Two young adventurers who value non-conformity and creativity realize that many companies squander talent due to office politics, dysfunctional culture, and poor management. They decide to liberate creativity and "set talent free" by challenging the status quo and knocking down barriers that restrict people's potential. They travel the land advocating for meritocracies where work is about results rather than bureaucracy. Their legend grows as more people are freed to fulfill their talents, and they inspire excitement and anticipation wherever they go.

1. The
TalenT anarchisT’s
ManifesTo

2. To EvEryonE

3. ConnECT To PEoPlE
Who you know matters.
Who they know matters.
Our success is li nked to our relationships
with others, whether we like it or not.

4. lEad now
You don’t have to have
all the power to make a difference.
But you do have to have a little courag
e.

5. lE arn from ThE
SuCCESSful
Don’t assu me they are different than you.
They probably just had a plan
and some courage.

6. roCk ouT
You are a rock star.
Rock out a little every day.
Rock out a little right now.

7. GET movinG
No one is st anding in your way. It’s you.
The real question is,
“do you have th e guts to make it happen?”

8. To lEadErShiP

9. GET ouT of ThE way
People want to kick ass.
You just need you to let them.

10. inSPirE oThErS
Our work is a lot better when our hea
rt
and soul is mixed in.

11. aCCEPT ThaT iT’S
noT abouT you
Leadership is about helping others succeed.

12. GET ovEr yourSElf
Do something every day that shows w
hy
you are worth following.

13. CElEbraTE ThE
ComPlainTS
At lea st you know they still care.

14. TakE your TiTlE
and STiCk iT
It doesn’t make you a leader.
Leaders are only leaders when others
chose to follow.

15. GivE your buSinESS
To your PEoPlE
P ut resources where the rubber
meets the road.
Yo ur employees will make you
a success if you let them.

16. bElonG To
your PEoPlE
Serve them. Go now, before it is too la
te.

17. liSTEn To
EvEryonE’S idEaS
The people at the top of the org chart are
farthest from the customer.

18. TakE
aCCounTabiliTy
If your organization isn’t performing,
it’s
because you have failed to provide lea
dership.
Period.

19. SToP ThE CharadES
We see through your games.
Stop asking us questions if you
ca n’t hear the honest answer.

20. bE rEal
Take the time to understand
what’s working and what’s not.
Be thankful when luck is on your side
, but
remember that luck isn’t a strategy.

21. SToP PuTTinG your
SinS on uS
We are sorry th at you sold out and gave up
seeing your ch ildren grow up to ensure you
earned that next promotion. Things have
changed. We will n ot embrace your mistakes
as our own.

22. To orGanizaTionS

23. GET rEal abouT
divErSiTy
Stop faking it. Innovation flows directly from it.
It is time to get serious about building
inclusiv e companies and communities.

24. knoCk down
ThE CubiClE wallS
Cubicles suck.
They are where creativity goes to die.
Healthy cultures thrive in open envir
onments.

25. bEComE a
friEndShiP faCTory
Gre at work is the product of great
relationships at work.
Make room for friendships
to form at the office.

26. blow uP ThE SiloS
Hierarchies worked in the 1940’s.
They don’t work today.
In fact, they kind of piss us off.

27. build your
buSinESS
aro und PEoPlE
If your busin ess strategy isn’t built around
a people strategy, you are on your way
out of business.

28. libEraTE CrEaTiviTy
Let us sing.
Let us dance.
Let us create.
Let us care about our work.
We desperately want to.

29. havE morE
ConvErSaTionS
If we talk (and listen) to each other,
we might actually learn something.

30. CrEaTE a
mEriToCraCy
Let’s finally make work about results
instead of the timeclock.

31. ginal Talent Anarchists
The Fictional True Story of the Ori ct upon all the wasted talent
They were both greatly saddened to refle
ywhere, two young adventurers, squandered by office politics,
The year was 1999. In the middle of ever they had seen in their travels. Talent
found themselves professiona lly agement. Raw potential lost by
each with non-conformist tendencies, dysfunctional culture, and poor man
se adventurers soon realized that ple, valued invoices over ideas
shackled in neighboring cubicles. The companies who placed policy before peo
formist tendencies in common. e. They had seen real leadership
they had more than just their non-con and choked creativit y out of existenc
ising belief in people and strong
They shared a fierce and uncomprom nearly forced into extinction.
us quo.
allergies to boredom, drudgery, and stat ity struck these two adventurers
It was then that a great moment of clar
rers were shackled, it was they must do. “Set talent free,”
In the cubicle farm where these adventu like a lightning bolt. They knew what
ded by dysfunction and denial. words, a heavy and powerful
business as usual. They were surroun one of them said. Upon uttering those
ows daily at 5:01 p.m. — if ent and considered the
They survived by drowning their sorr silence fell over them. They sat for a mom
.
not sooner. implications of what they had realized
e too far. These adventurers with adventurers leaned close to each
But the day came when things had gon The time for silence passed. The two
more!” They realized that people r whispering was finished, they
non-conformist tendencies said “No other and spoke in whispers. When thei
were not meant to work like this. leaving behind only this warning
were not meant to live like this; people stood and wal ked off into the future,
t dea l of ruckus, they were gone
It was time to be free. Following a grea on the wal l.
from the cubicle farm.
traveled to new lands and new
With their new found freedom, each
lds of non-profits and education.
organizations. They explored the wor
rialism and community building.
There were conquests in entrepreneu
ones. They proudly bore the
They traveled old trails and blazed new
and they learned much from
scars of those days in the cubicle farm
their travels.
onest mission statements and the rers with non-conformist tendencies
Both were nearly trapped aga in by dish From that day on, these two adventu
resisted and remained free. us quo. They attack management
empty promises of fake leaders. But they traveled the land cha llenging the stat
r they find it to set talent free
adventurers with non-conformist by title and business as usual whereve
After many great exploits, these two on freed to manifest their talent
t they had seen. As they shared to realize its destiny. With each pers
tendencies sat down to reflect on wha down, the legend of these
and with ever y cubicle wal l knocked
their stories, they also shared a heavy
heart. this reason that excitement,
two Talent Anarchists grows. It is for
flood over a group of people
anticipation and perhaps a bit of fear
when they hear these words:
“Talent Anarchy is coming to this place.”

32. Talent Anarchy is
Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen.
ing
We do great keynote and se minar-style presentations. Find book
ebsite.
informatio n and a lot of other cool stuff at our w
www.talentanarchy.com