I like your use of the term 'Talent' but am struck by how different it is from corporate usage - from the way the 'war for talent' is intended, for example. Large organisations generally use the word to mean 'people with management potential'. This is almost the opposite of what you are describing: I.e. people who will act to bolster and personify hierarchy. So it seems there is the 'talent' or the hierarchy and the 'talent' of the wirearchy and they are very different things.