this book, for readers who can't take the time to analyze the content. The content in and of itself, is all Common Sense. There-fore the core message will escape most people, who are linear thinkers. The author is absolutely correct, when he states that 20% of the people get 80% of the best results. It's all in management of productivity, as opposed to "time management". Most people get the same amount of hours, as everyone else does. But it all boils down to how we construct our usage of that time. People run around like "chickens with their heads cut off". Then wondering why they don't get results at the end of the day. In peoples' day to day lives; most of their activities can be out-sourced (laundry, dry-cleaning, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, etc.) allowing them time, for their most productive results. This is one of the things that top achievers / top earners have figured out. Focus on what you're good at. And leave the mundane activities, to everyone else. If you're good at sales; then FOCUS ON SALES. Most of your day, should be geared to selling to your top prospects. The money earned from doing that, should pay for all of the other activities that "need to be done". But the 80% of people, try to take on "everything under the sun", and then wonder why they are burned out, with very little to show for it. The 80 / 20 Principle at work. It's all Common Sense. This book doesn't need to be "entertaining", in my opinion. It's focused. And to people like myself, that's what counts. It's like people with "Smart phones". They have all of these applications on their phones, to stay busy. But they neglect the things that are most important (weather, traveling directions, etc.) This book leaves room for the Top 20%, to accomplish more in the course of their day. More power to us. If you're ready to become more focused, and take your productivity to the next level; then this book MUST BE IN YOUR COLLECTION!

The knowledge in this book is life changing. Others have said it didn't take 250 pages to explain the 80/20 principle. Strictly speaking this is true. Then there's the value of hammering this new way of thinking into your mind so that you can apply it to your life. Read every page and just watch and feel your reality changing.

First I have been working diligently on de cluttering my personal and business life. I have read so many simplifying and de-cluttering and efficiency books I almost have a clutter problem with all the books on the subject. (Cured that recently too with the Kindle 2.)
I run three business. One brick and morter and two online. I was getting over four hundred emails a day and was drowning in mail and spam. So I utilized ideas / suggestions from several sources to cure my problems. From the Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss we started using detailed faq's lists on our websites and an auto-responder that answered many questions so we would no longer have to reply to as many emails. For the ones we do answer the questions are predictable and we saved the answers as email drafts that way we just cut and paste and all done.
For the Spam we ran our eight email accounts into one google mail as they have the best spam filters and you can reply from the email address to which the mail was sent so they dont know that anything is happening. And suggestions from the life hacker Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better by Gina Tripani has some interesting ideas for sure.
Keeping your inbox empty we use suggestions from Stress Less and Zen to Done by Leo Babauta and you would not believe how much better you feel when things are under control. But it is you who must Work the system or you will be overwhelmed again.
A much more detailed program is used in Getting Things Done David Allen book, but the above is kind of the simplified version that I currently prefer.
And for just getting rid of all the clutter in your life any of the books from Peter Walsh, How to Organize (Just About) Everything, and Enough Already, are great even though they tend to recover some of the material from his other books somewhat but thats not a big deal since the info is worth repeating. Another good author but she covers pretty much the same thing is Julie Morgenstern. The books by Koch on the 80/20 principle are also worth looking into as his series points out the things that are worth doing. For the paper clutter in my life I have a digital sender scanner and have scanned over four full file cabinets into Adobe PDF computer files. I have done this with pictures too as you can also save them info Jpeg and Jiff files. While there are tons more books out there and I seem to have most of them, these are the best to get things under control and to get you the time to do the things that matter to you.

Some people are suprised that it is possible to write a whole book about a rather straightforward idea like the 80/20 principle, the idea that 20% of the resources create 80% of production. The genius of Richard Koch is to point out that this principle is more than just one of many principles used in domains like finance, quality management or software development. It is a principle that can be used as a lens for understanding the world in general. In fact, "The 80/20 Principle" could almost be referred to as a Bible for those believe as Koch does and want to live the 80/20 way. Although this particular book is the bestselling of all the 20+ books written by Koch, many of them, perhaps most of them, deal with the 80/20 principle in one way of another. After completing "The 80/20 principle" he wrote "The 80/20 revolution" which was more like a case study of people who were living according to the 80/20 gospel. He then wrote "The power laws" (aka "The natural laws of business" or "The 80/20 principle and 92 other principles") which explains how the 80/20 is an example of a power law and then goes on to discuss the 80/20 principle in the context of these other laws found in biology, physics and social science. This was followed by the self-improvement book "The 80/20 way", and more recently he has published "The 80/20 manager". The 80/20 principle is also discussed in many of his books about strategy and leadership, and he has also written two books dealing with the 80/20 principle in society in general, "The third revolution" and "Suicide of the west", exploring ideas from the final chapter in the first edition of "The 80/20 principle".

