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Summary: This Has Real Application for You Today.
Review: I read this book about a year ago, and still regularly think of it and apply it's concepts in my life and business.I have worked in sales for years, so I am very familiar with the 80/20 concept as relates to business. Simply stated in my field of real estate it's a proven fact that in different markets of the country and over time 20% of the agents make 80% of the income. This is true in other types of sales as well. Of course the flipside of this is that the large 80% of the agents only make 20% of the income. Basically a small number of people make most of the money. Why this is has been debated, but it seems to be a consistent rule that holds. Koch points out how 80/20 is seen in other areas. For example 20% of taxpayers account for 80% of IRS revenue. What Koch does then is expand this rule to all aspects of life. He says that the 80/20 rule holds for all kinds of activities. He says that 20% of your work activity is responsible for 80% of your productivity on the job. And that 20% of your leisure time is responsible for 80% of your happiness. When I read this I just knew intuitively that it is true. So the next step is to figure out what the 20% activities are that are paying off the 80% returns in your work, or personal life, or anything. And then devote your energy into those activities and receive huge returns. He says that we're better off focusing on our strong suits where we're most effective rather than focusing our attention on the areas where we think "we need to improve". This idea alone is priceless. This is practical, useful material that you can put to use today in your business and personal life. Koch has some seemingly offbeat ideas about playing with time unconventionally, boosting happiness, productivity through being "intelligent and lazy", and more that I loved. It really opened my mind to a range of possibilities. Koch is a successful businessman who says he researched and could find no other books written on this subject.
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Summary: If you only read five books, this should be one: 80/20
Review: The principle is simple, but counter-intuitive: Nature creates imbalances. This is true for money (20% of people have 80% of the wealth), crime (20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes), energy usage (15% of population uses 85% of energy), competition (20% of suppliers have 80% of market share)and even carpet (20% gets 80% wear and tear). . . In a non-linear world: 1) Celebrate exceptional productivity . . .look for the short cut. . .be selective. . . only do what you do best. (pg 38) 2) Keep it simple. Size often creates complexity - which in turn creates inefficiency. Pour your effort into the 20% that makes a difference. Sometimes it is better to lose unprofitable customers to competitors (pg 93) 3) Hold on to your good customers and employees forever! 4) The key to 80/20 is not time-mangement. Don't try to do more. Just do more of the right things. 5) Do what you enjoy because enthusiasm and success is a complementary cycle. 6) Three great lists:
The top 10 low-value uses of time (pg 161)
The top 10 highest value uses of time (pg 161)
The ten golden rules for career success (pg 194)
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Summary: Eye opening, it will make you think
Review: I read this book out of curiosity, having heard about the principle many times but never actually analysing it. After reading the book, I am now rethinking all my activities, professionals and personal, and finding oasis of value that I can easily harvest leveraging the Pareto ideas. Excellent book
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Summary: This book is in the 20% category that yeilds 80% of value.
Review: Editor, Stern's Management Review online, Stern's SourceFinder, and HRconsultant.com (stern@hrconsultant.com) Koch takes a fresh look at the 80/20 principle and finds that the basic imbalance observed by Pareto 100 years ago can be found in modern life. Whether you're investing, analyzing company sales, or looking at performance, you'll find that it's usually 20 percent that produces 80 percent of the total result. This book shows how to identify that 20 percent and get more out of business and life. This same principle may be applied to books: 20% of them (at best) yield 80% of what is of significance; this book falls into that 20% category. Recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, the CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing
Review: I heard of the "Pareto Principle" a long time ago -- the 80/20 rule which basically states that 80% of the results come from the efforts of 20% of the people. Koch has some ideas at the beginning of the book which show the value of the idea, and when he speaks about working "smart" as opposed to working "hard," I agree totally. His advice about zeroing in on the important "20%" is valuable -- provided, of course, that you know what that 20% is. However, when he tells us how we are to apply this to our personal lives, he has "left off preachin' and has started meddling." True, we are all social beings and we need each other in our interdependent culture. Family togetherness is wonderful, but having big family dinners each night and encouraging the warm, moist extended family suport is, in my opinion, overrated. I agree that the American family is often fragmented, but each family must work out its own way, finding the 20% that applies to that particular family, and not in one die-cut, predetermined way. "Nonconformity" is not my style, but I've made personal choices (such as waiting until late in life to marry) that don't always fit these predetermined ways to live, and my 20% may be different from the 20% of someone who has gone the "traditional family" route. (A "traditional family" can be as abusive and stifling as it can be supporting and loving.) I agree with the reviewer who said to read this book to look for the 20% that applies to you, and then ignore the other 80%.
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Summary: good concept, but beware of over-application of the concept
Review: Has good concepts when it comes to business, time management but has ideas that brainwashes you to believe in concepts that limit your possibility for happiness and success. Has contradicting ideas in the book. It is an okay book, just gotta pick out the bones from the fishmeat.
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Summary: Great Business Book, Well Worth Re-reading
Review: Well-written, this book efficiently spells out how to be successful in today's very challenging business environment. Well worth re-reading every 18-24 months. Helps one to think "outside the box." This book can be very valuable to individuals as they review their life and seek success in everything they do.
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Summary: 80/20 Wins!
Review: Worthy read for any manager wrestling with multiple products and market segments.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Explination of Concept; Don't Read Cover-to-Cover
Review: In The 80/20 Principle, Koch proffers that 20 percent of what companies and individuals do generates over 80 percent of their positive results (a theory that he attributes to Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist around the turn of the 20th century). Koch proposes that by identifying the 20 percent of the activities that generate 80 percent of the results and increasing the effort put into those 20-percent activities you can dramatically improve results. To this end he provides an astute evaluation of the economic and social realities of business. Koch goes further, though, and tries to extrapolate the 80/20 theory to success, happiness and life in general. While some of what he suggests makes sense, his examples seem to get progressively weaker as he moves away from the world of business. The book's other main flaw results from its severe organizational problems. Koch seems to have a very limited number of examples - and because of their repeated re-use (and in many cases their limited pertinence to the topic at hand) the book seems to weave in and out of topics, making it somewhat difficult to follow for anything else than a linear read. The principal, itself, is almost a truism, which as Koch points out, is not thought about nearly enough. The books main strength is that he explains the concept quite well. Unfortunately, the extrapolation to life in general and the organizational difficulties make 80 percent of the book just not worth reading. Read the first two chapters - they explain the principal - and the last chapter (which basically explains all of the extrapolation theories) then put the book down - you will have read the 20% of the book that contains over 80% of the value!
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Summary: I felt the content followed the 5/95 principle...
Review: This book mentions that the 80/20 principle can be applied anywhere. When applied to extracting important information from books, it means that about 20% of a book say it all. With this book, I had a constant feeling that it said it all in the first several pages. And seeing "80/20" mark several times on each page was disconcerting. Another book (Time tactics of very successful people by Griessman) that had arrived stopped my reading of 80/20. I find this new book more insightful and informative already. It also gives credit to the 80/20 principle.
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