“In most forms society, be it a company, a school, a country, the rule of 20-40-20 applies: the top 20% of the population do much of the work, the middle 40% get by doing what they need to, and the bottom 20% find ways to feed off the group without any work input.”

Apparently, this is conventional wisdom taught at many business schools in Japan. They also add that “The same rule applies to a successful and hardworking company, as to an unsuccessful and mediocre company. The difference is the level of how hard they work as a group; so the bottom 20% of the successful company work at the same level as the top 20% of an unsuccessful company.”

My friend who told me this had observed many homeless people loitering in downtown San Francisco. She said that society can never rid of the bottom 20%, but can only accommodate them and rise up the ladder together.