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IIT, IIM, and the Illusion of Merit: Why Talent Loses When Pedigree Wins
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Feb 12 2026
Pages: 170
Weight: 0.52
Height: 0.36 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
In the polite, air-conditioned silence of a corporate conference room, a promotion is being decided. The candidate has perfect delivery, client confidence, and documented impact. Everyone nods. But then, the real question is asked-not about their future, but about their past.
Where did they study?
And just like that, merit leaves the room.
The Illusion of Merit exposes the uncomfortable truth of the Indian corporate ecosystem: that talent doesn't lose opportunities because it is inadequate; it loses because it is invisible to systems trained to recognize logos, not leadership.
This book creates a piercing critique of the IIT/IIM effect-where educational brands act as career accelerators for some and invisible ceilings for others. It dissects the lazy certainty of modern leadership, where hiring the brand is a safety net, and hiring the outsider is a risk.
Through sharp observation and familiar corporate scenarios, this book gives a voice to the Reliable Backbones-the professionals who train the leaders, fix the mistakes, and deliver the results, yet remain stuck while the High Potentials glide past them.
This is not an attack on intelligence. It is an attack on the belief that intelligence lives only in two places.
Read this if you believe that a career shouldn't be defined by an exam you took at seventeen.
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