Richard Koch - 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 Principle is marching onnot just this book, but the principle itself. In the past ten to twenty years, there have been incredibly significant changes in business, society, our personal lives, and in our understanding of how and why the 80/20 Principle operates. This has required a major addition to the book.

The principle has never been as ubiquitous or important as it is now. In the past, the principle gave those who used it a serious advantage. In the future it will be an essential tooland probably the essential toolfor anyone who wants to succeed or be happy.

So what has happened in the past few years? Briefly, three things:

Top-down and large organizations are giving wayat least in the ability to generate high growth, profits, and cashto networks, and to network ventures such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, Amazon, eBay, and Betfair. These kinds of networks and network organizations are coming to dominate society and this is why 80/20 is becoming more prevalent.
All networks exhibit positive feedback loopsthe big get bigger, the rich get richer, the famous get more famous, and networks benefiting the world (such as network businesses and the philanthropic organizations they often spawn) and those not benefiting the world (such as drug gangs and ISIS) become wealthier and more powerful.
The new Chapter 17 says what networks and network businesses are, and why nobody in their right mindif they are ambitiouswould work for anything but a network or a network business.

The 80/20 pattern that we have come to recognize for over a centuryand which has been remarkably consistent, varying mainly between, say, 70/30 and 90/10is rapidly increasing to 90/10 and 99/1.
The new Chapter 18 describes how the lopsided distribution of causes and results is becoming more acute, as improbable events and rapid transformation of fortunes become more possible and influential.

There are a few rules of thumb that make all the difference between success and failure, between personal fulfillment and personal angst, and between happiness and misery. The new Chapter 19 describes five mega-rules to live by.
There is one more thing that I have discovered. The greatest manifestation of 80/20 was not included in the early editions of this book. A new Chapter 16 describes Your Hidden Friend, which can exert a super-potent and amazingly favorable influence on your life. The hidden friend operates at extraordinary speed and impact for no conscious effort at all. And properly trained, your hidden friend can transform your life. This requires a little effortthe trick is to know how to do the training, the coding, of your hidden friend. Chapter 16 describes how.
So there we have it. Four great new chapters. Go forth and shout the good news about the principle from the rooftops.

The 80/20 Principle has already sold more than a million copies in thirty-six languages. I dare to hope and expect that this new editionwhich I think is more valuablewill multiply that record.

For what has already been achieved, I am profoundly grateful to you, the readersthe beneficiaries, perhaps, but also the evangelists. I know from your messages and e-mails how mind-blowing so many of you are finding the principle. Long may it continue, and thank you all so much. I may have touched your lives, but you have certainly touched mine, and I am most grateful.

Richard Koch

Gibraltar, March 2017