Awakening the better angels Part 2. Merit selection and leadership

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2. Merit selection and leadership We think of our society as broadly meritocratic, but we’re the first civilisation that can’t build beautiful buildings. Almost invariably our leaders have won a competition to lead — a competition for fame, money, power. But that makes leadership about that competition, not goodness or serving others. Should the leaders of our public bureaucracy, our schools, hospitals, not-for-profits, libraries, media really be those who’ve out-competed their rivals and if self-assertion is a precondition for promotion, how does that bias the ‘gene pool’ from which our leaders emerge.