When politics overrules meritocracy

The idea of politics overruling meritocracy refers to situations where political considerations, such as personal connections, lobbying, or favoritism, have a greater influence on decision-making processes than objective merit or qualifications. This can occur in various contexts, including government appointments, business, public sector hiring, promotions, lay-off, and resource allocation.

I have experienced a real case that is very close to my heart, as I was one of the privileged people who were able to work for two years while the meritocracy culture was part of PDVSA (Venezuelan Oil Industry), which was a public company when Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998 on a socialist platform, pledging to use Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to reduce poverty and inequality. His costly “Bolivarian missions” designed for expanded social services and cut poverty were supported by PDVSA as well as all the international lobby he used to expand his influence and ideology across the region and to get alliances with China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, and Turkey. In 1998 PDVSA produced 3,137 M barrels per day, today Venezuela produces 500 K barrels per day thanks to Maduro’s allies according to the latest report from the OPEC (https://www.opec.org/).

When politics overrule meritocracy, there can be several potential consequences:

·??????Economic inefficiency: When meritocracy is disregarded, economic resources may be misallocated due to political favoritism. In business and economic decision-making, considerations such as efficiency and productivity may take a back seat to political expediency. This can result in economic inefficiencies, reduced competitiveness, and negative economic growth and development impacts.

·??????Decreased productivity, innovation, and progress: Meritocracy encourages innovation by providing opportunities for talented individuals to rise based on their abilities and to strive for excellence and rewards based on performance. When political considerations dominate, individuals who could contribute valuable ideas or advancements may be sidelined and may become demotivated or discouraged, leading to a decline in productivity and innovation. This can hinder economic growth and development.

·??????Inefficient decision-making: Meritocracy aims to prioritize competence and qualifications when making decisions. When politics takes precedence, decisions may be influenced by personal agendas, favoritism, or party loyalty rather than an objective assessment of skills and expertise. This can lead to inefficient policies, poor resource allocation, and suboptimal outcomes.

·??????Loss of trust: Meritocracy is often perceived as a fair, just principle and transparent system because it rewards individuals based on their abilities and accomplishments. When politics intervene and undermine merit-based processes, public trust in the system can erode. People may become disillusioned, believing that decisions are driven by self-interest rather than the greater good. This can result in decreased civic engagement, apathy, and skepticism towards the political system or the corporate culture and leadership.

·??????Corruption and nepotism: Corruption and nepotism can thrive when politics override meritocracy. Decisions may be influenced by personal connections, bribery, or cronyism rather than objective evaluation. This can undermine #fairness, #integrity, and #transparency in governance and lead to a culture of favoritism, where personal relationships and political loyalty outweigh qualifications and competence.

·??????Weakened institutions: Institutions and organizations that prioritize meritocracy can suffer when political interference overrides fair and transparent selection processes. By subverting merit-based systems, the integrity and credibility of these institutions may be compromised. This erosion of institutional strength can have far-reaching consequences, including decreased efficiency, increased corruption, and a decline in public or customer services. “The way you treat your people would be the way you treat your clients.”

·??????Diminished expertise: Meritocracy encourages individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute to decision-making processes. When politics overrides merit, qualified individuals may be overlooked or disregarded in favor of politically connected individuals who may not possess the required expertise. This can lead to a decline in the quality of decision-making and the exclusion of valuable perspectives.

·??????Inequality and social injustice: Meritocracy is often seen as a mechanism to promote equal opportunities and reduce social inequalities. The chances for upward mobility and fair competition may diminish by prioritizing political factors over merit. This can reinforce existing social hierarchies and contribute to systemic inequalities, limiting social mobility and exacerbating divisions based on factors such as wealth, class, or connections.

It is worth noting that these consequences can vary in degree and impact depending on the specific context, the extent to which politics supersedes meritocracy, and the robustness of institutions and checks and balances in place.

Unfortunately, PDVSA sums up all the above consequences and one of the most visible outcomes is the biggest diaspora of immigrants (around 7M out of 28M in 2015) all around the globe.?Today Venezuela imports refined oil from its allies, people stay in lines for up to two days to fill up the tank of its cars, according to a November 2022 survey, 50% of Venezuela’s 28M residents live in poverty, though that is down from 65% the year before.

The moral of the story is that you can be swimming in oil but if you don’t have the expertise to extract, refine and sell it you have nothing but a poor country. You can be part of the Fortune 100 top companies in the world today but if you don’t have the right #leadership and #skills, you won’t even appear in the list 5 years from now. You can have the best products but if you don’t have the proper #competencies in sales, #HR, #finance, #procurement, and #supplychain, you won’t be able to reach your market.?If you don't have the right technology #capabilities and strategy you won't be able to go through the #digitaltransformation your business needs to achieve to adapt to the technological changes.

The real richness is in the human resources and the #leadership that a country or a company has. This can apply to any enterprise in any industry, if you don’t have the right people and the right #leadership to produce, support and sell your products, you won't succeed, in the end, everything relies on #people.