Twitter user @voxnevins sent me this article by Josh Bersin and asked my opinion:

“The Myth of the Bell Curve”

Bersin’s article is absolutely right. In pretty much any situation where human behavior is rewarded or punished, the results DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT fit the bell curve. The bell curve is great if you have a factory that manufactures rulers and your rulers are supposed to be 12 inches long +/- 0.01 inch. The bell curve is lousy if you’re measuring people.

When you’re measuring people or economics or anything in business, the 80/20 Curve is almost always more insightful.

You can get a full explanation and example here.

Bersin’s article shows a Pareto curve, which presents data backwards from the 80/20 curve but is otherwise fairly similar.

I only disagree with Bersin in one respect:

If you want a high performance organization, 80% of people are NOT up to the task. 80% of the sales people you hire won’t cut the mustard. 80% of the people you try out as a Personal Assistant won’t do all that good of a job. 80% of people who prepare your tax returns will do a mediocre, average job or worse. There’s nothing you can do to change that.

It’s not because they’re bad people or they’re not talented. It’s usually because they’re just doing the wrong job. There’s something about the situation that just doesn’t fit right. They’re selling the wrong product or supported the wrong way or being asked to use the wrong skill set.

I believe that most people can be hyper-performers somewhere, if and when they know themselves and find their groove. The compound interest you earn on hyper performers is just tremendous.

80% of people will be mediocre or worse and the top 10% will be 10X more productive than the average person. Never ever forget that.

About the Author

Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.

He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.