Miles Davis’ 80/20 Rule

Read enough business books and you’ll come across the 80/20 rule, aka The Pareto Principle.

At its core, Pareto was trying to say 80% of the outcome comes from 20% of the work. He called the 20% “the vital few.” He had mathematical reasons to back him up, but intuitively, you know what he means.

80% of a company’s revenue might come from 20% of it’s clients.

80% of the things you publish might come out of 20% of the time you spent creating material.

There are just fractions and percentages lying on the floor all around this stuff, so if you’re counting them up, just get used to it.

It’s a modern fairytale that if you only take the 20% and figure out how to exclusively do that, you can improve the results.

Many a book and consulting agreements have been inked on this.

It’s not BS, but it’s a form of BS to talk about it with any mathematical precision.

Enter Miles Davis.

For all the business consultants and “how to scale” books - this is the only 80/20 rule I think I’ll ever need:

The outcome is in the attitude.

Principal principles.

Be a m***********.

ps. Not Miles, but it feels obligatory