The 80/20 Manager: The Secret to Working Less and Achieving More Hardcover – October 1, 2013

80/20 says some books are not even worth skimming, and others are worth reading and re-reading. It also suggests that if any author changes your life, you should devour everything he puts out. Not 80% of it, but 100%.If I'm not Richard Koch's #1 fan, I'm a contender for the spot. His book "The 80/20 Principle" set my mind on fire ten years ago. Most profound business book I've ever read. Today I know Richard because he graciously wrote the foreword for my own book "80/20 Sales & Marketing."Richard's books have on occasion been criticized for being repetitive. While there might be a grain of truth to that, if you thoroughly digest what he is saying, he is not repetitive at all. Such is the case with this book. Some books only merit speed reading; others demand serious thought. This is one of those books. 80/20 in and of itself is deep enough that any tool that forces you to think hard about it is good use of your time.Richard was kind enough to send me an advance manuscript. I printed out, marked, read and re-read Ways 7, 8, 9 and 10. Richard is my senior and certainly has a more impressive financial resume. A close reading shows why. Provocative, contrarian piece of advice: "Don't make to-do lists. Instead figure out the ONE thing you could do today that would earn you the rest of the day off."To the person immersed in the demanding minutia of NOW, that sounds like an absurd, even insulting suggestion. For the person who thinks BIG, who truly 'gets' 80/20, it forces you to ask yourself uncomfortable, make-you-squirm, quantum-leap questions. In this case you are likely to ask, "What breakthrough would render my entire existing business obsolete, because the new model is so unabashedly superior?"These are not easy questions. They demand thought. Thought requires space. Space requires sweeping activities off the table that are not in your top 5%. Space requires submitting the urgency of now to the wisdom of strategy and seasoned counsel from others.Engineering big breakthroughs is how you should spend your day. The urgency of "NOW" is the #1 enemy of all such breakthroughs.The title of this book is "The 80/20 Manager" but that's misleading. To me this is not about management per se, although it's a terrific book for managers to read. I would have called it "The 80/20 Career." This is really about orchestrating time, opportunities and projects so you become a Bill Bain or a Bruce Henderson (founders of Bain and Boston Consulting Group, respectively, kings of their own little empires) rather than merely being the very smart, overworked person who is employed by such people. It's about cultivating the thinking that makes you a legitimate superstar.

I'm an overtaxed e-neur/CEO and mom to two active young children; time always feel like my enemy. I purchased this book because:** 1. I would like to loosen the constraints on my life.** 2. I have personally experienced the benefits of the 80/20 Principle in growing my business, thanks to coaching from Perry Marshall (author of another great 80/20 book,  80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More ).** 3. Effective leadership is a high priority for me; it is the only way in which I will be able to accomplish #1. And, of course, I want to do well by the people who work to support my efforts.Whether you are new to the concept of 80/20, or a seasoned "80/20 expert," this book is exceptional! It begins with a comprehensive explanation of this mathematical principle; it's a great introduction to the concept, yet interesting review for those of us who are familiar with it.It then goes on to spell out ten specific ways in which 80/20 can be applied to the most valuable and complex resource in our lives and businesses, human capital! The text is *very* accessible; you should have no trouble wrapping your brain around the information and concepts described in this book. Each of the Ten Ways is brought to life with stories and examples that truly made the book hard to put down.Best of all, I finished the book with an intense sense of motivation to be a strong leader for my employees and the clients we serve! There is a tone of ease, optimism, and joy throughout this book that is palpable! Half-way through the book, I paused to send a recommendation to my dear cousin who is a mid-level manager; I just know she'll be inspired by the information, perspectives, and "how-tos" brought to life in this book. So, I obviously recommend it here with full faith that you will find it valuable, too.

I am a non-fiction book junkie...I am also a serial entrepreneur. I read about 3 to 5 books a month on business development and have for more than two decades. I read a lot and don't do a lot of reviews of books. But I felt as if this book was so important for today's business owner and managers of any business, that I am writing a review to tell you that you MUST read this book if you want to become the best manager you can as an owner or corporate manager.This book is simply one of the best management books out today. It is important to understand that traditional management tools are dying and learning what is really working in its place is hard to find. Richard Koch's 80/20 science is the single most important management tool that will grow your career and business. More importantly, it will cut your work load and stress level in half. If you want to have a life while having a business...this is a must read! It is the future business acumen that matters in a global business world.I don't know this man.... I haven't been paid to write a review... I am just a business owner looking for solid, exceptional business advice that will help me navigate this tumultuous business environment and give me stronger skill sets....this book delivers that... can't stress this enough.

I've been a fan of his 80/20 Principal for a while. That book does a very good job of explaining the theory behind it. This one will show you how to take its lessons and apply it to your every day job. He has everything from networking to making sure you get off work on time. He even shows how a high trust environment saves you effort and time by making monitoring inputs less of an issue.The author breaks down what being an 80/20 manager is in 10 sections or "ways" of an 80/20 manager. You can use them individually or as part of a system. Some people will object to some of his methodology, such as only focusing on a select group of customers, but it is worth reading nonetheless. You may find that you have been focusing on the wrong things.

If you are a budding business owner then this book is a must read. It gives you a realistic view of howcompanies and groups perform. There is no perfection and the A team is really non-existence. In any system thereis 20% who does 80% of the job. Simple. This is should be expected and nourished

Good reading and got some ideas from this book.

The 80/20 principle in not invention of the author, but the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity, known as Pareto distribution. It states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; Pareto developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., "80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients". Mathematically, the 80-20 rule is roughly followed by a power law distribution (also known as a Pareto distribution) for a particular set of parameters, and many natural phenomena have been shown empirically to exhibit such a distribution.The book uses the Pareto distribution to illustrate how to be an effective manager, I recommend it for aspiring managers.