In 1984, the mean starting salary of a University of Virginia Communications graduate was $55,000; an unheard of sum at the time.
The reason: they included the salary of a recently drafted NBA player in their calculations.
The outlier skewed the average, and the median salary was never published.
It’s a funny—but important—lesson in picking the right metric.
After all, metrics are just guides to help us understand what’s really going on. Pick the wrong one, and it’s easy to fall into poor decisions.