The 95% Rule
Kyle's central idea about how people actually experience work — and how organizations too often build for the wrong few.
Most people come to work intending to do a good job.
Approximately 95% of employees come to work intending to do a good job. Yet far too many organizations build their policies, management practices, and cultures around controlling the small minority who may abuse the system — and in doing so, they end up treating the 95% as though they were the 5%.
Too many organizations design their policies, management practices, and cultures around controlling the small minority who may abuse the system. In the process, they end up treating the 95% — the people who show up ready to do right — as though they were the 5%. The cost is real: eroded trust, wasted effort, and workplaces people wouldn't choose if they had another option.
The 95% Rule is a lens for leading differently. Not by ignoring accountability — but by building around trust, and holding the few to a standard instead of constraining the many.
Implications for leaders & organizations
Trust as the default
When leadership assumes people want to do good work, teams respond with ownership, judgment, and effort. Distrust breeds exactly the disengagement it fears.
Policy that protects, not punishes
Rules should exist to support the majority who do the right thing — not to police the few who don't. Over-policing creates friction, red tape, and resentment.
Performance management that develops
Systems built around catching problems short-change the people doing the work. Build practices that coach, develop, and recognize — not just document and discipline.
Culture as a promise kept
Culture isn't a poster on the wall. It's whether the workplace actually believes people are the asset — and behaves like it every day.
Bringing The 95% Rule to the whole workplace
From the handbook to the boardroom, the principle reshapes how organizations operate.
The 95% Rule on stage
Kyle's DisruptHR talk on the idea — delivered at DisruptHR South Bend 3.0 — May 22, 2025 in Mishawaka, IN.
Kyle Smith, DisruptHR Talks · DisruptHR South Bend 3.0, May 22, 2025 — Mishawaka, IN.
A framework built to expand
The 95% Rule is the foundation for keynotes, articles, training, and potentially a book. Explore how to bring it to your organization.
— Kyle Patrick Smith, Your Guide Through the World of Work