Climbing the Corporate Ladder — Without Merit?

Recently, I took a closer look at the backgrounds of some directors at Boeing—and I’d bet the same pattern shows up at companies like Amazon and other major corporations. What I found was eye-opening. Many of these individuals appear to have entered high-level leadership roles right at the start of their careers—or climbed there unusually fast. It raises a simple but uncomfortable question: were they really that good, or was there something else at play?

Let’s be honest—it's hard to believe that every one of them possessed extraordinary talent or insight from day one. The more likely explanation is connections. Access. Networks. Not merit.

And that’s a serious problem.

When leadership positions are filled based on who you know rather than what you know or what you’ve done, the entire foundation of a company begins to crack. These are the people making critical decisions, setting strategies, and shaping cultures—often without having gone through the trenches themselves.

Boeing, for example, is an engineering company at its core. When leadership lacks real engineering experience—or rises through the ranks without understanding the technical challenges on the ground—it leads to a disconnect between decision-makers and the realities of the product, the process, and the people.

This is how great companies decline. Not because of external threats, but because they lose touch with the very principles that made them strong: merit, experience, and earned leadership.

We can—and should—demand better. Leadership should be earned, not inherited. Because when companies reward merit, they thrive. When they reward connections, they eventually pay the price.

hosseindehnavifard.com