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The 80/20 Manager: The Secret to Working Less and Achieving More
Bestselling author Richard Koch shows managers how to apply the 80/20 Principle to achieve exceptional results at work -- without stress or long hours.
In his bestselling book The 80/20 Principle , Richard Koch showed readers how to put the 80/20 Principle -- the idea that 80 percent of results come from just 20 percent of effort -- into practice in their personal lives. Now in The 80/20 Manager , he demonstrates how to apply the principle to management.
An 80/20 manager learns to focus only on the issues that really matter, achieving exceptional results, and feeling successful everyday while working less hard in fewer hours. A large number of managers -- especially in these difficult times -- feel completely overwhelmed. Their inboxes are overflowing and they constantly struggle to finish their to-do lists, leaving little time for the things that really matter. The 80/20 Manager shows a new way to look at management -- and at life -- to enjoy work and build a successful and fulfilling career.
In his bestselling book The 80/20 Principle , Richard Koch showed readers how to put the 80/20 Principle -- the idea that 80 percent of results come from just 20 percent of effort -- into practice in their personal lives. Now in The 80/20 Manager , he demonstrates how to apply the principle to management.
An 80/20 manager learns to focus only on the issues that really matter, achieving exceptional results, and feeling successful everyday while working less hard in fewer hours. A large number of managers -- especially in these difficult times -- feel completely overwhelmed. Their inboxes are overflowing and they constantly struggle to finish their to-do lists, leaving little time for the things that really matter. The 80/20 Manager shows a new way to look at management -- and at life -- to enjoy work and build a successful and fulfilling career.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
125 people are currently reading
1287 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
December 27, 2015
holy cow!
If there ever was a book that would benefit from the 80/20 rule...
20% is pretty darn good.
Would have loved if it would have focused on the benefits of what is good rather than the anecdotes.
If there ever was a book that would benefit from the 80/20 rule...
20% is pretty darn good.
Would have loved if it would have focused on the benefits of what is good rather than the anecdotes.
January 1, 2014
Overall, I found this book valuable, although some of the specific examples and suggestions felt a bit out of touch with how a majority of managers are probably able to function. Koch presents 10 strategies for managers and is clear that some are harder than others, and that he isn't suggesting you'll necessarily be able to pursue them all. He draws heavily from his experience in the consulting world and a view of life at the executive level. This made it hard for me to relate to some of the content. I had hoped for more of a middle manager focus. And I rankled at the way content was presented in the "lazy manager" chapter. While his premise makes sense--do more by doing less by being strategic about what matters--it felt like he was applauding those clever executives who did this while their teams below them toiled for long hours and little reward. To me, that's not successful leadership. Anyway, I won't quibble with some of the specific suggestions but take the refresher on the 80/20 rule as a good reminder going into 2014 to look for ways to achieve more by working less, for me and my team. Worth reading but just know you may need to adapt the ideas or take the spirit of the ideas depending on your particular situation.
January 24, 2017
Выдающиеся успехи являются плодом соединения сознательной лени с остротой мысли и исключительными амбициями. Быть менеджером 80/20 – значит каждый день думать о том, какой великой цели можно достичь с минимумом усилий. Для плодотворной жизни и работы требуются оба этих компонента: и простота, и амбициозность. Упорно работающие, но не видящие леса за деревьями менеджеры не достигнут крупных успехов. И то же относится к менеджерам, не имеющим высоких целей.
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January 11, 2022Some useful things, some things that are not applicable to my management job at all. Not bad for the time spent with the audiobook.
July 5, 2020
The overall message — to be strategic about how you apply your time and effort, is a good message. I definitely needed that reminder. However, I felt this book had many problems and could have used a much heavier hand at editing and culling. Not only did it end up being quite redundant (which ironically wasted time, an effect at odds with the message of the book), but there were a few problems I had with some of the messaging:
1. The fundamental distribution of effort vs reward seems to astound the author when it shouldn't.
2. Some of the recommendations seemed hypocritical
3. Some of the recommendations don't align with recent research
Regarding the first point, the author Richard Koch spends a lot of time trying to convince you how strange but naturally evident the 80/20 principle is. While the plethora of mounting evidence that the distribution exists in the natural world became tediously redundant, I was more irritated with his assertion that no scientists know why this is. However, to me it sounds like an obvious result of statistical normal distributions of effort and time. Obviously some tasks take less effort and obviously a small proportion of those will have a statistically significant deviation from the average in impact. Basic stats says this 80/20 distribution should be expected, so I felt like chapter 1 got a little tedious with his proclamation of all the places he found the 80/20 distribution to exist.
