99% of people...
Today, I'm going to talk about something without evidence.
It's a story about the Pareto Principle based on my own personal experience.
The Pareto Principle is an empirical rule that states, "80% of results are produced by 20% of causes", and it is also known as the "80/20 rule". This originates from the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who, while investigating global income distribution, discovered that 20% of the population owned 80% of the wealth. This principle is considered applicable to various phenomena, primarily in the business field, as represented by examples such as 80% of sales being generated by 20% of customers.
I talk to over 300 corporate executives and people in key positions every year, and in those conversations, I often provide some kind of advice (to improve their management situation).
Originally, advice is a word that means "counsel" or "suggestion," but my advice involves pointing out problems in an executive's actions and encouraging them to take the correct actions as a result. In that sense, my advice might not be advice in the original meaning of the word.
Therefore, generally 80% of people... in other words, 240 out of 300 people, do not listen to that advice. Well, in some cases, the content can be quite painful to hear, so I can understand the feeling of wanting to cover one's ears. I suppose their past habits and pride get in the way. Sometimes I get snapped at or argued with.
The remaining 20%, which is 60 people, are those who listen sincerely (even if it is painful to hear). However, about 80% of those 60 people, or 48 people, say "Thank you very much" and that's the end of it.
The remaining 20%, which is 12 people, leads to a situation where they say, "Please tell me more!" and we decide on the timing for future conversations. However, after talking 2 or 3 times, about 80% of them, or 9 people, fade out. Even if I ask, "When shall we have our next meeting?", they start making excuses and putting it off indefinitely.
I know the reason for that.
It's because I ask the other person to take action.
And, as a result, I end up continuing a dialogue with only 3 people... in other words, 1% of the original 300 people.
But people who take action are strong.
In my experience, that 1% of people who take action achieve results 100% of the time.