When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was on the brink. It wasn’t that Apple lacked talent. It wasn’t that their people weren’t working hard. The problem was focus. The company had dozens of product lines. Engineers were spread thin. Marketing was diluted. Energy was scattered everywhere.
Jobs walked into a room, grabbed a marker, and drew a simple four-quadrant grid on a whiteboard. Consumer and Pro across the top. Desktop and Portable down the side.
Then he started cutting. Nearly 70% of Apple’s product line was eliminated.
The message was clear: we are going to pour our best energy into a very small number of things — and we are going to do them exceptionally well.
From that focus came the iMac. Then the iPod. Then the iPhone.
Apple didn’t succeed because they worked more hours. They succeeded because they worked on the right 20%.
The principle behind that decision traces back to the work of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that roughly 80% of outcomes tend to come from 20% of inputs. Over time, what we now call the Pareto Principle has shown up everywhere — in economics, sales, productivity, and leadership.
And yet, most leaders violate it every single day.
In theory, leaders know they should focus on what matters most. In reality, they firefight. They answer emails all day. They sit in back-to-back meetings. They solve problems that others could solve. They mediate minor issues. They respond to whatever is loudest in the moment.
Meanwhile, the true 20% of leadership — the work that actually drives culture, performance, and trust — quietly gets squeezed out.
That 20% usually looks like:
But those things don’t scream for attention. Urgency does. And urgency wins.
This isn’t about laziness. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. High-capacity leaders struggle here the most because they are competent. They can fix the small problems. They can step in. They can make quick decisions.
There are a few deeper reasons we drift:
1. Identity: Being needed feels good. Firefighting makes you feel valuable.
2. Control: Letting go of operational details feels risky, especially when outcomes matter.
3. Clarity gaps: If you haven’t clearly defined your most important 20%, everything feels equally important.
4. The dopamine of urgency: Putting out a fire gives you immediate feedback. Strategic work rarely does.
This is exactly what I describe in the Cycle of C.H.A.O.S. — constant reactivity and high cognitive load pull leaders away from the work that actually transforms organizations.
The 80% makes you feel busy. The 20% makes you effective.
For most leaders I work with — in schools, nonprofits, healthcare systems, corporate environments — the high-impact 20% consistently includes:
1. Vision and alignment: Are people clear on where you are going and why?
2. Culture shaping: What behaviors are recognized, rewarded, and reinforced?
3. Coaching and developing others: Are you multiplying leadership capacity, or centralizing it in yourself?
4. Systems thinking: Are you fixing root causes, or just patching leaks?
5. Reflection and strategic thinking: Do you regularly step onto the balcony and assess your leadership?
None of those happen accidentally. They require intention.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “That’s me — I’m buried in the weeds,” here are three starting points.
1. Define Your 20% Explicitly
Ask yourself: If I could only accomplish three things this week that truly move our organization forward, what would they be?
Write them down. If you can’t name them, you can’t protect them.
2. Audit Your Calendar
Look at last week’s calendar and categorize your time:
If 70–80% of your time is reactive, you’ve identified the problem. Awareness is step one.
Then start protecting blocks for strategic and relational leadership.
If it isn’t scheduled, it won’t happen.
3. Create a “Stop Doing” List
We Love to-do lists.
Very few leaders create stop-doing lists.
Ask:
Courage in leadership often looks like subtraction.
Most leaders don’t burn out because they’re incapable. They burn out because they are overextended in the wrong places. You can work 60 hours a week and still neglect the few behaviors that actually shape culture. You can be everywhere and still not move the organization forward.
The goal isn’t to do more. It’s to matter more. When you step onto the balcony and look down at your leadership, the question isn’t, “Am I busy?” The question is, “Am I Investing my best energy into the work that only I can do?”
That is the 20%. And that is where transformation lives.
If you’re a regular listener of the Leaning Into Leadership podcast, you’ve probably already heard me talk about my friends at HeyTutor.
HeyTutor delivers customized, evidence-based, high-dosage math and ELA tutoring for K–12 school districts across the country, offering both in-person and online options. Their programs are aligned to state standards and designed around real, measurable results—including one of the few tutoring models that has been vetted and awarded Stanford’s National Student Support Accelerator badge.
What really sets HeyTutor apart is that they handle the heavy lift. They recruit, train, hire, and manage tutors as HeyTutor employees, so districts don’t have to scramble to find staffing or manage another system. Their curriculum and platform tools also make it easy for schools to track student Growth through an accessible dashboard for tutors and teachers.
If your district is looking for tutoring support that’s structured, scalable, and built for impact, HeyTutor is worth a look. You can learn more about their work at heytutor.com.
Make sure to tune in this week to the Leaning into Leadership podcast where I’ll wrap up my three part series on leadership presence.