Subsequently Koch spent quite a bit of time recommending becoming a "superconnector" and that networking will have a bigger impact on your career (by providing more diverse and better new opportunities) than accomplishments (like your education). However, this seems at odds with his recommendation to be strategic — to focus on the few and meaningful. "Chat with anyone with whom you share space and time," he says. "You are either open, with a read smile and listening ear or you're not. You cant — or at least you shouldn't — switch it on or off." I felt there was an irreconcilable dissonance between his 80/20 principle in selecting clients, projects, managers, and employees — in which he said fewer with bigger impact was better — and his recommendation to spend time on shallow connections.
Finally, I had a problem with his advice to never write a to do list. There are studies that show that that writing down niggling tasks as they come to mind helps focus your brain on the strategic task at hand. Not writing them down can take attention away from your current task, even if you aren't spending conscious time and focus on it in the moment because your brain continues to fire off distracting self reminders. While I agree with the principle of strategically tackling big tasks while not allowing yourself to be distracted by smaller ones, I felt his recommended methodology isn't a sound approach..
Overall, his core message — to be strategic about how you spend your time and effort — is a good one. Some of his quotes are good one-liner snippets:
- "It's not time that you need to manage, but yourself. Give yourself the chance to think calmly and carefully about what you're trying to achieve."
- "Only by being economical with your attention can you make it count when it matters"
I like the idea of slowing down to strategize what's most important and tackling that first. However, I think that Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World makes this point better and with wasted time.
1. The fundamental distribution of effort vs reward seems to astound the author when it shouldn't.
2. Some of the recommendations seemed hypocritical
3. Some of the recommendations don't align with recent research
Regarding the first point, the author Richard Koch spends a lot of time trying to convince you how strange but naturally evident the 80/20 principle is. While the plethora of mounting evidence that the distribution exists in the natural world became tediously redundant, I was more irritated with his assertion that no scientists know why this is. However, to me it sounds like an obvious result of statistical normal distributions of effort and time. Obviously some tasks take less effort and obviously a small proportion of those will have a statistically significant deviation from the average in impact. Basic stats says this 80/20 distribution should be expected, so I felt like chapter 1 got a little tedious with his proclamation of all the places he found the 80/20 distribution to exist.
Subsequently Koch spent quite a bit of time recommending becoming a "superconnector" and that networking will have a bigger impact on your career (by providing more diverse and better new opportunities) than accomplishments (like your education). However, this seems at odds with his recommendation to be strategic — to focus on the few and meaningful. "Chat with anyone with whom you share space and time," he says. "You are either open, with a read smile and listening ear or you're not. You cant — or at least you shouldn't — switch it on or off." I felt there was an irreconcilable dissonance between his 80/20 principle in selecting clients, projects, managers, and employees — in which he said fewer with bigger impact was better — and his recommendation to spend time on shallow connections.
Finally, I had a problem with his advice to never write a to do list. There are studies that show that that writing down niggling tasks as they come to mind helps focus your brain on the strategic task at hand. Not writing them down can take attention away from your current task, even if you aren't spending conscious time and focus on it in the moment because your brain continues to fire off distracting self reminders. While I agree with the principle of strategically tackling big tasks while not allowing yourself to be distracted by smaller ones, I felt his recommended methodology isn't a sound approach..
Overall, his core message — to be strategic about how you spend your time and effort — is a good one. Some of his quotes are good one-liner snippets:
- "It's not time that you need to manage, but yourself. Give yourself the chance to think calmly and carefully about what you're trying to achieve."
- "Only by being economical with your attention can you make it count when it matters"
I like the idea of slowing down to strategize what's most important and tackling that first. However, I think that Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World makes this point better and with wasted time.
September 21, 2017
This book has literally changed my life. While I couldn't apply its greatness to my work until this very moment but when it comes to my personal real life, it's like the miracle that magically, radically, and positively changed me and made me much better and more powerful. Don't waste time and start reading this book!
January 16, 2021
Very good read, so much so that I have already bought the next next book to read "The 80 / 20 Principle - Secret to achieving more with less"
Remains to be seen if this book has taught teach me how to do things that matter and yield maximum return. More importantly important can I cultivate the self-discipline and application to put into action the key takeaways.
Remains to be seen if this book has taught teach me how to do things that matter and yield maximum return. More importantly important can I cultivate the self-discipline and application to put into action the key takeaways.
March 31, 2019
Think more and toil less; apply the Pareto principal to everything. I enjoyed this book, and as a manager battle getting into this way of thinking everyday.
