Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 5

10-80-10 Rule

Numbers are impatient teachers. 10-80-10 Rule gives you the figure first and the explanation later. That is usually the right order.

The wisdom here is arithmetic, not poetry. Small inputs, repeated honestly, beat grand declarations made once a year. The figure is only there to keep you from negotiating with yourself.

What this concept offers is a pause — one extra beat between what happens and what you do about it. Civilisation, someone said, is measured in that beat.

Every colony has a notice board and a gossip channel. The notice board informs; the channel decides. Wise residents read the first and audit the second.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. A word is a lamp. This one is now yours to carry.