Anrico du Plessis
What if your career wasn’t simply something happening to you? What if you could step out of the background, reclaim your agency and become the main character in your own professional story?
In a recent episode of the PublishU Podcast, Matt Bird sat down with South African CEO, keynote speaker and author Anrico du Plessis to discuss his new book, The Main Character Manifesto. Their conversation explores career growth, leadership, personal agency and why lessons from movies, anime and gaming can be surprisingly powerful in the corporate world.
Anrico is the CEO of Multi-Media, an events agency operating across South Africa and the Middle East. Outside of business, however, he has a deep interest in anime, movies and gaming.
For Anrico, these interests are about more than entertainment. He is fascinated by stories, character development and the journeys characters take as they grow into different versions of themselves.
That fascination eventually became an important part of The Main Character Manifesto.
The initial encouragement to write came from a colleague who told Anrico that his way of viewing and framing the world belonged in a book. He initially imagined writing one much later in life. But after meeting Matt and beginning his PublishU journey, the idea started to take shape.
At the heart of the book is a challenge Anrico had repeatedly encountered through his work: talented young people entering the workplace without a clear understanding of how to progress.
Working with interns and young professionals in the events industry, he kept hearing similar questions. What does growth look like? How do I excel? How do I move forward in my career?
Anrico wanted to create something that could answer those questions while remaining accessible, engaging and different from a conventional corporate career guide. His goal was to give young professionals a practical framework for understanding how they can show up, provide value and intentionally shape their careers.
The structure of The Main Character Manifesto draws on the classic hero’s journey.
Anrico begins with a concept familiar to gamers: the NPC, or non-player character. In the book, this represents someone stuck in the familiar motions of working life, following the existing script without necessarily considering where they want their own story to go.
The 18-chapter journey then takes the reader through concepts including agency, communication, mentorship, fear, stress and imposter syndrome. Ultimately, the journey is not simply about achieving individual success. It is also about becoming someone capable of helping the next generation grow.
Anrico challenges the workplace attitude of “it is what it is”. Instead, he encourages readers to understand the environment they operate in, recognise the different people and motivations around them and consider the value they themselves can bring to the story.
Interestingly, The Main Character Manifesto began attracting audiences before Anrico had even completed it.
After mentioning the book to a university that supplied interns to his company, he was invited to deliver a keynote about it. Other universities followed. Then a corporate client asked Anrico to speak about the book — and requested physical copies for the event.
There was just one problem: the book wasn’t finished.
That deadline resulted in an intensive fast-tracked writing and publishing process. While stressful, Anrico says the experience forced him to stop delaying and get the book completed.
Since then, the book has continued to support his keynote speaking. Anrico also released three chapters ahead of the full book and began receiving feedback from readers who were applying the ideas not only to their careers, but also to their businesses and personal development. The response extended beyond the younger audience he had initially imagined.
Behind the gaming references and storytelling framework is a straightforward message: career growth requires participation.
Anrico reflects openly on his own journey and the importance of finding the right people, recognising opportunities, working hard and providing value. His hope is that a young person who feels like “just a number” inside a large organisation can read The Main Character Manifesto and come away with a plan for how to grow.
And perhaps that is the central idea of the book: you don’t have to remain a background character in someone else’s story.
Your career can be a journey in which you develop agency, confront challenges, learn from mentors and eventually become the person who helps someone else take their own next step.
This article is based on an interview with Matt Bird, founder of PublishU, helping first-time and serial non-fiction authors to write, publish and market books worldwide.
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