80/20: It’s Not Just About the Pareto Principle

A few ideas have been connecting for me lately.

In May 2026, I had the opportunity to attend 80/20 training with Strategex.

I was familiar with the Pareto Principle, but the training made me think about 80/20 differently—not simply as an observation that 20% of inputs often generate 80% of results, but as a way to make better business decisions.

Where are we creating the most value?
Where are we creating unnecessary complexity?
And where should we really be focusing our resources?

One resource that captures this broader perspective well is Strategex’s 80/20 Profit and Growth – Beyond Pareto, A Business Strategy.

Since then, I’ve also read 10X Is Easier Than 2X, and I found myself connecting some of its ideas back to what I learned about 80/20.

We often assume that better results require doing more.

More products.
More customers.
More projects.
More activity.

But sometimes the bigger opportunity is the opposite:

Reduce. Simplify. Focus.

This is also where I see an interesting connection with Lean and Operational Excellence.

Lean helps us optimize processes and eliminate waste. But before optimizing everything, 80/20 challenges us to ask whether everything should receive the same attention in the first place.

Simplify first. Then optimize.

It’s a simple idea, but one that has changed the way I think about operational excellence, business transformation—and even how I prioritize my own time.

Sometimes, the path to better results isn’t doing more. It’s being much more intentional about what deserves our focus.

What about you? Have you ever found that doing less—but focusing on the right things—created better results?