The law of the vital few

Hi and welcome to my blog. You have probably heard of the Pareto principle also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few. This principle states that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. The reality of the law of the vital few is so pervasive in our existence that learning how to hareness its power can result in significant improvement in ones performance. For example 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your sales, 20% of your inventory are responsible for 80% of movements, 20% of your potentials are responsible for 80% of your results, only 20% of the things you do every day are responsible for 80% of your desired results, etc.

The part of this principle that really tickles my fancy and led to my starting this blog is the fact that the 20% vital few in any field are responsible for 80% of the results generated in that field. The distribution of world GDP shows that 80% of the wealth of the world are controlled by the 20% richest nations.

Quintile of Population____________Income

Richest 20%______________________82.7%

Second 20%______________________11.7%

Third 20%________________________2.3%

Fourth 20%_______________________1.4%

Poorest 20%______________________1.2%

Whether or not you believe in the exactness of the figures -80/20 or perhaps it is your view that money is not the only yardstick for measuring performance. Just take a look at any field and you will come back with the conclusion that only few people, companies, etc. are responsible for most of the results generated in their field. Think of the extraordinary results the Tiger Woods, the Orprahs, the Bill Gates, the Warren Buffets, the Nelson Mandelas, the googles, the amazons of this world command.

My question is: is outstanding performance the exclusive reserve of the few? Are some individuals born to occupy the reserved front seats while the rest of the world are destined to the back rows? Can just anyone decide to perform at top percentile levels? Why are majority of people stuck in the bottom 80% and struggling to get a bite of the 20% remnant? How may we go about improving our results to pro level?

Please let me know your views and I'll talk to you soon.

Stephen Ayorinde