One of my articles for a HCL Magazine.... feel free to send me your comments .
Games Numbers Play !!
Mathematicians have their pie (π=3.17) and eat it too; while physicists just can’t stop raving about their g-force (‘g’-gravitational acceleration=9.78 m/s2) and chemists can only see things as a consortium of Avogadro Numbers (6.023 x 1023); it is but unfortunate that poor management gurus are deprived of their own Justice League of Super-Numbers.
But fear not denizens of the management world for hope is just around the corner.
The heroes of the hour are none other than our next-door-neighborhood numericals 80-20; donning secret identities they might appear civil and dutiful in the broad-daylight while meta-morphing into ubiquitous and all-powerful magical beings when the situation demands.
Just as any good adventure movie begins with the first freak bio-chemical reaction; let’s get into flash-back mode to understand the tremendous implications of the 80-20 principle on the management universe.
In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto eureka’d his way into glory by remarking, “20% of the people in Italy own around 80% of the wealth”; little realizing how his statement on income-disparity would later on spark into a global phenomenon ignited by brilliant management thinkers of the likes of Joseph.M.Juran (Father of Quality) who expanded the Pareto Principle to a more profound level, “80% of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes”.
Though Juran’s statement might have called for lack of clarity; it actually snow-balled into an universal law termed as “law of the vital few” or “The principle of factor sparsity”
A few examples of how relevant the 80-20 principle is in the current day scenario…
Bill Gates: “The Typical company has made 80 percent of the investment in the technology that can give it a healthy flow of information yet is typically getting only 20 percent of benefits that are now possible” in his book Business @ speed of thought.
Ethan M Rasiel in his book “The McKinsey Way” dedicates an entire chapter to the 80-20 principle as one of those universal tools applied in McKinsey.
In fact right through my experiences as a software engineer, I have been exposed to a techie-version of the Pareto principle, namely “80% of the Software Bugs are caused by 20% of the Code”
Allow me to demonstrate the profound impact that the 80-20 principle has had on the lives of countless management graduates :-
· Group-Works : 80% of the work in any group-assignment would be done by 20% of the groupies.
· Time to Study : It is always the last 20% of the time that really counts to understand 80% of the facts. As calvin says, “Panic is the mother of all understanding”
· Examination Answers : 20% Stuff and 80% Gyaan/Gas.
Finally the most important lesson into any M-grad’s life :
· Corporate Presentation : 80% Style and 20% Content.
