The End of Average

Are you above average? Is your child an A student? Is your employee an introvert or an extrovert? Every day, we are judged according to how close we come to, or how far we deviate from, the yardstick of averages.

The assumption that comparative metrics like school grades, personality test results, or performance review ratings can reveal something meaningful about our potential is so ingrained in our consciousness that we seldom question it. That assumption, says Harvard’s Todd Rose, is spectacularly—and scientifically—wrong.

In The End of Average, Rose proves that no one is average. Not you. Not your kids. Not your employees. This isn’t hollow sloganeering—it’s a mathematical fact with enormous practical consequences. But while we know people learn and develop in distinctive ways, these patterns of behavior are lost in schools and businesses that have been designed around the mythical “average person.” This average-size-fits-all model ignores our differences and fails to recognize talent. It’s time to change it.

Weaving science and history together with his personal experiences, Rose offers an alternative to understanding individuals through averages that will help us appreciate uniqueness, and shows us how to take advantage of individuality to gain an edge in life.