The Meritocracy Myth: Your Brain Didn’t Build That Alone

Georgina Brown (hershe)
Aug 21
3 min read

Why Neuroscience Says It’s Not All About Hard Work

Let’s just get this out of the way early:

You did not get where you are just because you worked hard.

There. We said it.

Yes, you’re brilliant.

Yes, you’ve grafted.

But also? Your brain had a head start — and it wasn’t only yours.

Welcome to the neural reality of meritocracy:

It’s not a level playing field — it’s a well-worn neural track.

And some of us had smoother tarmac, better signage, and fewer potholes from day one.

The Brain Loves a Good Origin Story

Humans are narrative creatures.

We love stories where the hero overcomes adversity, pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, and ends up on the leadership team by sheer force of will (with just a hint of bullet journaling and green smoothies).

But neuroscience paints a more complicated picture.

From the moment we’re born — or even in utero — our brains are shaped by environmental input. This is especially true during the critical periods of early development, when the brain is at its most neuroplastic.

“Experience sculpts the developing brain.”— Dr. Bruce Perry, trauma and neurodevelopment expert

In other words, the messages you received as a child — about your potential, your worth, your voice, your value — get hard-wired.

So if you were told, “You can do anything,” your brain laid down dopamine-rich neural pathways that reinforced motivation, confidence, and ambition.

If you were told, “People like us don’t do things like that,” your brain internalised caution, conformity, and quiet survival.

Your Synapses Got Help

Let’s talk mirror neurons — those wonderful brain cells that fire both when you do something and when you see someone else do it.

From a young age, if you saw people like you succeeding — speaking confidently, leading teams, taking up space — your mirror neurons built you-shaped confidence scripts.

But if you never saw yourself in those roles?

If the codes, accents, or styles of success didn’t match your world?

Those same neurons fell silent.

This is how systems of class, race, gender, and privilege become biological.

Not because of genetics.

But because of neural exposure and repetition.

“The brain becomes its environment.”— Dr. Dan Siegel, interpersonal neurobiology specialist

Meritocracy assumes we all had the same start line.

Neuroscience shows some of us weren’t even on the track — we were building our own damn running shoes with no map and a dodgy compass.

When Systems Reward Familiar Brains

Now take that individual wiring and put it into a system.

Hiring. Promotions. Mentorship. Voice.

The system loves brains that feel familiar.Familiar = safe.Safe = promotable.

So who do systems reward?

The ones who already speak the right language.
The ones who were encouraged to take risks early.
The ones whose prefrontal cortex was never overloaded with survival stress.

This isn’t just “luck.”It’s neurological alignment with the dominant culture.

That’s not merit.

That’s mirroring.

But What About Grit?

Great question.

Angela Duckworth’s work on grit — the ability to persevere through setbacks — is important. But grit is easier when your basic psychological safety is intact. When your brain isn’t in a state of chronic cortisol activation.

If you grew up marginalised — because of race, disability, sexuality, class, trauma, or anything else — your brain likely had to use more effort just to stay emotionally regulated.

That’s not less grit.That’s grit with a side of amygdala hijack.

And guess what? That means less capacity for executive functioning — the very thing meritocracy worships.

NeuroNudging Our Way to Fairness

So, what do we do with this?

We rewire.

Not individuals. Systems.

We use neuroscience-informed tools — like the NeuroInclusive Maturity Model (NIMM) — to help organisations:

Design structures that don’t rely on “cultural fit” (aka cloning).
Build inclusive feedback loops that reinforce safety, not shame.
Embed NeuroNudges — micro-habits that slowly rewire brain expectations and values.

Because if we don’t intentionally interrupt the meritocracy myth, we end up rewarding confidence over competence — and comfort over courage.

“What we call talent is often nothing more than privilege rehearsed in the right accent.”— BARDO (probably while drinking tea)

Final Thought: Humility is the Ultimate Inclusion Hack

If you’ve succeeded — brilliant.

Celebrate it.

But don’t gatekeep it.

And don’t pretend the climb was all yours.

Because the minute we admit the brain’s role in shaping — and being shaped by — systems, we can finally stop pretending it’s all about merit… and start making inclusion actually work.