"The 80/20 principle" is a wonderful book. It consists of four parts. The first chapter in part one deals with the history of the 80/20 principle and how the effectiveness of the principle can be explained in the context of chaos theory. The second chapter explains the 80/20 method, both in terms of how it is used in quality management and elsewere as a statistical method (80/20 analysis) and how it can be thought of as model for intuitive reasoning (80/20 thinking).

The second part of the book deals with applications of the 80/20 principle in business. Koch presents a list of 10 areas, although, not surprising, the two first items on his list (strategy & quality) - representing 20% of the list, probably accounts for 80% of successful use of the principle in business. This does not mean that other issues like cost reduction, project management, decision making, inventory etc should be forgotten. There are insightful comments on how the 80/20 principle can be used in all ten areas and beyond, but strategy and quality represent two fundamentally different ways of using the idea, i.e. to improve effectiveness (strategy) and improve efficiency (quality).

The third part of the book is concerned with personal use of 80/20 as contrasted with business use. What this means in practice is time management, and although it is concerend with making priorities, the main insight is that people spend too much time on action and too little time on thinking. It is the 20% of our best ideas that account for 80% of our success, so the important issue is to avoid spending all day doing things. We need to think. He refers to this as combining laziness with high ambitions.

The fourth part of the book is different in the original 1997 and the revised 2007 edition. In the original version he speculated about using the 80/20 principle as tool for improving society. Although one may agree or disagree with his suggestions, it is certainly useful reading as it helps us understand how Koch himself is applying the 80/20 principle to absolutely everything in the world. As this final chapter later evolved into two books, first "The third revolution" and later "Suicide of the west", in the 2007 update of "The 80/20 principle" he removed the political manifesto and wrote reflectively on how he his thinking had evolved during the past ten years instead. Although this includes responding to criticism of the book in terms of discussing issues like corner-cutting, sustainabiliy and balance, his philosophy still remains the same. We should improve the efficiency of things we have to do by applying 80/20 analysis while using 80/20 thinking for identifying and cultivating the things that really matter to us.

This book cannot be recommended highly enough. It is a philosophical masterpiece showing how one can see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower by living life according to the 80/20 principle. A modern masterpiece.

"Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least"

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The 80/20 Principle, aka The Pareto Principle, is a theory originally formed based on the observation that 20% of a country's population produces 80% of the wealth.

In this book, author Richard Koch argues that the Pareto Principle can be applied to many different situations in both business and in our private lives.

Here is a brief walkthrough of The 80/20 Principle:

Part One: Overture

Most systems have an imbalance in them where a minority of causes or inputs create a majority of the results or output. This is caused by small fluctuations in seemingly minor events, similar to chaos theory. Feedback loops keep a system moving in one direction until hitting a tipping point, at which point small efforts make a big difference.

There are two ways to apply the 80/20 principle: 80/20 thinking and 80/20 analysis. Thinking 80/20 requires you to investigate the facts and quantify the output. The analysis provides insight from the collection of thoughts. One point to remember when reading. First, the fact that 80 and 20 add up to 100 is a coincidence. The point is that a small amount of input creates a majority of the results. It could be that 20% of your effort only creates 70% of the output, or maybe it creates 90%.

Part Two: Corporate Success Needn't Be a Mystery

In this section the author explores how to apply the 80/20 principle to a business. Generally a business will want to focus on the few areas where it can excel, in those areas where it has a competitive advantage.

Segmentation - understanding each portion of your business and how it affects profitability through revenue and margins, is key to the business analysis. The most profitable areas are the areas where you should focus your effort. The author pushes for business simplicity; a focus on key areas can help your business excel by cutting waste. In addition to finding the 20% of the business that fuels the most profits, its important to find the core customers and provide exceptional service to them.

