Measuring Merit

Since ancient times, man has always exhibited an almost divine compulsion to measure.? Our ancestors gazed upon the horizon, contemplated distances unimaginable for their time, defined lengths and values, developed the tools and the know how, and made the measurements that made our reality quantifiable and, to an extent, clarified our shared understanding of fairness and equality.? ?

Our ancestors used sticks and stones, created symbols for counting, and established the systems that preserve logic and reason.? We’re not using sticks and stones anymore.? I can’t even remember the last time I saw an actual stick.? Our tools are much more advanced, our knowledge sophisticated, and after millennia of measuring stuff, I find it mind-blowing that there’s still a lot left to measure.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about meritocracy.? I’m not exactly sure why but corporate branding video shorts from years ago keep playing in my brain perhaps as a consequence of boredom and a desperate need for novelty.? The memory is a flashback of a corporate executive declaiming proudly about an organization’s culture of meritocracy.? I was actually part of that organization and while the culture is somewhat positive, I just felt the way meritocracy was understood in that short was insubstantial and lacking.? I also noticed that the idea of meritocracy tends to get entangled with egalitarianism which is understandable since the principles have common themes.? Nevertheless, the memory of that video just ignites a belief that there is more to meritocracy than the simple conviction that everyone has a voice. I know corporate buzzwords are mostly doomed to get frayed to a point of meaninglessness but I’m convinced that searching and creating a true meritocracy will have, well, it’s own merits.

But where should we begin searching for and how do we start establishing a true meritocracy?? In its basic sense, a meritocracy means assigning merit based on ability.? It’s simple enough to understand but merit and ability are both subject to varying definitions and interpretations and it's precisely that quality which leads to incoherence, inconsistencies, and eventually, to perceptions of injustice and inequality.? To start, hence, it is crucial to identify applicable abilities and then define a measurement for those abilities.? In my mind, in a true meritocracy, the measurement of an ability should be easily transposable into a measurement of value.? I believe it is plausible to understand and define a skill and then measure how the application of that skill converts into?value, and how that value equates fairly to corresponding merits.? A skill can lead into an output and an output can equate to an observable contribution to a shared goal.

I know that sounds too simplistic but I believe it can be done.? I’m just not sure how far desire and a basic idea can take me.? To take this to the next level, the right skills are obviously important.? And maybe a few sticks.