August 11, 2009

How Much Pareto Is In Your Life?

The Principle of Victor

Sometimes phrases or theories seem to have a life of their own, as if they were always around. Before Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto was born people didn't think of a lopsided world. Pareto was an economist and industrialist who lived from 1848-1923.

He was the father of microeconomics and the author of the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity or the 80/20 rule.

The Rich Get Richer

The most commonly used example is that 20% of the population has 80% of the money.

The Pareto Principle explained that the second 20% most richest had about 12% of the money and numbers declined sharply after that.

80/20 Is Everywhere

But this can be applied to virtually everything in our lives. If you are in sales, 20% of your clients can represent 80% of your billing. You may spend up to 80% of your free time with 20% of your friends. If you are on a sports team, you know that approximately 20% of the players account for 80% of the team's production.

Tweet That

In the case of social media, 80% of the followers are found on 20% of the profiles. We spend 80% of our time on tasks and 20% of our time on the important stuff. And unconfirmed data state that approximately 80% of the planet has seen about 20% of Kevin Bacon’s films.

Are you part of the 80 or the 20?

@knealemann
Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.

image credit: newschool.edu

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© Kneale Mann knealemann@gmail.com people + priority = profit
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