In a meritocracy, formal qualifications provide opportunity, position is no longer ascribed by birth, and rewards flow to those who excel.
Documents in Churchill's university personnel file show that he was granted tenure in a "special opportunity position".
But when you dig deeper, you learn that so many others worked in low-wage, no-opportunity positions, lacking the skills and the education to move them forward.
Because of the constant flight deck activity associated with combat air patrol operations during the preceding hour, the Japanese never had an opportunity to position ("spot") their reserve planes on the flight deck for launch.
Stop obsessing about pay, he advised, and "take the opportunity that positions you for where you want to be in five years".
Bachmann has the opportunity to position herself in a similar manner.
The North Koreans at the bottom are excluded from opportunities and positions of power, and they get less to eat.
But as any good public relations professional knows, every trend -- even a negative one -- represents an opportunity to "position" a company within that trend.
"Here's an opportunity to position the UK as a world leader in the adoption of this technology by supporting the largest ever trial of such vehicles," he says.
Developing services in the runup to 2015 is an opportunity to position social work at the heart of excellent social care but this also presents challenges to the profession in acquainting itself with the new care landscape.
"As carriers and vendors feel the pressure of the strong Android's growth, alternative operating systems such as Tizen, Firefox, Ubuntu and Jolla will try and carve out an opportunity by positioning themselves as profitable alternatives".
