Average: From Colloquial Terms to Lt. Daniels' Findings

In colloquial terms, an average refers to a single unit that acts as the representative of all numbers. Over a long time, the standard has been used by scientists, managers, and education models to determine how individuals fare in a particular subset. For example, the military wanted to solve the perpetual accidents and incidences by taking the average physique of the pilots to design an average cockpit a move that failed. Lieutenant Gilbert S. Daniels findings altered the belief by discarding the idea of average pilot. Daniel suggested that instead of designing an average cockpit, the military should change the design to fit an individual. The same precept can be applied to almost every other area, where, instead of schools comparing students based on average, below average and above average, the institutions can alter the system and look for what fits best to a particular individual commonly termed as the individual fit. The same can be used in management, hiring, and measuring intelligence, as discussed in this article.

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According to Dr. Howard Gardner, there are multiple types of intelligence as opposed to what a majority/average think of, i.e., IQ score (Next Level Life, 2017). Gardner asserts that there are multiple ways of measuring intelligence, meaning every individual has a particular level of intelligence and has a chance to improve their knowledge throughout life. The types of intelligence include mathematical, linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.

The main points from the article and the video are, there is nothing like an average when referencing a particular person's physical or mental ability. Thus, it is impossible to have an average musician in the world, or an average athlete. As indicated, a system that is designed to fit an average person is doomed to fail, as evidenced in the design of an average man's pilot, an ideal human or even the massive underscores in the averaged IQ tests. As a manager, if I only use the average academic qualifications to determine who to to hire, I will miss out on a wide array of other talents that can be extra beneficial to the organization.

There is an excellent connection between my capability and performance. I am excellent in computing and mathematics, as depicted in academic results. My capability around numbers is what led to such achievement, abilities that I have successfully managed to apply in day-to-day problem solving, logical, and data analysis, translating to excellent decision making.

The areas I need improvement are my interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. In management, I will be dealing with diverse individuals with varied backgrounds. While growing up, my academic prowess was excellent, but I have had difficulties interacting with individuals who are not as good. However, the management role, comprise dealing with a diverse group, consisting of advanced seniors, and subordinate staff, all of whom require concise and clear communication from me. As such, I need to learn how to hold my beliefs and interact with diverse workplace architecture to enhance performance.

In future, there is a high possibility that I will be working on a job description that does exist currently, owing to the tremendous changes that are being witnessed today, especially in the world of technology. Professionally, I need to improve my cognitive flexibility, meaning, being able to absorb the plethora of breaks and challenges that come with the opportunities. I should have enhanced adaptability, ability to conceptualize numerous complex ideas, to improve my multitasking capability. Secondly, I need to improve my digital literacy, and computational thinking, as the world will rely heavily on computing in the future. This particularly so because organizations are adopting Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and data science. Social and emotional intelligence are also essential since these are some of the traits that remain to be unequally human. Future jobs need an individual who can work closely with others, excellent communication skills, and having empathy. The last aspect I need to enhance is judgment and decision-making capability since automation can only manage to do the calculations and diagnostic solving but may fail to deal with the subjective side of the data analysis. I need to improve this so I can show individuals what the numbers mean and their significance.

Works Cited

Next Level Life. (2017). How to Be Smarter | 8 Types of Intelligence | Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUOxUeCdVV8