The End of Average: Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different

Are you above average? Is your child an A 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 come to it or how far we deviate from it.

The assumption that metrics comparing us to an average―like GPAs, personality test results, and performance review ratings―reveal something meaningful about our potential is so ingrained in our consciousness that we don’t even question it. That assumption, says Harvard’s Todd Rose, is spectacularly―and scientifically―wrong.

In The End of Average, Rose, a rising star in the new field of the science of the individual, shows 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 for personal development. 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.” This average-size-fits-all model ignores our differences and fails at recognizing talent in standardized systems. It’s time to change it.

Weaving compelling science, history, and his personal experiences as a high school dropout, Rose offers a powerful alternative to understanding human potential through averages: the three principles of individuality. The jaggedness principle (talent is always jagged), the context principle (traits are a myth), and the pathways principle (we all 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.

Read this powerful manifesto in the ranks of Drive, Quiet, and Mindset―and you won’t see averages or talent in the same way again.

This paradigm-shifting book reveals a new way to understand human potential:

• The Myth of Average: Learn why no one is actually average―not you, your kids, or your employees―and how systems designed for the “average person,” from standardized tests to performance reviews, are destined to fail.
• The Science of the Individual: Explore the groundbreaking new field that offers a powerful alternative to understanding people through averages, weaving together compelling science, history, and the author’s own journey as a high school dropout.
• Three Principles of Individuality: Master the jaggedness, context, and pathways principles to understand true uniqueness, gain an edge in life, and finally see talent and potential for what they really are.
• A New Framework for Success: Get a powerful manifesto for parents, teachers, managers, and anyone who feels constrained by one-size-fits-all systems, offering a new framework for nurturing excellence in a world built on averages.

Todd Rose is the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he leads the Laboratory for the Science of Individuality. He is also the cofounder and president of the Center for Individual Opportunity, an organization dedicated to providing leadership around the emerging science of the individual. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.