Overall thinking 80/20 means you begin to move towards high-value uses, high-value assets, and high-value customers. We need to realize that change will happen, equilibrium is an illusion. Take a look at Microsoft Windows. After over a decade of domination, Mac OS X and Linux are slowly building up steam and bringing a serious challenge. When Michael Dell suggested Apple pay back share holders, he never thought that Apple would have the resurgence that it did by leveraging their success with the iPod.

Part Three: Work Less, Earn and Enjoy More

Brining the 80/20 principle into your personal life means recognizing that very few events contribute to our overall happiness. We should try to leverage those good times, and focus less on the low value times. The same goes for productivity. It's difficult to be productive all hours of the day, so you should do high value activities in the times you are most productive.

Applying the 80 principle to your career is similar to applying it in a business. Finding the appropriate career requires doing something that you are both good at and that you enjoy doing. When you do this you will likely excel above your peers and be rewarded for your contribution. The author outlines his thoughts on the 10 rules to career success, as well as 4 ways to leverage your time to create the most rewards.

Recommendation:

The 80/20 Principle is a mixed bag. I think it is definitely a step in the right direction for someone looking for an analysis framework. But I feel like some of the ideas in the book are dangerous to follow.

For instance, the author suggests that if an investment is successful you should double and redouble your bet. This kind of leverage can be good for your profits, but it can also be disastrous for your portfolio should your analysis prove to be wrong. If you are a business you might find out that just because an area of business was profitable doesn't mean that you should bet the farm on it. The banks that have gone under from bad mortgage debt are proof of that.

In the chapter on time management the author makes the ludicrous statement that Warren Buffet became rich by doing a limited amount of analysis and being lazy with his investment portfolio, since there is very low turnover compared to most trader's portfolios. Anyone who knows about Warren Buffet's investment style knows that his investment method, while simple, is far from easy or "lazy." I think these kinds of beliefs can get people into trouble.

There also seems to be very limited application of the 80/20 principle itself. There are only so many ways that you can tell a reader that small inputs create large output. Overall I think this book is worth reading, but it's probably better to skim through it. You can actually start putting the 80/20 principle to work right away. Reading 20% of this book will probably give you an 80% understanding of the principle.

This book may sounds great as many people reviewed it. But it provide to narrow view of reality. Yes avoiding unproductive part of business and concentration on most profitable and so on is a good idea. But besides of this implication the idea is insane. Say why we need to support old and sick people? Same is true to almost every aspect of this book. Say author reasoning on society or big enterprise inefficiency. He did not take in account international pressure and many marketing aspects. Say why produce many variations of modern electronics? The standard answer to satisfy different customers. The real necessity is to fill shelf space by particular brand. From production point of view it is waste of resources (author position) from marketing point it is rational. The stupid idea to start your own business. If every one can run business? Also, advice to earn more by working in service and so on then who will bake bread? Author provide wide disrespect to majority of people and professions. The main driver of our progress by author is education and science. Both require a hard work.
In general book built on believe basis. Say I mentioned well known or respectful names, institutions and so on as an argument that my conclusions (because I familiar with so many fact you (reader) does not know) definitely true.
Book is definitely manipulative and engaging to parasite approach to the life.

Simply put, I love this book. Richard Koch has written a gem and it's a book that should remain on your bookshelf for repeated review and reference.
The Pareto Principle states that, in fairly accurate estimation, 20% of your attentions/energies will generate 80% of your results (no matter what scenario you apply it to). This principle, the genesis of an acute Italian philosopher's mind, is a profound revelation and one that has borne true over and over.
While the theory has been around for multi-decades, it is only now getting the attention it deserves, particularly by the corporate set. I highly recommend it to my fellow professionals, particularly those who're juggling multiple projects or managing people groups. Applying the principle to your own job function and expectations will greatly benefit you and your realm of responsibility - you'll see results, even with less of your personal time invested.
I read the book in a day - and will read it again several times more, I'm sure! Get the book, read it and find yourself generating a more balanced work/personal life, saving time on the job and getting the results you (and your boss!) are looking for!

Sometimes a single idea or reflection is worth the price of the book, especially if it leads to new pathways of thinking.

In an ironic twist, this book is a self reinforcing example of the principle Mr. Koch highlights. 80% of the value in the book comes from 20% of the content, with the other four fifths meant only to increase the number of pages to publishable length.

This book is valuable not because it has any specific advice or instruction for the reader (do this, do that etcetera),but because it can help you reassess your own life, or your own business, in potentially groundbreaking ways.

