Conniff Allende - Be more pirate, or, How to take on the world and win

Sam Conniff Allende is a multi-award-winning social entrepreneur, and co-founder and former CEO of Livity, Dont Panic Live and magazine. Since starting his entrepreneurial career aged 19, Conniff Allende has mentored thousands of talented young entrepreneurs and hustlers around the world.

Sam is an acclaimed public speaker, an advocate of business as unusual or corporate responsibility and accountability, and a purpose-driven strategy consultant to brands such as Red Bull, Unilever and PlayStation.

Sam has refined the concepts explored in Be More Pirate by delivering workshops to senior executives in the HQs of Google and Facebook, and also to hundreds of socially conscious entrepreneurs and innovators in the town ships of South Africa, the heart of Baltimore, the centre of Athens and of course London, his hometown.

Sam has created something that is timely and important. It is an idea thats going to explode.

Will Hudson, Founder and CEO of Its Nice That and Anyways

If youre in an industry facing disruption, the challenges are huge and the practical solutions few and far between. Be More Pirate is a dynamic framework for taking charge of the change thats coming your way. Sam has made pirates relevant again.

Adam Lewin, Creative Director Hearst Publishing and ex-Creative Director at Cond Nast

Be More Pirate makes modern-day heroes of names lost in history. Sam has spotted something: that millennials are natural pirates in spirit, making their own way on the high seas. Put aside the cutlass-and-parrot pirates in the Treasure Island mould. The ones he is thinking of were the model for how to break the system and create radical change.

Jo Lo Dico, Evening Standard

Be More Pirate is a timely kick up the backside for any organisation that hasnt got to grips with the disruption that faces us all. But its also an optimistic, practical and purposeful rallying cry that a different way of organising ourselves is possible. Who knew the rogues of the 18th century were going to be the role models we need for the 21st century.

Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Agencies Association

Be More Pirate is a call to our better natures, our more inventive, imaginative selves to rouse up and remake the world. Its time for the rebels in us all to re-emerge.

Antony Mayfield, Founder and CEO of Brilliant Noise

A much needed call for more radical intention at the top. Be More Pirate is more useful, memorable and amusing than most leadership material Ive seen, and Ive pretty much seen the lot.

Liam Black, CEO Wavelength

Be More Pirate is a brave, original and inspiring concept.

Syima Aslam, Director and Founder of Bradford Literature Festival

Be More Pirate provides high-octane inspiration in the face of unprecedented disruption. Break open the rum and immerse yourself, because Be More Pirate is a holistic strategy for success in changing times.

Sherilyn Shackell, Founder and CEO The Marketing Academy

For Scarlett, Frida and Vivi

Three hundred years ago a small group of frustrated and underappreciated, mostly young professionals had finally had enough of living in a society run badly by a self-interested and self-serving Establishment. Disruption had become the constant backdrop to their lives as they faced ongoing uncertainty and mass redundancy in a world plagued by ideologically influenced international conflict. This generation felt entirely abandoned, and they were right. The odds were stacked high against them in every single way, the rules of the day favoured an elite few, and for the majority of people life was unclear, unfair and unfulfilling.

Sound familiar?

Rather than simply voice their complaints, they chose instead to do something about the situation. No longer prepared to sit quietly and accept the bad deal on the table, they decided to break the rules and then remake the rules. Along the way they came up with a new social code built on purposeful principles such as fair pay, fair say, social equality, freedom and justice. And rum.

You see, these particular disenchanted professionals were professional sailors, and the action they took was to turn pirate. Although such an extreme-sounding career change was arguably justifiable, these rebels, who emerged from both the Merchant and the Royal Navy, were soon denounced as enemies of humanity by the Establishment they struck fear into, not only because of their unlawful buccaneering but also because of the radical and alternative ideals they represented. These were the Golden Age pirates, and they created enough disruption at the edges of society and politics during this, the dawn of capitalism, to leave a legacy that has changed the way we live for ever. Which is handy, because, some three centuries down the line, were once again in need of inspiration about the best way to give the current Establishment a metaphorical kick up the backside, to better tackle the worlds looming crises. Today we have a similarly self-interested political and business elite pressing the buttons of power who, for the most part, show no sign of stepping up to the challenge in any meaningful sense. Rather than gracefully handing over a little more authority to the generations destined to live with their mistakes the longest, the folks who have already over-cooked the future continue to run the show a) in their own interests and b) badly. In their defence, it hasnt all been completely disastrous. From antibiotics to nanosurgery to the realization of the internet to lifting a billion people out of poverty to the Spice Girls, some of the progress in the late twentieth century especially truly demonstrated humankind at its best. But then we left the great fridge door of history open and everything started to go off. Today a multitude of futures await, most of them apocalyptic: environmental degradation, economic disintegration, unprecedented levels of human migration, the rise of the robots and even a comeback from retirement of ideologically fuelled thermonuclear war just take your pick. Much of society is presently afflicted by an epidemic of anxiety and a crisis of identity in direct response to the turbulence, uncertainty and emptiness many of us face. Living costs are rising while real incomes are falling and the distribution of both wealth and opportunity grow more unequal than ever. Whole generations feel excluded from their own future. They are sick of being told thats just the way things are and that theyre naive for expecting such basic amenities as decent housing or free healthcare or higher education. A lot of people might tell you not to worry, that technology will save us and everything will be OK in the end. But its not true. No one is coming to save you. Its going to get worse before it gets better. Theres an urgency in the air and a need for change. Today, if we want to improve this picture, of our future, we have to do it ourselves. The only way out of this mess is a little less Instagram and a lot more action.