{"id":632,"date":"2025-07-25T05:44:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T05:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davecarrera.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2025-07-25T05:44:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T05:44:26","slug":"the-80-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davecarrera.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/the-80-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"The 80% Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong>Why your best people \u2014 and most of society \u2014 won\u2019t give you everything<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was once told that even your best employee will only ever give you 80% of what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not because they\u2019re lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not because they don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But because their ultimate loyalty isn\u2019t to you \u2014 it\u2019s to themselves and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when you really think about it, that\u2019s not betrayal. That\u2019s just human nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Understanding the Limit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you see that truth, you stop managing on fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You stop expecting people to give you everything \u2014 because \u201ceverything\u201d is reserved for their children, their spouses, their personal survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you manage for the 80%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the ceiling you can realistically reach \u2014 and you\u2019ll do far better as a leader when you understand that ceiling isn\u2019t failure. It\u2019s the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Wider Truth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And here\u2019s where it gets interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That 80% rule doesn\u2019t just apply to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It applies to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>80% of people can\u2019t \u2014 or won\u2019t \u2014 see how the world really works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They don\u2019t connect the dots. They don\u2019t want to know where the decisions are really made, or why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s easier to focus on the small things in front of them than the bigger, uglier truths behind the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The 20%<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there are the 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ones who do see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They question. They analyse. They prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re often dismissed as cynical, or overthinking, or \u201cdoom-mongers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the 20% aren\u2019t delusional \u2014 they\u2019re awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while it can feel isolating at times, it also gives them something valuable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chance to prepare for what\u2019s coming while the rest of the world pretends it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Thought<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The 80% rule isn\u2019t pessimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you know what people will \u2014 and won\u2019t \u2014 give you, you stop demanding more than they can give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you focus on making the most of what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Hope isn&#8217;t what they promise you.<br>It&#8217;s how you carry on when they don\u2019t deliver.<\/em><br>\u2014 Dave Carrera<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why your best people \u2014 and most of society \u2014 won\u2019t give you everything I was once told that even your best employee will only ever give you 80% of what you want. Not because they\u2019re lazy. Not because they don\u2019t care. But because their ultimate loyalty isn\u2019t to you \u2014 it\u2019s to themselves and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[104,231,232,233],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thoughts","tag-life","tag-people","tag-voters","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The 80% Rule - The Other Side of Dave<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/davecarrera.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/the-80-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 80% Rule - The Other Side of Dave\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why your best people \u2014 and most of society \u2014 won\u2019t give you everything I was once told that even your best employee will only ever give you 80% of what you want. 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