80/20 AND OTHER RULES TO LIVE BY - The Mckinsey Way

Lucas Carnaúba de Oliveira

SOME PROBLEMS YOU JUST CAN’T SOLVE . . . SOLVE THEM ANYWAY
Eventually, you will run into a brick wall that is tougher than your head. Don’t keep pounding; it has no effect on the wall and does your head no good.

Lucas Carnaúba de Oliveira

80/20 AND OTHER RULES TO LIVE BY

This chapter contains a number of rules that McKinsey con­sultants have found useful when trying to solve problems.  They are difficult to classify. Call them my “Other Issues.”

Lucas Carnaúba de Oliveira

80/20

The 80/20 rule is one of the great truths of management con­sulting and, by extension, of business. You will see it wher­ever you look: 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your sales force; 20 percent of a secretary’s job will take up 80 percent of her time; 20 percent of the population
controls 80 percent of the wealth. It doesn’t always work (sometimes the bread falls butter-side up), but if you keep your eyes peeled for examples of 80/20 in your business, you will come up with ways to improve it.

Lucas Carnaúba de Oliveira

DON’T BOIL THE OCEAN

Work smarter, not harder. There’s a lot of data out there relating to your problem, and a lot of analyses you could do. Ignore most of them.

Lucas Carnaúba de Oliveira

FIND THE KEY DRIVERS

Many factors affect your business. Focus on the most impor­tant ones—the key drivers.