March 16, 2022
Some nice concepts (called "ways") but very wordy, which goes against the grain of investing just 20% of words into getting 80% of the concepts out there (but then again it wouldn't be a book that way and wouldn't be as easy to publish - a book creates much more outreach, so I'm all for it). See last paragraph on how to indulge the top 20% of the book that contain the 80% that matter. ;-)
Some of the "ways" didn't make that much sense to me (how does mentoring contribute? And doesn't talking to as many unusual contacts as possible constitute doing more than the 20%?)
I listened to this book via audio, and it was a bit hard to remember the several "ways" and from there the "subways" (get it...), so I think I might invest in a written version.
If you're looking to just invest 20%, read the summary! It's great and pretty much tells you everything. If more detail is needed you can then dig into each way separately because they're nicely organized as separate chapters.
Some of the "ways" didn't make that much sense to me (how does mentoring contribute? And doesn't talking to as many unusual contacts as possible constitute doing more than the 20%?)
I listened to this book via audio, and it was a bit hard to remember the several "ways" and from there the "subways" (get it...), so I think I might invest in a written version.
If you're looking to just invest 20%, read the summary! It's great and pretty much tells you everything. If more detail is needed you can then dig into each way separately because they're nicely organized as separate chapters.
February 20, 2019
I listened to this book, so I probably didn't digest as much of it as I would have had I read it.
I've heard of the 80/20 rule (aka Pareto principle) for many years and surely had employed it's benefits unknowingly. I initially thought I had borrowed the original book in this series, but kept with this as it maintained my interest.
This is an easy listen (I'm sure it's an easy read too) that highlights many different aspects to consider when deconstructing problems or applying your time and resources.
I'd recommend it to anyone, and not explicitly those in typical "management" roles. Something to point out, perhaps, is that due to the title of the book one might have expected it to be more about personnel management, but I felt like the principles can be employed managing products or concepts or ideas equally.
I've heard of the 80/20 rule (aka Pareto principle) for many years and surely had employed it's benefits unknowingly. I initially thought I had borrowed the original book in this series, but kept with this as it maintained my interest.
This is an easy listen (I'm sure it's an easy read too) that highlights many different aspects to consider when deconstructing problems or applying your time and resources.
I'd recommend it to anyone, and not explicitly those in typical "management" roles. Something to point out, perhaps, is that due to the title of the book one might have expected it to be more about personnel management, but I felt like the principles can be employed managing products or concepts or ideas equally.
April 6, 2023
“Meaning, he said, derives from achievement—from creating something or performing a deed that derives from your unique imagination and talents…Indeed, the very search for happiness is misguided because it comes only when we are not looking for it—at that moment when we find meaning by losing ourselves in productive self-expression. Happiness is a by-product of leading a life with meaning. “Only the unfulfilment of potential is meaningless,” said Frankl, “not life itself.”2 Bertrand Russell put it slightly differently: “Anything you’re good at contributes to happiness.”
“It is good for the economy and society for people to achieve their full potential. It is also the only way for those people to find true meaning in life.”
“It is good for the economy and society for people to achieve their full potential. It is also the only way for those people to find true meaning in life.”
July 4, 2018
One simple word for 80/20 Pareto Principle : “Prioritization”.
Prioritizing on the most important thing to do is the best way to make the most of time we have, and 80/20 principle taught us how to identify what are those important things to prioritize.
I have heard about the principle since long time ago, and if I am not mistaken the book first published was in 1999 (19 years ago), yet it is still relevant and even become more relevant in todays busy and hyper fragmented world.
Good book to read, only the downside is on the author’s writing style which I feel very 90’ish writing style (compare to recent published book).
Prioritizing on the most important thing to do is the best way to make the most of time we have, and 80/20 principle taught us how to identify what are those important things to prioritize.
I have heard about the principle since long time ago, and if I am not mistaken the book first published was in 1999 (19 years ago), yet it is still relevant and even become more relevant in todays busy and hyper fragmented world.
Good book to read, only the downside is on the author’s writing style which I feel very 90’ish writing style (compare to recent published book).
January 12, 2021
This book was a great compliment to The 80/20 Principles. I continue to be fascinated by people who work less and have the highest output. We are all caught up in thinking we need to work more and work harder. Clearly this is not the case. The book gives you a lot of principles to follow as a manager. Micro managing is a trap a lot of new managers fall into and this helps you not do that. I believe the key is you have to deliver if your going to work at 20% capacity. Figure out how to solve problems and solve them.