Koch's idea that the average "busy" individual has a surplus of time, rather than a sharp scarcity of it, is intriguing and worth pondering.

As an individual who often feels that there are too few hours in the day to get everything done, I was both fascinated and horrified to see how much of my time I use ineffectively... even though I fancy myself something of a productivity nut.

p.s. Would it be superfluous to point out the 80 / 20 like efficiency of this short review?

Tim Ferriss. - How he developed The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body.
Will Marre'/Stephen Covey. - How these business/life leaders created such a powerful work-life balance process.
Olafur Arnalds/George Winston. - Listen and you'll hear how they've stripped notes from the musical score to give us just enough. Perfect.

No need to go further to explain The Pareto Principle in life and business.

By applying this simple concept: 20% of your effort accomplishes 80% (or more) of your desired result. Meaning the rest is a waste of your energy, time and expenses.

Simple, right? You'd think.

But in reality, we as humans get very myopic very quickly. And end up brute-forcing our way through work, life, problems.

The book has always been seemingly counterintuitive. Until you look beneath the cover. And this illustrated version makes it fun and engaging beyond geek speak and the typical academic application. It's fun. It's cool. It's even awesome as a tool for central discussions amongst project teams.

The illustrated version by our friends at SmarterComics.com is truly all you need to get the gist, and apply it. Today.

Love this. I'm getting copies for my kids for Christmas. And for my business partners (to keep us refining our processes and being efficient, productive and happy).

Some additional tools worth examining within this genre':
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman, where Tim describes, in detail, how he applies the Pareto Principle in every area of health, fitness... even sex. Really.

Richard's newest book, Superconnect: Harnessing the Power of Networks and the Strength of Weak Links which actually creates a valuable discussion around how the 20% he referenced in the 80/20 Principle is different today than when he wrote the book. Facebook and Twitter fans will dig his insights here.

Brainstorming and Creativity Software - Thoughtoffice Innovation Tools - Mac OSX - Windows XP-7 is software that is a nod to Richards most recent book - associative thinking and how that leads to more effectiveness. Even if not directly. Great comics like Drew Carey and great writers like Rick Warren both use this to rewire their brains for more efficient expressions.

Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage - David Meerman Scott expounds on how real-time insertion of your message into trending topics can help you leapfrog your competition, riding the tide of someone else's related events, PR and news stories. It's the 20% refined to the Nth degree.

I love ALL of SmarterComics works to date. They have really taken the graphic novel to new heights. And made complex ideas accessible in a single sitting.

The author does a great job of explaining the concept. The author gives you many examples how to apply the concept. That is also the source of the book's main flaw, it keeps describing the same concept over and over again in nearly the exact same way. I would have liked to see more new information instead of the same information over and over again in a slightly different way each time. But overall it is a great book. I plan to use the concept to increase my efficiency in many different aspects of my life. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to cut out the clutter from different areas of their life and focus only on the things that really matter.

There are few self help/achievement books covering only a single topic that provide as in depth an analysis as the 80/20 Principal. Koch does an admirable job explaining the principle from many perspectives, providing convincing rational regarding the impact of the 80/20 principle and its ensuing significance.

The 80/20 principle is not overly complicated; however, it has profound affects substantiated by numerous samples and situations. Knowing that the majority of results come from the minority of causes is merely the beginning; identifying those causes in every area of your life and making adjustments to take advantage of this principle is the genuine message offered in the book.

Koch also provides as a bonus a chapter on negotiation describing in detail the implications of the 80/20 principal. True to his message, 80% of the value in this book is found among 20% of its pages...happy hunting.

In today's knowledge-based economy, people are everything. The 80/20 Individual holds within it the potential to unleash the power within yourself and others within your organization.

For me, this book literally changed my life in that it finally sold me on the concept of intensely focusing on my core strengths, rather than vainly attempt to be good at everything. Being good at everything is simply an impossibility and Koch says that energy should be redirected into 20-percent activities.

According to Koch, To become an 80/20 individual, you will need to

take the following nine steps:

1. Use the most creative 20 percent of your imagination and intellect.

2. Spawn and mutate great ideas in creative ways.

3. Find the vital few profit sources in your current or prospective business.

4. "Enlist Einstein" by recognizing the centrality of time in every activity.

