Nearly everything that successfully coordinates large groups of people has 'cultish' aspects.

The trick is to recognize when such patterns of intense synchronization are beneficial, and when they are abusive.

And a "cult" around an idea meritocracy means that most of the problems of cults won't happen, because decisions will get made on the merits, rather than on ideology.

It's a cult around the idea of meritocracy, which isn't necessarily the same as an actual meritocracy.

You see that in most things different + good; or something just plain great, even if it's not unusual. Apple, Lego, Ferrari, Zelda. You see it frequently in clothing, from bras to shoes, and in makeup. Lifestyle brands often develop cultish circles around them, as with Harley or Airstream, or Lululemon and Starbucks in the early days. Even in more plain/simple products like Lodge's iron cookware.

Sometimes they go more mainstream culturally like Zelda or Lego. Other times exclusion keeps the cult smaller, as with Ferrari.

It's rare for something to be great without developing a bit of a cult around it.