What on Earth?

What on earth?

My curiosity was captured this past week by this question from author, consultant, and entrepreneur Richard Koch:

 “What on earth are you going to do to change the world?”

Richard is asking us not to respond with something that’s going to make you successful. But rather, he says, “It has to be something that you believe needs to be done. It’s a way of changing the world.”

If Richard Koch is unknown to you, he is most well known for a series of four bestselling books on the 80/20 Principle.

The key observation that Koch revealed in his books was the difference between 80/20 analysis and 80/20 thinking.

Analysis is backward-looking. Thinking is forward-looking. Most of the world only knows about 80/20 analysis.

I’ve read all of Koch’s books, and they have had an enormous impact on my thinking and work.

Most notably is the fact that 80/20 is fractal. There’s an 80/20 inside every 80/20. That means that there’s enormous leverage in figuring out the top 1% or 5% activity that you could be doing.

I learned about Koch’s question during an interview with Tim Ferris, author of the bestselling book The 4-Hour Work Week. Ferris was interviewing Koch about his newest book, Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It.

What on earth are you going to do to change the world?

I believe the reason why I found Koch’s question so appealing is that it’s the same strategy that led me to do the work that I do.

After almost three decades of observing and participating in the world of workplace transformation, I witnessed a repeating pattern that rarely truly improved the workplace experience for everyone.

And when it did, it rarely lasted.

My intention was and is to bring new thinking to impact the workplace experience in ways that work for everyone.

Now it’s your turn: What on earth are you going to do to change the world?