5. Hire great individuals - that is, other 80/20 wealth creators.

6. Use your current company's profit potential to your advantage.

7. Exploit creative practices and ideas from other firms.

8. Secure enough capital to succeed.

9. Make zigzag progress - by recognizing that various stages of growth require different approaches.

I'll leave you with this question (which is the question that most changed my life):

---> "What thing are you better at than nearly anyone else?" <---

-----------------

Michael Davis - Editor, Byvation

You can't avoid hearing about the 80/20 Principle in life, but this book is the first thing that really forced me to sit down and think criticially about how to apply it. I'd highly recommend this book - particularly the first few chapters - to folks working within a business context. In particular, his examples about how to analyze your current product units were insightful and non-trivial. He doesn't just recommend the obvious thing (cut 80% of your work), but integrates 80/20 with future value and market potential analyses.

Similar to the other reviewers, I found the example set rather limited, his statistics and tables motivating but unconvincing, and his prose less than compelling. Even given that, though, this book deserves a read and some serious contemplation.

In The 80/20 Principle, Koch proffers that 20 percent of what companies and individuals do generates over 80 percent of their positive results (a theory that he attributes to Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist around the turn of the 20th century). Koch proposes that by identifying the 20 percent of the activities that generate 80 percent of the results and increasing the effort put into those 20-percent activities you can dramatically improve results. To this end he provides an astute evaluation of the economic and social realities of business.
Koch goes further, though, and tries to extrapolate the 80/20 theory to success, happiness and life in general. While some of what he suggests makes sense, his examples seem to get progressively weaker as he moves away from the world of business.
The book's other main flaw results from its severe organizational problems. Koch seems to have a very limited number of examples - and because of their repeated re-use (and in many cases their limited pertinence to the topic at hand) the book seems to weave in and out of topics, making it somewhat difficult to follow for anything else than a linear read.
The principal, itself, is almost a truism, which as Koch points out, is not thought about nearly enough. The books main strength is that he explains the concept quite well. Unfortunately, the extrapolation to life in general and the organizational difficulties make 80 percent of the book just not worth reading. Read the first two chapters - they explain the principal - and the last chapter (which basically explains all of the extrapolation theories) then put the book down - you will have read the 20% of the book that contains over 80% of the value!

Editor, Stern's Management Review online, Stern's SourceFinder, and HRconsultant.com ([email protected]) Koch takes a fresh look at the 80/20 principle and finds that the basic imbalance observed by Pareto 100 years ago can be found in modern life. Whether you're investing, analyzing company sales, or looking at performance, you'll find that it's usually 20 percent that produces 80 percent of the total result. This book shows how to identify that 20 percent and get more out of business and life.
This same principle may be applied to books: 20% of them (at best) yield 80% of what is of significance; this book falls into that 20% category. Recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, the CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

Richard Koch masterfully amplifies and focuses Vilfredo Pareto's familiar Principle of Imbalance for 21st century readers. Whether you run a household or work within a giant corporation, you will find useful insights into how to apply your time for the greatest improvements in your life and your organization's bottom line. At The Stanton Group we continuously apply 80/20 logic to our manufacturing management consulting services, and the bottom-line results have been exciting. This approach helps us to build on already existing client strengths and apply them to business areas where they will yield the most benefit. This book is a real gem, a must-read for all managers who want to keep organizations lean without cutting muscle.

The principle is simple, but counter-intuitive: Nature creates imbalances. This is true for money (20% of people have 80% of the wealth), crime (20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes), energy usage (15% of population uses 85% of energy), competition (20% of suppliers have 80% of market share)and even carpet (20% gets 80% wear and tear). . .
In a non-linear world:
1) Celebrate exceptional productivity . . .look for the short cut. . .be selective. . . only do what you do best. (pg 38)
2) Keep it simple. Size often creates complexity - which in turn creates inefficiency. Pour your effort into the 20% that makes a difference. Sometimes it is better to lose unprofitable customers to competitors (pg 93)
3) Hold on to your good customers and employees forever!
4) The key to 80/20 is not time-mangement. Don't try to do more. Just do more of the right things.
5) Do what you enjoy because enthusiasm and success is a complementary cycle.
6) Three great lists:
The top 10 low-value uses of time (pg 161)
The top 10 highest value uses of time (pg 161)
The ten golden rules for career success (pg 194)

There is definite benefit to the book. I know there are some criticisms which outline bits where people feel the 80-20 principle doesn't work and thus feel that Koch went too far in trying to apply it. I'm less inclined to agree with this as I feel, as with anything, there is no universal thing that works for everybody. Koch says as much in at least one place in the book, "If X doesn't sound like a good idea, then this might not be your thing"--that sort of idea. I feel this is a toolbox--take out what you want, leave the rest where it is.

