I would differentiate the idea of meritocracy and an implementation. By definition, the idea [1] seems to be a fair and efficient way to encourage effort and ac

I would differentiate the idea of meritocracy and an implementation. By definition, the idea [1] seems to be a fair and efficient way to encourage effort and achievements. It's an implementation that fails, as usually. Our society focuses a lot on traditional signals of merit like advanced degrees, previous work at sound companies. We assume that people with those things on their CV are more able than without. The thing is even if there is some correlation, the the process of filtering is far from being optimised on people who can bring maximum benefit to a company and society in general. We can filter out people with weird backgrounds, poor families, no sound education, without polished manners and language. They mentioned Germany is the article, I would not say Germany has a right and efficient meritocracy model for 21 century. Germany gives an individual a better chance in life by free education. Anyway, the rich Germans would send their children to elite British and US universities. The university education and the notes you got there mean a lot for German companies. Risky ideas, audacity are not encouraged, even switching to a job that is different from your diploma is perceived as very unusual and amateurish move. So German meritocracy is optimised for traditional careers, not for groundbreaking innovations. Recently, I was impressed with Israel's innovation and business culture [2]. When sending their people to the military or in business in general your personality, ideas, and chutzpah [3] seems to matter much more than your diploma. The focus is more on practical skills and ideas rather then on good notes and sound names. And this meritocracy implementation seems to work good for the country: Israel does not have impressive scores in maths academic excellence comparing to Singapore, Japan, Germany, but they have very impressive results in the number of startups and innovations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy [2] http://startupnationbook.com/ http://startupnationbook.com/ [3] https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062883049/chutzpah/ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062883049/chutzpah/