Today, I was at a client site for most of the day and heard the term “average” or “averages” mentioned at least 4 times. One of those instances was with a board member.
One of my clients shows multiple columns of averages on his financial reporting. One CFO I used to work with loved averages for every metric he focused on.
Is this a good thing or faulty thinking? Sam Savage is the author of The Flaw of Averages, and his red alert would be going off right now. Sam has written a long treatise on the issues of relying on averages. However, I can show you three pictures that will help you to rethink when to use or not use averages in your critical thinking.
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