CORPORATE GLOSSARY

This week’s corporate glossary terms: Meritocracy and Kakistocracy with a decision fallacy to beware of thrown in for good measure.

I was today years old when I learned the opposite of a meritocracy is a kakistocracy.

In case you missed that day at school, a meritocracy is a system where rewards go to people based on talent, effort, and achievement instead of favoritism, cronyism, nepotism, or some other -ism that replaces merit. Short version? You do the work, you get the reward.

How we get hooked

Without giving it too much thought, we assume we’ll take a job, and our hard work, good work, or the combination of both will translate to more money and more power?

Without ever saying so, you and the people hiring you act under the assumption that progress will be merit-based. Yet, meritocracy is a rarely spoken word.

Even the most confident job seekers hedge when it comes time to hold a potential employer’s feet to the fire and get a fair deal in negotiations. It’s not just you. To a person, job seekers live in fear of the career equivalent of a shark attack: that is, a potential employer will revoke their offer if you ask for “too much.”

This rarely happens, but like shark attacks, it strikes fear in people.

In the 7th grade, a bout of severe bronchitis caused me to miss school for a week. Mrs. Richardson’s civics class probably covered the various form of governance ending in “ocracy” then. But for that week-long absence, I might have recognized what I was experiencing and not guffawed when this happened to me decades later.

A lesson from a co-worker

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked my favorite colleague as he fast-walked New York city style back to his desk in the chic, downtown high-rise offices where we worked.

This was the second company we’d worked at together, and I’d learned at the first that conversations with him turned out to be uncannily informative. If you find someone who dispenses good information and insights, I recommend you learn how they take their coffee and listen more than you talk. That was this guy.

It turns out I’d intercepted him coming out of his annual review meeting. He said, “This place is not a meritocracy. They’ve made that clear, and I’m leaving.” Having just been denied a promotion by rights was his, he was moving right on to plan C, while I was thinking, “You had me at meritocracy.”

In a split second, I made two powerful realizations. First, In a word, he’d summed up every bad feeling I had about this sh*t show of an employer. Meritocracy. Next, my colleague was as emotionally connected to our employer as a cruise ship is to a port dock.

On the outside, our employer was “respectable,” on the inside, it was a hot mess, seething with nepotism, cronyism, and incompetence. But I hadn’t had a word to capture what felt wrong about working here, until now.

That’s the day I realized I’d been living in “Kakisktan”, miles from a meritocracy.

Have you noticed?

A kind of hush comes over offices when annual reviews, raises, and promotions are in the works.

It’s the same energy you feel the window of time between when ice skaters, divers, or gymnasts finish their performance yet before the judges have posted the scores. Everyone is on edge, wondering, “Will it be enough for the win?”

People know when things aren’t judged fairly. You hear that sinking “Ohhhhh” sound from the audience, see the fallen face of a competitor, and even the press gets a few cycles of clicks on headlines when the judges get it wrong.

Kakistocracy means government by the least suitable or competent citizens. Performing well enough for the win only matters in meritocracies.

There you are, laboring under the illusion you’re working in a meritocracy when in reality, your hard work is merely cementing the myth of meritocracy while the same people call the shots, enjoy the spoils, and nothing changes. The only thing that will move you ahead is time, if that. If you’re okay with that arrangement. No problem. If you’re not okay with it, start packing.

Kakistocracy usually means info-hoarding, devaluation of learning, and it allocates money and power based on time served. As if age and wisdom go hand in hand — and they do not. Kakistocracies tend to place a high value on institutional knowledge, which has zero value at another employer.

What’s your next move?

An organization will swear up and down they’re a meritocracy, and some will even believe it despite heavy evidence to the contrary. Why?

No one wants to admit they aren’t the most qualified. Or own that they got their position due to a cousin, a market spike that’s long gone or just because they got there before you. Few people want to accept that anything but hard work and personal merit hoisted them to their current height. Even trustafarians riding Mommy or Daddy’s dollar train believe they’re deserving. It’s all relative, right?

Privilege tends to be more visible to those who don’t have it.

All that’s just a long way of saying some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you. Your job is simple. Know who the bear is and who it isn’t at work. It’s okay not to be the bear. It’s miserable when you’re not the bear, and you don’t have a clue.

Set a deadline

My colleague’s trigger was simple. “If they promote me, I stay, if they don’t, I leave.” There was no “What’s wrong with me?” crying or, “But I’ll miss my office BFF” pining.

A deadline will innoculate you from a painful case of wait-and-see-ism. Who doesn’t know someone who’s been leaving a company for the last five years? (Looks around. Raises hand.)

Consider this. Most employees decide to stay and build a case to leave. If you discover your hard word is not tied to advancement, decide to leave and build a case to stay. If that’s not possible, grab your go-bag.

If they placate you with, “You’re not ready” or “We need you to step up,” this article is custom-made for you.

Now and in every interview ask

“Is this a meritocracy?” They may say “Yes, of course!” even when it’s not. This opens the door to discussing what the employer considers merit and how they award promotions and pay raises or whatever it is you want in your long game.

Nothing is perfect, not gold, or diamonds, maybe pizza, definitely not work, so quantify value on a scale of 1–10. First, rate how well your employer has treated you in the time you’ve been there.

Separate intangibles like status from strategic outcomes like career opportunities, education offerings, and earnings. Be sure to rate how much you’re respected.

In a democracy, you’re empowered, so you pay attention, theoretically. Work is not a democracy. You’re trained to do what you’re told. If you’re told you deserve a promotion, you’re thrilled. If you’re told you don’t, you’re morose. Why? Because in both cases, you assume they’re right. Meritocracy or not, your employer is the boss at your job, not your career. Act accordingly.

Know your market value?

How hard would you be to replace on a scale of 1–10? Don’t know? Find out. Get trusted outside counsel if you need to counter-balance personal bias, and we all have that. You need to know this because this is your moneymaker.

A final, powerful way to demystify your next step is to ask yourself the Sunk Cost Fallacy question.

Knowing what you know now, would you accept your job if it was offered to you today?

The Corporate Glossary series reveals the truth behind common corporate words and phrases, so you don’t get duped. See past articles in this series here.

I help experienced professionals re-package their work to get better jobs. Visit CourtneyKirschbaum.com to learn more.