Imagine a world where the best ideas have the best chance to succeed. No more favoritism that places the wrong people on creative projects. Cut out the middlemen that arbitrarily recommend cost-efficient talent over the most deserving talent. Forget the corporate nepotism that appoints leaders based on relationships over merit. Every individual, team, and industry would benefit from a world where the most talented people got the most opportunity. I call this dream “creative meritocracy,” and I believe that advances in technology, online communities, and platforms that empower career independence will make this dream a reality in the near future.
Unfortunately, we’re up against centuries of entrenched practices unfriendly to merit-based opportunity. Most industries – and society as a whole – are plagued with inefficiencies, middlemen, and tainted systems for determining quality. It’s a sad truth: The quality of your ideas and talent is less important than who you know, who represents you, and what your name is. Why? Because the “old school” systems around us make it so.
Without creative meritocracy, we suffer because our talent and hard work aren’t enough to land the job. Clients suffer because they receive inferior work. Moreover, our industries and society suffer from mediocrity.
Call it depressing or unfair, but don’t accept it. Creative meritocracy is within our reach. It is our job as creative minds and leaders to foster an era where capability is matched with opportunity.
Here are a few ways we can usher in the Era of Creative Meritocracy:
1. Proper Attribution
In the modern day of transparency and easy access to information, we should be wary of any efforts to isolate talent. Headhunters are known to find talent and then send around pieces of portfolios and resumes without any names attached. They purposely conceal the identity of talent and, as a result, are able to override meritocracy. Oftentimes, headhunters will use one person’s credentials as bait and then offer up less qualified talent that yields a higher profit margin.
Creative meritocracy relies on transparency and direct attribution. Appreciation for one’s ideas and creative work must be directly credited to the source. The accumulation of appreciation (or credit) is the currency that buys opportunity.