Business Tools Blog

Matt Erickson, Zayo Bandwidth’s snarky marketing guru, is very smart.  One of the reasons I am impressed with Matt is that he always seems to have a good grasp of the details that really matter. A few years ago, Matt used to use the words “80:20 rule” a lot.  Now, I think it’s so ingrained in his thinking that he just focuses on the 20 percent that produce 80 percent of the results as normal course of business.

Last week I was asked how I handled having so many priorities.  She asked, “How do you keep your sanity when you have so many projects pulling you in so many directions.”

I incorporated what I learned from Matt in my answer, “Of course I try to get everything done. But, I apply the 80-20 rule and if anything has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, I try to make sure it’s not part of that 20 percent.”

The reporting tool we use to understand the 80-20 rule is called a Pareto chart. These charts are among the most powerful tools you will use in business.  Over the next few days, I will show you how to create these charts … with pizzazz!