The 80/20 Life

The 80-20 rule or the Pareto Principle is a well known concept in business circles. The concept dates back to 1896 when the Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto found that ‘for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of causes’. Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

There are similar situations even today in economies, in businesses and in our daily lives. Companies find that 80% of profits come from 20% of the customers or 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers or for that matter 80% of grievances come from 20% of employees. Companies derive their operating strategies based on these observed possibilities. Of course, the accuracy of the 80-20 principle is not what is important but the significant asymmetry of efforts and results is the key point.

How do we apply the 80-20 rule to our lives?

A few years back I read a book 'The 80/20 Principle' by Richard Koch. Koch presents the 80/20 principle as getting higher output from the least effort, thinking more ambitiously, wanting to make life better for oneself and others, thinking unconventionally, finding more happiness, believing in progress and growth, investing wisely, doing less and getting more etc., What I liked most was the profound statement 'action drives out thought'. This calls for more reflection, looking at how to revolutionize the concept of time rather than trying to manage time. If 20 percent of time gives us 80 percent output improving the 20 percent time may give huge dividends than trying to manage 100 percent time.

This may appear simple and common sense. However, the fact is that most of us do not realize this in our daily lives. We spend our time on a huge list (those who care to make a ‘to do’ list) of things and fill the entire time available ending the day or night as may be, feeling good about having attempted many things or having spent a lot of time on the tasks or often feeling frustrated as the outcomes did not match up to the time and efforts spent.

At an individual level, most of us do not prioritize our efforts on an 80-20 rule. Most people say that at work, most often the priorities are by and large decided by external factors. However, this is not always true. Companies in some way decide or guide the key result areas, leaving quite a bit of freedom to the individual to apportion his or her time and efforts to achieve this the best way possible. The fact is that only very few people realize this. They tend to go by a linear sequence or based on external demands. Yes, there are jobs that are meant only to attend external queries like an incoming call agent in a customer care centre. But most other jobs leave a lot of freedom to prioritize time and efforts.

The book also talks about doing things we like (hedonistic in a positive sense). When we do more of what we enjoy doing it tends to give high quality output. This applies more to the personal side of our lives rather than the professional side, unless one is in a profession that matches exactly one’s passion.

The 80/20 rule is not much about a technique but more about a new way of thinking. It is about thinking non-linear. It is about a time revolution. When thinking about any potential use of time, ask two questions: 1. Is it unconventional? 2. Does it promise to multiply effectiveness?

‘Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.’- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Connecting People

A few years back I was visiting a client’s office for the first time. A middle aged gentleman was at the reception desk in a not so large area on the second floor of an elegant yet modest office building. He greeted me with a warm smile just like someone would welcome a relative or a close friend to his house. Of course, that gentleman was multi tasking- he minds the visitors, attends incoming phone calls, makes outgoing calls based on the request of employees to talk to clients, employees or vendors at different locations.

Contrast this with another large company reception lobby I visited many times. The lobby of about 1000 square feet area, aesthetically designed with water bodies on both sides and a large bronze vessel holding lotus petals welcome you as you enter. There are couple of large TV monitors showing live news from business channels. The walls are adorned with impressive art works. When you walk 50 feet into the lobby you see two young ladies at the reception desk busy handling the telephone console and the computer monitors. They are quite oblivious of the visitors as they are aware that the visitors have been screened through a metal detector, their identities have been verified, face photographed by a web camera and printed on to a guest pass hung around their neck. Besides, there is a low ranking company employee accompanying the guest to the concerned official.

The obvious contrast is that the first one was a mid-size company office with limited guests and the second one, a large company office with hundreds of visitors coming every day. So one can’t find fault with the elaborate and multi-stage procedures for screening, receiving and documenting details of all the visitors. As organizations grow beyond a certain size processes, systems and automation take centre-stage and people tend to be busy controlling or using the systems.

In both places, the front office staffs are ‘connecting’ people. However, the difference is stark. While the gentleman in the first office was connecting the visitor to the official of the organization, he was also connecting with the visitor. In other words, he felt that the visitor is as much his guest as the company’s guest. The ladies at the second office did not feel the same way. They were connecting visitors to the company officials but not connecting with the visitors. Probably it is no fault of theirs. They might have been trained not to engage with the visitors for greater efficiency. And they knew that someone in need would approach them and ask for help. A thousand smiles per day at strangers is no easy task in any case.

From a company point of view both these companies must be thinking that they are doing the right thing. Both may be running successful global businesses and may not feel the need for any change. But the visitor’s point of view could be different. Would one like to go thru X-Ray machines and security procedures and computer guided processes amidst unwelcoming front office staff? Or would one cherish an occasional smiling face?

Does the smile at the front desk have anything to do with the company culture? I guess, yes. The company culture is not reserved for the warehouse or back office it is as much for the front office.

A great edifice impresses. A good smile impacts! 

“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do”- Mother Teresa