My main concern is that the book is far too long. Once the point about how 80-20 works is made, Koch seems to keep giving example after example after example. And not even interesting, in-depth case study examples either. But just lists of things. And those get old very quickly.

Does that mean the book is not worth reading or listening to? Not at all. The audiobook (and I assume there's only the one version--without cover art it's hard to tell) is wanting in that the reader is too ambitious. He has an interesting voice and accent already but feels that's not enough, thus his penchant for slipping into different (and often hilariously bad) accents and voices for quoted material within the book. This is frankly distracting. In a physical copy of the book (I've only listened to the audiobook) there may be clear delineations between when we're seeing Koch's words and when Koch is quoting someone. This does not come across in the audiobook and instead the reader launches (seemingly at random) into another voice. It took a while before I realized these were quotes and not Koch's words and thus the change.

Again, the guy reading this has a great and interesting voice and doesn't need to change it up every time somebody else's words come into play. It distracts from what is otherwise a fascinating (if bloated--see above) listen.

Richard Koch masterfully amplifies and focuses Vilfredo Pareto's familiar Principle of Imbalance for 21st century readers. Whether you run a household or work within a giant corporation, you will find useful insights into how to apply your time for the greatest improvements in your life and your organization's bottom line. At The Stanton Group we continuously apply 80/20 logic to our manufacturing management consulting services, and the bottom-line results have been exciting. This approach helps us to build on already existing client strengths and apply them to business areas where they will yield the most benefit. This book is a real gem, a must-read for all managers who want to keep organizations lean without cutting muscle.

The principle is simple, but counter-intuitive: Nature creates imbalances. This is true for money (20% of people have 80% of the wealth), crime (20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes), energy usage (15% of population uses 85% of energy), competition (20% of suppliers have 80% of market share)and even carpet (20% gets 80% wear and tear). . .
In a non-linear world:
1) Celebrate exceptional productivity . . .look for the short cut. . .be selective. . . only do what you do best. (pg 38)
2) Keep it simple. Size often creates complexity - which in turn creates inefficiency. Pour your effort into the 20% that makes a difference. Sometimes it is better to lose unprofitable customers to competitors (pg 93)
3) Hold on to your good customers and employees forever!
4) The key to 80/20 is not time-mangement. Don't try to do more. Just do more of the right things.
5) Do what you enjoy because enthusiasm and success is a complementary cycle.
6) Three great lists:
The top 10 low-value uses of time (pg 161)
The top 10 highest value uses of time (pg 161)
The ten golden rules for career success (pg 194)

There is definite benefit to the book. I know there are some criticisms which outline bits where people feel the 80-20 principle doesn't work and thus feel that Koch went too far in trying to apply it. I'm less inclined to agree with this as I feel, as with anything, there is no universal thing that works for everybody. Koch says as much in at least one place in the book, "If X doesn't sound like a good idea, then this might not be your thing"--that sort of idea. I feel this is a toolbox--take out what you want, leave the rest where it is.

My main concern is that the book is far too long. Once the point about how 80-20 works is made, Koch seems to keep giving example after example after example. And not even interesting, in-depth case study examples either. But just lists of things. And those get old very quickly.

Does that mean the book is not worth reading or listening to? Not at all. The audiobook (and I assume there's only the one version--without cover art it's hard to tell) is wanting in that the reader is too ambitious. He has an interesting voice and accent already but feels that's not enough, thus his penchant for slipping into different (and often hilariously bad) accents and voices for quoted material within the book. This is frankly distracting. In a physical copy of the book (I've only listened to the audiobook) there may be clear delineations between when we're seeing Koch's words and when Koch is quoting someone. This does not come across in the audiobook and instead the reader launches (seemingly at random) into another voice. It took a while before I realized these were quotes and not Koch's words and thus the change.

Again, the guy reading this has a great and interesting voice and doesn't need to change it up every time somebody else's words come into play. It distracts from what is otherwise a fascinating (if bloated--see above) listen.

