I’ve always been outraged by how many people reach top positions in companies — and especially in politics — not because of their abilities or merits, but thanks to their contacts, last names, or under-the-table deals. This all-too-common phenomenon isn’t just shameful: it’s one of the biggest cancers in any society that hopes to move forward.
In corporate boardrooms and political chambers, nepotism has become the unspoken rule. Sons, friends, partners, and cronies are placed in strategic roles without having proven anything. In politics, the issue is even more serious: we’re allowing public decisions to be made by people who lack vision, preparation, and ethics — whose only “virtue” is being loyal to a party or a godfather.
The same happens in many companies, where leadership is built through favors, exclusive dinners, influential surnames, or political contamination. Instead of cultivating talent and competence, we see the rise of an insular elite that blocks progress for the most capable and ethical individuals.
The result? Ineffective organizations, demotivated teams, mediocre policies, and an increasingly frustrated public.
The structural violence of nepotism
This toxic practice doesn’t just perpetuate inequality — it corrodes the internal culture of any institution. It places unprepared people in key roles, produces mediocre decisions, and crushes those with real talent, commitment, and vision. It’s a subtle — yet very real — form of structural violence: rewarding the loyal while sidelining the best.
The message it sends is devastating: it doesn’t matter how hard you work — if you’re not part of the club, you have no future. Sadly, I’ve lived it firsthand far too many times.
Politics: the great anti-merit factory
In politics, nepotism takes on even more perverse forms: closed electoral lists, appointments by personal favor, internal quotas, or repaying debts. We’ve normalized it to the point where no one’s even shocked anymore. But this degeneration costs us dearly: mediocre public policies, a lack of future-oriented leadership, ineffective decision-making, and growing public disengagement.
It’s not just an ethical problem; it’s a profoundly functional one. The country isn’t moving forward because its leaders aren’t the best people for the job.
Corporations that perpetuate elites
The same story unfolds in business: top executives who never set foot outside their offices, who don’t know their teams, who inherited their roles or secured them through relationships — not results — or worse, political favors.
Many supposedly innovative corporations continue feeding closed power networks where your last name or political affiliation outweighs your actual talent. The price we all pay is a lack of diversity, critical thinking, and meaningful renewal: mediocre products, short-term decision-making, and brittle structures that collapse at every crisis.
And then there are the soulless companies, laser-focused on short-term returns, depleting the planet and deepening social inequality.
Meritocracy is not a utopia — it’s a necessity
In the face of this, we must raise our voices and defend real meritocracy: one that promotes the most qualified, that rewards effort, innovation, and integrity. One that allows the most vulnerable to progress, without discriminating based on race, gender, or origin.
This isn’t about building a technocratic elite. It’s about shifting focus from relationships to merit. A society that wants to thrive cannot afford to keep wasting its best talent. It must fiercely defend social justice and equal opportunities.
We need political and corporate institutions to adopt transparent processes for recruitment, evaluation, and promotion. And above all, we need purpose. Purpose aligned with solving major social and environmental challenges — not short-term enrichment.
Education, experience, ethics, values, and proven results must once again be the cornerstones of professional advancement. Let the children of no one have the same chances as the children of someone. Let politics cease to be a private club for the unprepared and unmotivated.
Either we change the system or the system will bury us
The world stands at a crossroads. Either we choose the culture of merit, or we remain trapped in a cycle of mediocrity, polarization, and inefficiency.
We’re drifting toward a more unjust world — with more power and wealth for fewer people, while the majority are left behind. And all this while letting the planet degrade further, endangering future generations.
What’s abnormal has become normal. That is unacceptable.
Fighting for a new public and corporate ethic
Now more than ever, we need courageous leaders — people unafraid to make others uncomfortable, who speak out against these practices, and who push for real reform. Leaders who fight for a fair and equitable society, who denounce corruption, and who prioritize the common good over individual gain.
We cannot resign ourselves to politics remaining a shelter for those who would fail anywhere else. Nor to companies staying as exclusive clubs where merit is the last thing that matters.
This isn’t about ideology. It’s about principles. And one of the most fundamental is this: the future must be built by those with the talent and will to make it happen — not just those who know the right people.
I will continue to fight for a purpose-driven economy, committed to social justice and environmental regeneration. One led by people — in both public and private sectors — who are prepared, hardworking, ethical, and grounded in values.