Meritocracy paradoxically seems to lead to worse results overall
An extreme opinion stated as if it's a fact. Can you show me the phalanx of companies systematically beating their competition by deliberately hiring incompetent but genetically "diverse" people?
No... You don't hire incompetent people. You hire competent people. The "competition" is the one that is hiring the incompetent people, by missing out on half of the talent.
Focusing on diversity makes your company MORE competent, not less.
Which means its measured by heuristics, and heuristics are very sensitive to preconceptions, stereotypes, etc.