1. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)

帕累托原则（二八原则）

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

帕累托法则又称二八法则，其原理是对于大多数事情而言，80%的结果是由20%的原因造成的。

In 1906, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.

1906年，意大利经济学家维弗雷多-帕累托发现，意大利80%的土地为20%的人口所拥有；其自家院子里的20%的豌豆荚里包含了80%的豌豆。

In businss, the distribution shows up in several different aspects:

在商业中，二八法则可以运用在以下不同的方面：

80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers

80%的利润来自于20%的客户

80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers

80%的抱怨来自于20%的客户

80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spend

80%的利润来自于20%的时间

80% of your sales come from 20% of your products

80%的销售来自于20%的产品

80% of your sales are made by 20% of your sales staff

80%的销售来自于20%的销售员

数量少质量精才是王道！

2. Matthew Effect

马太效应

In sociology, the Matthew effect (or accumulated advantage) is thephenomenon where "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". In both its original and typical usage it is meant metaphorically to refer to issues of fame or status but it may also be used literally to refer tocumulative advantage of economic capital. The term was first coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1968 and takes its name from a line in thebiblical Gospel of Matthew:

马太效应又称累积优势，是指一种“富人越富，穷人越穷”的现象。马太效应既可以用于名誉地位等引申含义的方面，也可以只经济资本的累积优势。“马太效应”一词是在1968年时，由社会学家罗伯特-莫顿最先提出的，其引用了《圣经·新约》中“马太福音”的一句：

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath.

凡有的，还要加给他叫他多余；没有的，连他所有的也要夺过来。

输在起跑线上。

3. The Peter Principle

彼得定理

The Peter Principle is a belief that in an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit, that organization's members will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability. The principle is commonly phrased, "employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in the book The Peter Principle.

彼得定理是劳伦斯-彼得-约翰斯博士在同名书籍《彼得定理》中提出的。该定理认为，在一个以业绩表现和能力水平为衡量标准来决定晋升的组织中，人们倾向于晋升到他们无法胜任的职位上去。简单来说，就是员工会晋升到一个他们无法胜任的职位上。

The principle holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Eventually they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions. Peter states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."

彼得定理指出，在官僚机构中，只要员工表现良好，可以胜任某一职位，他就会一直得到提拔，直到他们到达一个他们不能胜任的职位为止，然后他们就会一直待在这个职位上，不会再有晋升。也就是说，每一个岗位都是由不能胜任其工作的人来担任的。

在其位，不能谋其政。

4. Murphy’s Law

墨菲定律

Murphy's Law is commonly expressed as "If anything can go wrong, it will." Sometimes "and at the worst possible time" is added at the end of the saying. Many problems, failures, and annoyances are attributed to Murphy's Law.

墨菲定律通常指“如果事情有变坏的可能，那它就一定会变坏。而且通常是在最不合适的时候变坏。”很多问题、失败和麻烦都可以用墨菲定律来解释。

Many variants of Murphy's Law exist in today's culture. It is generally accepted, for example, that bread will always land jelly side down when dropped, that there will be rain as soon as you wash your car, and that you will always pick the line in the supermarket that doesn't seem to advance at all.

现在，墨菲定律又衍生出了很多版本，而且大多被人们所接受。比如，只有一面涂了果酱的面包掉下来，那一定是涂了果酱的一面掉在地上；刚洗了车的那天就会下雨；在超市排队结账，你总是排在那个比较慢的队伍里。