What separated life from death in their adventure was not the average, but the variance.

FORBES: South to the Pole: Leadership Wins the Race

Managing for the variance, instead of the average, is the outcome of great project leadership: a search for the best ideas, leadership thoughtfulness, ambitiousness, a passion for the job at-hand, the assemblage of the right skills, obsession with details, and unreasonableness in the attempt to get the most out of the talent assembled, are all attributes characteristic of great teams, and of great leaders.

FORBES: South to the Pole: Leadership Wins the Race

Its called a liquidity premium and its variance over time drives both difference in volatility and average return between investment vehicles.

FORBES: How a New Housing Bubble Could Develop

When we see that actually recent summers are on average hotter than earlier summers then we might start to think about trends, not just the variance that comes from more data.

FORBES: The Amazing Thing About American Inequality: How Equal The Country Is

The explained variance of this residual yield by climate is generally about 50%, which is very close to the average I found for corn, soybeans, and winter wheat.

FORBES: Climategate II: An Open Letter to the Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research