Toby Stuart on Why You Can’t Ignore the Hidden Forces of Social Status in Your Organizations

Think your workplace runs on pure merit? Think again. In this season-opening episode, Berkeley Haas professor and leading sociologist Toby Stuart reveals how hidden status dynamics shape whose ideas get heard, who advances, and why meritocracies might be a “nice myth to think about” but nearly impossible to achieve in practice. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

 Stuart, author of the new book Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner Take Most World, joins organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava to explore how social status quietly drives decisions, what functions it serves in organizations and societies, and how leaders can navigate—and reshape—these hidden hierarchies. 

The takeaway from Jenny & Sameer’s interview with Toby Stuart:

1. No matter how hard they’ve worked to get where they are, leaders should recognize that only part of their status was truly earned. Act with humility, acknowledge the roles that other people have played, and generously share pass along the status you hold. 

Show Links:

• Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner Take Most World, By Toby Stuart
• "AI will bring back the old boys’ club", By Toby Stuart, Boston Globe/Haas News, July 27, 2025
• "Could AI Destroy the Value of an Elite Education?", By Toby Stuart, U.S. News, August 27, 2025“
• The Philosophical Bet We All Need to Make in the Age of AI”, by Toby Stuart, Time, Sept. 29, 2025
• "The Matthew Effect in Science,” By Robert Merton, Science, 1968
• “Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians”, By Claudia Goldin, American Economic Review, 2004.

Do you have a vexing question about work that you want Jenny and Sameer to answer? Submit your “Fixit Ticket!” 

Learn more about the podcast and the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation at www.haas.org/culture-kit.

*The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

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