Canady takes a pragmatic, no-nonsense look at running and in some cases salvaging a business, providing a methodical sequence of real-life examples, basic business principles, copious tips and pointers, and a fierce belief in “process.” How did Canady, who came from humble roots in hardscrabble rural North Carolina, lift his life into a true, rags-to-riches story? Here, he reveals the story while offering lessons from his experience—about vision, missions, growth through simplification, the distinction between divergent and convergent thinking—about what it takes to build a business. Canady recounts receiving virtually no guidance as a young man and, after serving a term with the U.S. Navy, taking a series of seemingly dead-end sales jobs. Fortunately, he met some good people who helped guide him as he made a series of fortuitous decisions.

As Canady peels back the curtain on his rise from sideline observer to a key business-world broker, The 80/20 CEO lays out a clear, encouraging roadmap for running, building, or turning around a medium- to large-scale operation. Canady offers practical steps to strategizing, crafting an action plan, and more, though the emphasis throughout is on the highly adaptable principle of the title, also known as the Pareto Principle. It posits that, for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. The trick is to identify the truly valuable 20% and get the rest of the enterprise to perform similarly.

Canady peppers lessons with examples from familiar leaders; more illuminating are his applications of the 80/20 principles and, in the book’s second half, his discussions of other factors, intangible and tangible, that have to happen in order to achieve success, such as the power of leadership, teamwork, and the ability to listen and learn before launching a turnaround strategy. The advice is sharp, fresh, clear, and presented with polish.

Takeaway: Encouraging roadmap for building or running an organization.

Comparable Titles: Simon Sinek’s Start with Why, Frances Frei and Morriss’s Move Fast and Fix Things.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A