Eighty percent of all chocolate is consumed by 20 percent of consumers. Eighty percent of all booze is consumed by the top 20 percent of consumers. Eighty percent of all auto accidents are caused by 20 percent of the drivers. It’s just the way it works.
So if you want to have the maximum impact with the least effort, you focus on those 20 percent.
One area where this concept falls apart is crime, especially violent crime. If violent crime followed the same pattern, 20 percent of the criminals would commit 80 percent of the crimes.
But it is far more skewed than that. It’s more like five percent of criminals committing 95 percent of the violent crimes. From a crime fighting perspective this is actually good news. By focusing on this five percent—and taking them off the streets—a huge reduction in violent crime is possible. It’s really quite simple.
You would weep—then spit and curse—when realizing how small a slice of the population commit the vast majority of all rapes. All these women’s lifelong pain, anguish, and fear can be traced to a miniscule percentage of criminals.