Cumulative Advantage
the head start compounds, then the gap looks like talent
Grounded in the research on Wikipedia: Cumulative advantage / Robert K. Merton, 'The Matthew Effect in Science' (1968)
step 1 - name it
cumulative advantage is when a small early lead feeds back into a bigger lead, over and over, until the gap looks permanent. you get one win, the win gets you attention, attention gets you the next win. nothing about you changed. the position did. small differences at the start don't stay small. they compound into outcomes that look like raw talent but are mostly accumulated runway.
step 2 - trace the origin
sociologist robert merton coined the 'matthew effect' in 1968: eminent scientists got disproportionate credit for the same work unknowns did. named after the bible line, 'to those who have, more will be given.' merton's collaborator harriet zuckerman did much of the underlying interview work. later researchers like daniel rigney generalized it into 'cumulative advantage' across wealth, fame, and citations. real, documented, decades deep.