Could encouraging successful people to acknowledge the role that luck has played in their lives help to challenge our collective self-delusion about living in a meritocracy?
I think this is a good idea, seriously worth pursuing. But asking people to acknowledge how much luck has contributed to their success inevitably raises the question of whether they deserve their rewards. It's not impossible but it's difficult to recognise how lucky one has been while still regarding one's income or wealth as properly or justly one's own. So successful people may be reluctant to acknowledge what you want from them - at least for those who do not already accept the case for more progressive taxation.
Yes. It is the headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27869473/
I think this is a good idea, seriously worth pursuing. But asking people to acknowledge how much luck has contributed to their success inevitably raises the question of whether they deserve their rewards. It's not impossible but it's difficult to recognise how lucky one has been while still regarding one's income or wealth as properly or justly one's own. So successful people may be reluctant to acknowledge what you want from them - at least for those who do not already accept the case for more progressive taxation.
Thanks Adam - absolutely agreed! A tricky issue to navigate. Will
Having talent of any kind such as the ability to work hard is also ultimately a matter of luck - nature or nurture.
There is no such thing as 'free will'
Agreed - I looked at the question of talent a bit at https://fairnessfoundation.com/rotten-luck/concepts