Meritocracy doesn’t exist, and believing it does is bad for you

Fast company ^ | 13mar19 | By Clifton Mark

[Tallguy]

“True meritocracy only exists in high level sports these days. Every other field is polluted by nepotism, bribery, affirmative action, etc.”

Depends a little bit on the position. NASCAR is full of legacy drivers — always has been — so not much meritocracy there. Football coaching has a bit of nepotism there. Less so in the NFL, but it’s still there to a degree.

[Tallguy]

“Even in a utopia, there is a meritocracy.”

The original ‘meritocracy’ when civilization was born from the wilderness was the headman/chief. His particular merit was as a provider & defender of the tribe. Other men would follow him and so you had a budding military elite. Chiefs over time become petty-kings, then Kings and so forth. The flaw in the ‘system’ was that leadership was almost always hereditary. The first instance of elites ‘protecting their own’. Even a king can have an idiot son. Therein lay the problem for tens of thousands of years until the late European middle ages when meritocracy forced it’s way back into the picture with the merchants, artisans and craftsmen.

Eventually we got a self-sustaining middle class which were seen as a threat by many in the ossified nobility. The middle class ain’t perfect, but at least it keeps our current nobility honest, more or less. So until something comes along to replace it I will take meritocracy and lay the points.

[JoeFromSidney]

Or worse yet, admit that he hired them because they were "yes men."

[JoeFromSidney]

Looking back on my own life (I'll be 88 on my next birthday), I think success (however you define it) needs both talent and luck. I earned a Ph.D. in mathematics, which I believe required a certain amount of talent. However,by itself that talent would have gotten me nowhere had I been born into a peasant society. Instead, I was born into a society where that kind of talent was valued. Over the years I encountered opportunities that my talent allowed me to take advantage of. In short, I had a lot of good luck, starting with being born to parents who encouraged me. I can take no credit for the talent. The only credit I can take is in not wasting that talent, and a lot of that credit needs to go to my parents and teachers. I have no envy of others who also got a good combination of talent and luck, and worked to take advantage of both. More power to them.

[vannrox]

Obviously, there are a complex formula of conditions to create a favorable environment for success. No matter how you define it.

However, life success, work success and financial success are all different things.

You can be successful at life, and penniless.

You can be ungodly rich, and have a miserable life (though I do want to be able to see if this is an “old wives tale”.)

But work success, for most of us, means working for someone else. Which means that THEY determine whether or not we are successful in work. As they are empowered to make this decision. In my past, I have found few (yes maybe one or two) that bucked this rule one way or the other. Truthfully, in work, it is a meritocracy. The only people who cannot see this reality, has never worked for another person.

That should be obvious.

[JoeFromSidney]

Well, I did follow my passion. Through grade and high school I wanted to be a scientist. Being a chemist was Very attractive. The events of August 1945 tipped the balance toward physics. In college I majored in physics, but in graduate school ended up in electrical engineering. After working in Air Force assignments as an EE, I went back to graduate school for a PhD in Mathematics. I'd never have made it through to the degree except for my passion. I had a successful career in Air Force R+D, then after retirement, in a university. Being passionate about something is no guarantee you'll be good at it, but without passion, you'll be mediocre at best. Passion combined with talent is the secret to success.

[rlmorel]

Some people are lucky, their passion coincides with what they are good at...:)

Some people find passion as they go along...which works too!