I’d like to tell you that “The End of Average” is the most important book I’ve read all year, but given today’s date, that seems like some pretty weak tea. So how about this – “The End of Average” holds the key to fixing everything that’s broken in our educational system, and reading it will absolutely change the way you evaluate yourself, your kids, your mate, and every other person around you. At least, that’s what it did for me.
In short, “The End of Average” is based on our belief that that popular yardsticks like GPAs, personality tests, IQ tests, and annual performance reviews reveal something meaningful about who we are. The is belief is so ingrained in our consciousness that we never even question it – we just assume that our abilities, talents, and intellect are either average, below average, or above average. Then, we make all sorts of decisions based on where we – and all those around us – compare to that which is average. I’ve always believed there was something misguided about this assumption, but Todd Rose knows it for a fact – and he can prove it. The whole notion of “average” is a complete and total lie.
Full disclosure, Todd dropped out of high school with a GPA of .9. (As in, 0.9.) Today, he’s a professor at Harvard with at least one Ph.D, but please don’t hold that against him. What Todd is offering to society is the very definition of a bottom-up solution. I don’t want to oversell it, but after meeting Todd on my podcast, I made a short video about this topic, and I’d be grateful if you’d share it. I’ve been railing against cookie-cutter advice since I started mikeroweWORKS sixteen years ago – I just haven’t been railing as well as Todd. Our short video is below, and “The End of Average” is here. Both are positively worth your time.
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