"Innovate at all costs!" This is the exhortation from innumerable business articles and best-selling business books. These authors describe how to innovate but fail to include how to find the time to innovate. What's needed is a tool to help find the time to think about and act on innovation. The Law of 90–10 [aka 90/10 principle, or theory, or rule] can be used as just such a tool to identify opportunities that, when addressed, create time for innovation.

The Law of 90–10 states that 90 percent of one statistic is attributable to 10 percent of another. A familiar example of this phenomenon can be seen in world wealth distribution where 10 percent of the world's population commands nearly 90 percent of the world's wealth. This can also be seen in most organizations where 10 percent of its members produce 90 percent of the results; witness the rainmaker or the star researcher.

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