1. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)

帕累托原則（二八原則）

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.

帕累托法則又稱二八法則，其原理是對于大多數事情而言，80%的結果是由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，意大利經濟學家維弗雷多-帕累托發現，意大利80%的土地為20%的人口所擁有；其自家院子里的20%的豌豆莢里包含了80%的豌豆。

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

在商業中，二八法則可以運用在以下不同的方面：

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

80%的利潤來自于20%的客戶

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

80%的抱怨來自于20%的客戶

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

80%的利潤來自于20%的時間

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

80%的銷售來自于20%的產品

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

80%的銷售來自于20%的銷售員

數量少質量精才是王道！

2. Matthew Effect

馬太效應

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:

馬太效應又稱累積優勢，是指一種“富人越富，窮人越窮”的現象。馬太效應既可以用于名譽地位等引申含義的方面，也可以只經濟資本的累積優勢。“馬太效應”一詞是在1968年時，由社會學家羅伯特-莫頓最先提出的，其引用了《圣經·新約》中“馬太福音”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，還要加給他叫他多余；沒有的，連他所有的也要奪過來。

輸在起跑線上。

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.

彼得定理是勞倫斯-彼得-約翰斯博士在同名書籍《彼得定理》中提出的。該定理認為，在一個以業績表現和能力水平為衡量標準來決定晉升的組織中，人們傾向于晉升到他們無法勝任的職位上去。簡單來說，就是員工會晉升到一個他們無法勝任的職位上。

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，在官僚機構中，只要員工表現良好，可以勝任某一職位，他就會一直得到提拔，直到他們到達一個他們不能勝任的職位為止，然后他們就會一直待在這個職位上，不會再有晉升。也就是說，每一個崗位都是由不能勝任其工作的人來擔任的。

在其位，不能謀其政。

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“如果事情有變壞的可能，那它就一定會變壞。而且通常是在最不合適的時候變壞。”很多問題、失敗和麻煩都可以用墨菲定律來解釋。

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.

現在，墨菲定律又衍生出了很多版本，而且大多被人們所接受。比如，只有一面涂了果醬的面包掉下來，那一定是涂了果醬的一面掉在地上；剛洗了車的那天就會下雨；在超市排隊結賬，你總是排在那個比較慢的隊伍里。