According to Price’s Law, the square root of the number of people in a domain do 50% of the work. Otherwise stated:
10 employees; 3 of them do half the work
100 employees; 10 do half the work
10000 employees; 100 do half the work
Notice the nasty corollary of this law? As a company grows, mediocrity climbs exponentially while competence rises linearly. And Price’s Law applies to virtually every realm in existence, both in natural and social environments.
Take classical composers for instance; five of the most famous (Brahms, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky) composed music that occupies 50% of the classical repertoire played on radio. Same goes for goals scored in the NHL or points accrued in the NBA—in every domain of creative production, there’s always a select few who dominate.
These high-achievers are also more vulnerable to burnout than an average performer. Work hard, play hard—is often their preferred adage. These hard-charging types take things personally because they like to win. And more than ever, during this daunting period of COVID and economic malaise, you need your top performers in fighting shape.
But are you paying attention to them?
