My name is Christopher Peter and I am the political economist, investor, and podcaster behind the original content you experience on The Christopher Peter Review.
Sports are considered the ultimate meritocracy. Teams, players, coaches, and the fans all do not receive benefits without putting in the necessary effort. There are no free lunches in many teams sports. Success is only gained on the other end of victory.
Each champion has to navigate a season, where they deal with injury, poor play, and other forms of adversity in addition to the competition on the field. No team is giving away anything that is not earned. And all parties would not have it any other way.
For instance, my Philadelphia Eagles started 10-1. That hot start did not discourage the next five opponents from playing their best and earning five victories out of the next six games. The Eagles were not handed the division crown and they certainly did not earn it in the end.
Our economy is a free market capitalist system, but it is a meritocracy at heart. Those with Innovation, ingenuity, productivity, and ambition are reward in our economy if they can use these traits to bring discernable value to the consumer and society as a whole. While there is a market for generics, the real credit goes to those who pave the way.
Whether it is our economy as a whole or your individual place of work, simply showing up is not enough to make it up the corporate ladder or achieve the personal definitions of success that we all have. We have to do something to differentiate ourselves in a way that adds value. Even working hard is not sufficient if aimed at the something people can readily replace.
Now, a challenging part of our meritocracy is that the value we create may be overlooked by people in power who either are too naive or myopic to see what their teams are really creating. And at times, you must make the decision to find a better customer for what bring to the table. The customer is not always right. Sometimes, you need one that better fits the market. That is why companies reposition themselves.
In anything in life, we should always see it from all sides. We should work hard, innovate, and create value to secure the successes that we want in life. At the same time, we must make sure that we are mutually benefitting from our efforts. Success is earned and so is loyalty.
Please click on my image to experience Based on Merit podcast episode.