---
id: "prereq-pareto-principle"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["¶42", "¶44"]
tags: ["prioritization", "mental-models"]
related: ["framework-question-first-ai"]
reason: "Required to understand how to prioritize a massive list of potential AI use cases down to the 3 or 4 that actually matter."
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/innovating-at-the-core-and-for-the-future"
source_title: "Innovating at the Core—and for the Future"
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-cl-91-innovating-core-and-future"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/10/innovating-at-the-core-and-for-the-future"
sourceTitle: "Innovating at the Core—and for the Future"
---
# Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)

**Why it's needed:** Required to understand how to prioritize a massive list of potential AI use cases down to the 3 or 4 that actually matter.

Nooyi advises companies to 'do the Pareto' on their list of business questions before applying AI (see [[framework-question-first-ai]]). This assumes the reader understands the **Pareto principle** — that a small minority of inputs (the 20%) will yield the vast majority (80%) of the value.

**Enrichment.** The 80/20 rule is widely used in operations and analytics to focus on the small set of drivers with the largest impact.