June 30, 2018
In hindsight, I wish I had read the 80/20 Principle instead. I enjoyed this book, but it is geared towards actual managers in fields that aren't as compatible with mine. That does not mean that it is not still a useful book as I found a handful of valuable applications, but most of what I gained was from the basics of the 80/20 principle, rather than the applications to management. For actual managers in most fields, this would probably be an amazingly helpful book.
January 10, 2023
I chose to read this book due to my hectic work life as a case manager. It’s never ending paper works, unnecessary meetings, and having to confront disgruntle clients/family member/vendors. By trying to master one or a few of the 10 types of managers this book offered it made me realize that the two type of manager I want to be are the
Mentoring Manager and Seeking meaning manager. This self-help book made me see what I want to fulfill in my life and inspired me that I should not work in mediocrity but actually bring out my best potential at work and in life.
Mentoring Manager and Seeking meaning manager. This self-help book made me see what I want to fulfill in my life and inspired me that I should not work in mediocrity but actually bring out my best potential at work and in life.
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July 14, 2024Could have probably been summarized in a quick pamphlet. But like all self-help books, it was pretty repetitive to fit the word count needed to be considered a book. Not particularly interesting, since anyone that's ever had a manager knows that they don't do much of the work, while taking most, if not all, of the credit. Nice summary of the disparity and inequities within our current market structure.
December 1, 2024
Koch did a good summary of time management but I was a bit sad to see how many of his mentors were not credited (i.e. those who wrote the same type of analysis in the 60's and 70's). There are so many systems, gurus, consultants, and prototype apps available now that you can waste a whole lot of time reading them. Rather ironic. Choose this book for a quick overview with good pointers, and spend your time implementing the skills rather than acquiring more.
January 24, 2019
Do the most important stuff first that will have the biggest impact. Simplify everything. Richard Koch was clear in explaining how to think differently and not have many meetings as a manager. The author included many examples of why making fewer decisions and focusing on what works will provide a more profitable company with less stress on everyone.
June 2, 2020
Seriously, just read the last 20 pages which summarizes each type of manger. You don't really need all the back stories and anecdotal evidence. I also don't think the suggestions are suitable for every industry so take the advice as inspiration more than a set of rules to follow or steps to success.
August 24, 2025
Get a good summary of the concept by ChatGPT and save some time from reading a book of narcissistic anecdotes that doesn’t really apply to the 80/20 rule. Only 20% of the book applied to the concept and the rest is a run of the mill management book for the author to milk ($$$) the principle into a new area.
January 4, 2018
Several instruments presented. To fully understand the book's benefits, my recommendation is to apply the prioritization instruments presented as soon as you get the chance. It is a simple guide to do more with less energy. The book is focused on 'how to prepare better'. Enjoy.
July 29, 2018
Didn't get a lot of actionable information out of this. Seemed like a bunch of platitudes and sometimes interesting stories tied together without a coherent explanation of how they related to the 80/20 principle.
January 30, 2019
Could have used its own advise and cut out around 80% of the from the book.
Got more out of the 4 page summary at the end than i did from the book itself.
A few good ideas and tools to implement although most of the examples seemed out of touch for the average manager.
Got more out of the 4 page summary at the end than i did from the book itself.
A few good ideas and tools to implement although most of the examples seemed out of touch for the average manager.
June 20, 2021
I thought the book was a good introduction to the 80/20 principle: Be selective to improve effectiveness and achieve great results. I skimmed through a majority of the examples drawn from the business/managerial world, and found the summary at the end nice.
February 7, 2022
A great book for everyone. Not just for managers.
There are 10 ways that will help you work less and get more done.
Following just 1 way will help you in your life and work!
I will be posting a summary in the future. Please check back.
There are 10 ways that will help you work less and get more done.
Following just 1 way will help you in your life and work!
I will be posting a summary in the future. Please check back.
September 29, 2025
I enjoyed the core principles and there were some challenging takeaways. It is full of stories and examples that are meant to make you question how you can simplify and focus your energy on what truly matters.
September 28, 2017
Useful in many ways but mostly managers. Some techniques are quite counter-intuitive, nevertheless everyone can learn something from this book.
December 27, 2017
Under-analyzed
Limited to business perceptions, guessing other book of his would be more general. Good topic, more generality will be appreciated.
Limited to business perceptions, guessing other book of his would be more general. Good topic, more generality will be appreciated.
February 28, 2018
Mr. Koch has some very insightful observations about managers. While I don’t think all of his suggestions are viable many are extremely helpful.
May 28, 2018
A good book of how to do more things and by more successful/happy be working less and clever than working hard without focusing on the right goals.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews