Over the centuries, humanity has witnessed an avalanche of medical advancements. Yet, it’s astonishing to realize that the lion’s share of lives saved can be attributed to just three monumental breakthroughs: vaccines, antibiotics, and sterilization.
Bluntly speaking, every other medical innovation is merely a footnote in human medical history.
This striking phenomenon is a classic illustration of the Vital Few Effect. It’s a reminder that nature doesn’t always play fair – often, a minuscule number of efforts lead to a disproportionately large impact.
Therefore, we need to have the courage to focus on what matters most:
- Only a few people in your organization create most of the future value. How can you help them create more?
- Only a few clients generate most of your current value. How can you serve them better?
- Only a few meetings focus on the real issue. How can you improve these valuable conversations?
- Only a few information sources provide you with useful and actionable insights. How can you spend more time on these?
- Only a few marketing efforts bring in most of your new business. How can you increase their impact?
The first step to leverage the power of the Vital Few is to make a distinction between good activities and the best activities.
Next, have the courage to eliminate the good in order to make way for the best.