The "80/20 Principle" was a discovery made by Vilfredo Pareto, a 19th century economist. His discovery was profound and has broad implications today. In a limited sense, the author has done a tremendous service by re-introducing the subject to the general public. The problem with Koch's book is that it can be summed up in a paragraph at most and really does a disservice to the essence of Pareto's findings.
Paretos's findings have touched a great many students of business and economics. In fact, every MBA graduate at one time or another has heard of the "80/20 Principle". The "80/20 Principle", also know as Pareto's law, simply states that approximately 80% of the output is a result of just 20% of the input. In Pareto's case, he found that 80% of the world's resources/wealth was under the control of just 20% of the population. Please note that the use of the term 80/20 is used loosely and is not to be taken literally. The disproportionate relationship could easily be 90/10, 65/25, 70/10, etc. The basic idea behind Pareto's law is that the relationship between input and output is rarely if ever balanced. The key then is to isolate what input is causing the most output. This law can apply to an infinite number of disciplines and can be used to increase productivity on the micro and macro level. The list of relationships goes on and on, but here are just a few examples: 1) Business: Customers-to-Sales, Product Lines-to-Sales, Items-to-Sales, Raw Material-to-Finished Product. 2) Sociological: Automobile Type-to-Number of Accidents. 3) Personal: Hours Worked-to-Productivity, Types of Investments-to-Investment Returns, Scheduled Tasks-to-Personal Happiness.
In a nutshell, do not waste money on the purchase of this book. The explanation cited here is the 20% needed to apply the "80/20 Principle" to all areas of life.

This one will really make you think--with so many projects, issues, problems, etc., we deal with daily--a person can become overwhelmed and not know where to start. The 80/20 Principle really helps you to reframe your thinking as you start into the problem analysis mode. As the title suggest--it's the little things that can lead you to the big fix or solution. The author provides many examples of the phenomenon--The Pareto Principle. One of my favorites that I use on many occasions--is that last 20% of time left in a meeting is where you will make 80% of the decisions.

Meu comentário: Interesting reading, but was not with much applicability for me. It is intended to very aggressive people who have a good professional network and want to have their own brand. I guess 90% of people are like me, who is not a business man, don't have political skills and want to make the difference, but without risking everything.

because it's also packed with other BS, like lecturing you on how to use your life and other areas where the author has no authority in. He pointed out some of the voice of opposition, and beat them one after one, However, there is some very important one that he left out. I'm a Hong Kong Chinese, in our 5000years' culture, Yin and Yang has came to play from the very beginning, the author seem to ignore this. For example, he tells you to analyse your life and see which 20% of your life give 80% of your happiness and concentrate on that 20% only. I did just that years ago, but I only got worse, Life is a balance between work and play, you enjoyed that 20% of (yang) activity because you are released from that 80% of (yin) activity. 80% of the tastefulness of hamburger is from 20% of the meat inside, but if you drop the bread on the top and bottom, its taste will become too strong, it'll lose its favor. Similarly, perhaps your honeymoon or a graduation trip to Europe was the most wonderful experience, yet, if you redo that over and over, by principle of marginal return, it'll be boring. If you follow his advice, pretty soon, you'll get bored of everything. 20/80 can be applied perfectly to work, but to play, not so. I also wonder if the author will think 80% of sex pleasure derive from 20% of the time between (yang)climax, so, probably we should drop the (yin) foreplay all together? Well... women suffers if guys do this. ;>

While The Weston Review commends Koch for writing the first "book" on the 80/20 Principle, we find the document short on structured content. Regardless we give this Dali-esque masterwork of the 80/20 Principle 5 stars. One must find filler content to create a book on such a simple principle and Koch did this quite well between the introduction and the crescendo.

The introduction and "Crescendo" bookend a beautiful collage of well-written prose on ad-hoc instances and specific implementations of the 80/20 Principle; however Mr. Koch provides no comprehensive taxonomy to consistently assess and apply the 80/20 Principle. Perhaps this is because assessing framing and then assessing situations again properly is an art and this book falls short on addressing this skill. Mr. Koch simply frames the nature of 80/20 thinking and analysis as "counterintuitive".

If you are seeking a short read, heed the advice Koch's Oxford tutor - read the end of a book, the introduction and the end of the book again, then pick and chose interesting bits of information out of the body of the book you would like to absorb quickly.

