The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness
Item
Title
The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness
Abstract/Description
Are you above average? Is your child an A (or a C) student? Is your employee an introvert or an extrovert? Every day we are measured against the yardstick of averages, judged according to how closely we resemble it or how far we deviate from it. The assumption that metrics comparing us to an average—like development milestones, GPAs, personality assessments, standardized test results, and performance review ratings—reveal something meaningful about our potential is so ingrained in our consciousness that we rarely question it. That assumption, says Harvard's Todd Rose, is spectacularly—and scientifically—wrong. In The End of Average, Rose shows that no one is average. Not you. Not your kids. Not your employees or students. 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 unique patterns of behaviors are lost in our schools and businesses which have been designed around the mythical "average person." For more than a century, this average-size-fits-all model has ignored our individuality and failed at recognizing talent. It's time to change that. Weaving science, history, and his experiences as a high school dropout. Rose brings to life the untold story of how we came to embrace the scientifically flawed idea that averages can be used to understand individuals and offers a powerful alternative: the three principles of individuality. The jaggedness-principle (talent is never one-dimensional), the context principle (traits are a myth), and the pathways principle (we walk the road less traveled) help us understand our true uniqueness—and that of others—and how to take full advantage of individuality to gain an edge in life. This powerful book will forever change how you see averages and talent.
Author/creator
Date
Publisher
HarperOne/HarperCollins
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Medium
Print
Background/context type
Conceptual
Open access/free-text available
No
Peer reviewed
No
ISBN
978-0-06-235836-3 978-0-06-235838-7
Citation
Rose, T. (2015). The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness. HarperOne/HarperCollins.
Num pages
247
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