Pareto's Principle - The 80/20 Rule
Resilience Round Table
Meeting Resources
19th September 2025
9.30am -10.30am
Hi Doug here!
Thanks for joining our Resilience Round Table discussion on Friday, 19th September.
This time we discussed 'The 80/20' principle developed by Vilfredo Pareto himself in Italy in 1897, when he discovered that 80% of the wealth was owned by 20% of the population.
It is a principle further reinforced by a McKinsey article that stated that graduates have had drummed into them, that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.
If we want a measure or a result to improve, we have to change something.
Our challenge is to find the 20% somethings…
The first question posed was: Where can you apply the 80/20 rule in your firm, or where have you actually seen it in action?
This led to a great discussion; here are some of the key points:
- The importance of client grading and client selection
- Effectively managing your work in progress
- Using the rule to manage team workload and efficiency
- Process management and identifying areas of waste
- Business Development and focusing on the right areas
- Using AI and tech to analyse the data to highlight the 80/20 imbalance in your firm
- Lean processes and how Seating Matters has done it
- How to ask for referrals and reviews
- When you discover your 20% somethings, how do you manage the change in your firm
- Why is more discipline needed around decisions and choices
- The importance of quick wins
- The effectiveness of a stop doing list and how frameworks like KISS and DDDD can work to make sure people are doing ‘just right tasks’.
- and much more...
If you would like to discuss it further, please let me know, and we will organise a call or meeting.
Wishing you every success
Doug
Miro Board
Background Reading
Book
BOOK
The 80-20 Principle - The Secret of Achieving More With Less
by Richard Koch
Richard Koch takes Pareto’s idea of the 80/20 Rule and shows how it can be applied far beyond economics, into business, careers, and everyday life. Koch argues that most of what we achieve comes from a small fraction of our efforts, and that by identifying and focusing on this “vital 20%,” we can multiply results while reducing wasted time and energy.
BOOK
Prove It! How to Create a High-Performance Culture and Measurable Success
by Stacey Barr
If an business can only be as good as its leadership, it's reasonable to place the burden of performance responsibility on those who make the decisions. A leader's job is to inspire, motivate and guide, and those who do it well are already raising the bar. Prove It! gives you a practical model for measurable, real-world results, starting today
BOOK
Lean Made Simple
by Ryan Tierney
Ryan Tierney and his team have transformed their furniture business into a world-class operation that has prompted business leaders from Japan, the USA, and Europe to visit his company in Northern Ireland. His book, LEAN Made Simple, is a must-read for inspiration and practical next steps.
Podcast
HUMANISE THE NUMBERS PODCAST
Humanise the Numbers podcast with Eriona Bajrakurtaj, MD of Major's Accounts
Eriona talks about the bold move she made in 2019 of sending disengagement letters to the clients that were offering no value to her team or firm.
She discusses the 80/20 rule and its importance in the decision she made. She parted company with the 20% of clients that were causing the most issues for her and her team, taking up 80% of their time, which was incongruent with their size and fee.
Eriona now only works with those clients who appreciate the value of the work done by her and her team.
Business Breakthroughs
INFOGRAPHIC AND MORE DETAIL ON PARETO
Pareto’s Principle -also called the 80/20 Rule, states that:
80% of results come from 20% of efforts.
It comes from an observation by economist Vilfredo Pareto in the late 1800s, who noticed that 80% of Italy’s land was owned by 20% of the population. Later, people found that this “imbalanced distribution” pattern shows up everywhere.
The power of Pareto’s Principle is focus:
- Identify the vital 20% that drives the biggest results.
- Double down on those.
- Eliminate or minimise the “trivial 80%” that drains time and resources.
Next Session
DIARY DATE