The Weston Review questions Mr. Koch's motivation for releasing such valuable information in a paperback book. The book is worth many times its value. We believe this is a way for Koch to make a name for himself and this he does. He impresses us with being the first the write the first "book" on the 80/20 Principle despite its few shortcomings.

In the 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch has captured one of the most important secrets to success in business and individually. He takes an age-old principle and applies it in very practical ways. In my management consulting practice I use this principle more than any other concept. In my work with Chief Executives and Presidents I find that putting this principle in practice has been revolutionary in their business success.

The basic principles of 80/20 thinking are:
* A few things are always much more important than most things, so spend your valuable time and effort on the vital few.
* Progress means moving resources from low-value to high-value uses.
* The best people - meaning the people best fitted to what they are doing and doing the things that make the most money - generate enormous disproportionate value.
* Margins - between value and cost, between effort and reward - are always highly variable.
* Resources are always misallocated by giving too many resources to low-margin activities and too few to high-margin activities.
* Success is under recognized, under celebrated, underrated, undervalued, and under exploited.
* Equilibrium is illusory. Nothing is ever in equilibrium. Innovation is the only constant.
* The biggest wins all start from something which is small.

Along with Koch's second book, The 80/20 Individual, he has given every business executive a gift that can be used over and over again. Probably 20% of the books you read give you 80% of the benefit, so make this one of them.

In 1906, Vilfredo Pareto made the observation that 20% of the population owned 80% of the wealth in Italy. It turned out not to be an aberration. The phenomenon is repeated, not only with regards to wealth distribution, but across many economic and social areas of life.

In The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch explores this idea further, pointing out the pervasiveness of "imbalance", and offering ways to put the 80/20 principle to practical use. It starts with an assumption: 20% of the causes (of anything) produce 80% of the results. For example, 20% of your customers (or products) generate 80% of your revenue. If this is tested with data and proven to be true, the obvious action is to study the traits of those customers and see what can be done to get more just like them. The other 80% of your customers produce only 20% of your revenue. You therefore devote less time and energy to them.

He cites a number of other occurrences of such imbalance:

"In society, 20 percent of criminals account for 80 percent of the value of all crime. Twenty percent of motorists cause eighty percent of accidents....In the home, 20 percent of your carpets are likely to get 80 percent of the wear. Twenty percent of your clothes will be worn eighty percent of the time."

The relationship isn't always precisely 80/20, of course. And the numbers don't have to add to 100. You could have 10 percent of the factors causing 60 percent of the results. The key is the idea of imbalance. The universe is not linear. Koch also ties the 80/20 principle to elements of chaos theory, feedback loops, and tipping points.

But the book is not merely an interesting list of trivial occurrences of imbalance. It helps you think about many aspects of your life, and how they might be improved. Does 20% of your work produce 80% of the results? Do more of the 20%, and less of the rest. Don't succumb to the trap of always trying to manage your time better, cramming ever more activities into your already busy day. Instead, eliminate activities that do not produce significant results (measured in money, output, or just happiness).

Koch also applies this philosophy to investing, with surprisingly good results. When I look back at my own investments, it is certainly true that a minority are responsible for a majority of my returns. The trick, of course, is identifying these "crucial few" ahead of time. While I didn't necessarily agree with all of his investment advice, Koch and I share much common ground. For example, he favors a value approach, and advises readers to "run your gains" and "cull your loss-makers", certainly familiar words to my readers.

Doe the book itself follow the 80/20 rule? Do you get most of the benefit from only 20% of the pages? I'm happy to say "no". Most of the book is helpful and insightful. The only exception in my mind is the end (last 10%), where Koch attempts to apply the 80/20 principle to problems of government and society. This section is a bit of hit-and-miss: some excellent ideas, and some that miss the mark. For example, Koch says it would make sense for the state to create programs (and devote "truly massive energies") in healthy eating, education, and exercise. This, in Koch's mind, would help curtail the minority of habits that create the majority of health problems and thus health care expenditures. He seems to overlook 1) the likely ineffectiveness of such programs, and 2) the resources they drain from other endeavors. But I musn't be too harsh. Koch is generally quite favorable to free markets, and for that he gets high marks from me.

Overall, this is an excellent book, not just because it is an enjoyable read, but because it gets you thinking about real ways you can improve your wealth, health, and happiness. Highly recommended.

Jim Waddell

The Watchful Investor

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