How anyone can be more effective with less effort by learning how to identify and leverage the 80/20 principle--the well-known, unpublicized secret that 80 percent of all our results in business and in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts.

The 80/20 principle is one of the great secrets of highly effective people and organizations.

Did you know, for example, that 20 percent of customers account for 80 percent of revenues? That 20 percent of our time accounts for 80 percent of the work we accomplish? The 80/20 Principle shows how we can achieve much more with much less effort, time, and resources, simply by identifying and focusing our efforts on the 20 percent that really counts. Although the 80/20 principle has long influenced today's business world, author Richard Koch reveals how the principle works and shows how we can use it in a systematic and practical way to vastly increase our effectiveness, and improve our careers and our companies.

The unspoken corollary to the 80/20 principle is that little of what we spend our time on actually counts. But by concentrating on those things that do, we can unlock the enormous potential of the magic 20 percent, and transform our effectiveness in our jobs, our careers, our businesses, and our lives.

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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!

247 of 253 found the following review helpful:

If you only read five books, this should be one: 80/20Jan 23, 2003
By newchapter "newchapter"
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)

44 of 44 found the following review helpful:

This Has Real Application for You Today.Dec 06, 2000
By J. Charles Hansen
I read this book about a year ago, and still regularly think of it and apply it's concepts in my life and business.

I have worked in sales for years, so I am very familiar with the 80/20 concept as relates to business. Simply stated in my field of real estate it's a proven fact that in different markets of the country and over time 20% of the agents make 80% of the income. This is true in other types of sales as well. Of course the flipside of this is that the large 80% of the agents only make 20% of the income. Basically a small number of people make most of the money. Why this is has been debated, but it seems to be a consistent rule that holds.

Koch points out how 80/20 is seen in other areas. For example 20% of taxpayers account for 80% of IRS revenue. What Koch does then is expand this rule to all aspects of life. He says that the 80/20 rule holds for all kinds of activities. He says that 20% of your work activity is responsible for 80% of your productivity on the job. And that 20% of your leisure time is responsible for 80% of your happiness. When I read this I just knew intuitively that it is true. So the next step is to figure out what the 20% activities are that are paying off the 80% returns in your work, or personal life, or anything. And then devote your energy into those activities and receive huge returns. He says that we're better off focusing on our strong suits where we're most effective rather than focusing our attention on the areas where we think "we need to improve". This idea alone is priceless.

This is practical, useful material that you can put to use today in your business and personal life. Koch has some seemingly offbeat ideas about playing with time unconventionally, boosting happiness, productivity through being "intelligent and lazy", and more that I loved. It really opened my mind to a range of possibilities.

Koch is a successful businessman who says he researched and could find no other books written on this subject.

67 of 75 found the following review helpful:

NO WONDER ITS THE ONLY BOOK ON 80/20 EVER WRITTENNov 11, 1999

INTERESTING CONCEPT, TEDIOUSLY REPEATED.

I suggest readers borrow this book from a public library and take Richard Koch's Oxford tutor's advice (found on Page 25): "Read the conclusion, then the introduction, then the conclusion again, then dip lightly into any interesting bits.'

More than 80 per cent of the value of this book can be found in 20 per cent or fewer of its pages, and absorbed in less than 20 per cent of the time most people would take to read it through.

Thus re-confirming the 80/20 Principle.

QED

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:

Learn how to double your results with 2/5 effortApr 21, 1998

The 80/20 principle is one of those books where the idea keeps turning over in your head for days after you read it.

The 80/20 rule is one that I use quite often in assessing business situations. The book consists of three parts, an introduction to the rule, its application to business and its application to one's life. Koch does a good job in showing how to apply the 80/20 rule in business.

The real kick from the book is how Koch applies the 80/20 rule to living one's life. If 20% of our efforts yield 80% of the results we can increase our productivity 100% by doubling our 20% activities and eliminating the 80% activities. This would leave you with 60% of your time to do other things, more time with family and friends, hobbies, talking a walk.

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