Product Description

The 80/20 principle - that 80 per cent of results flow from just 20 per cent of the causes - is a principle adopted by many effective people and organizations. This text shows how you can achieve more with less effort, time and resources, by concentrating on the that 20 per cent. The pattern of predictable imbalance crops up throughout life. In this text, Richard Koch uses a wide range of examples from business, personal and social spheres, to demonstrate the 80/20 principle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123154 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Publisher
The 80/20 Principle can provide a key to control our lives
The 80/20 Principle - that 80% of results come from 20% of the causes - has greatly influenced today's world: but this is the first book showing readers how to use it in a practical and systematic way. The pattern of predictable imbalance which was noted a century ago by Pareto crops up throughout life, and in The 80/20 Principle Richard Koch opens our eyes to the way the world really works. He reinforces the principle with many examples of it in operation - 20% of products account for 80% of profits, as do 20% of customers; 20% of motorists account for 80% of accidents...

Most things we do have trivial results, and only a little of what we do really matters. So if we focus on the latter, we can control events instead of being controlled by them - and achieve several times the results.

Customer Reviews

Potentially life changing - in a repetitive way
I gave this book 5 stars not because it's brilliantly written but because it has the potential to change your life. It really has. The book itself proves the 80:20 rule - because it's very repetitive and could have been written in 20% of the space. But it has something very important to say in that 20%. I liked Koch's attempt to relate the 80:20 rule to your personal life - I'm certainly going to change some aspects of my personal life as a result. But be warned - in the wrong hands this book could be dangerous. You need a certain level of self-awareness before reading it or the advice that he provides could be seriously mis-used. So an important, potentially life altering book - that I highly recommend if your IQ can stand it!

ADDED IMPLICATIONS FOR YOU FROM THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE
I have always found the 80/20 principle to be a valuable starting point in finding ways to improve performance. What I liked about this book was that it drew out more of the implications of that principle than I had previously thought about. If you are not familiar with the principle, this will be a good introduction. If you are familiar, you should probably stick to the implications. The review of what you know may feel a trifle repetitive. Another suggestion is that if you keep repeating your focus on the top 20% in each situation, you will make your results geometrically better (more like 1 percent providing 95 percent). If you know people who are not familiar with the principle who are a bit, perhaps, disorganized, this book would be a good gift. Teach this to your children, and you will increase the likelihood that they will move out when they are grown, because they will be able to afford to.

An inspired call to achieve more by doing less
Eighty percent of the books I buy I fail to read.

This is one of the twenty percent of books that I own that will have a positive effect on my life and those around me. Richard Koch gives a great analysis of the simple rule, espoused by management consultants for years, that a small part of your effort causes a dissproportianate amount of effect.

The 80/20 principle is a great read for those of us who dont like to work too much, as it gives us the reason why we can still be so sucessfull. It will also be a gem for the overworked because it will show you why those around you who achieve without stress are managing to do it.

The 80/20 rule is nothing new to many of us. This book, however, opens the possibilities of its usage to the limits. It also provides a great link to Chaos theory and how the two philosophies are interdependent. It is a fantastic opportunity for anyone to embrace the idea that planning to succeed may not always involve maximising effort.

As a 80/20 practitioner for some while it has been a pleasure to see these ideas carefully scripted in an inspiring book.

Buy it now and do less and achieve more.