The Code of Trust: An American Counterintelligence Expert's Five Rules to Lead and Succeed by Robin Dreeke & Cameron Stauth

Author:Robin Dreeke & Cameron Stauth [Dreeke, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2017-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

8

STEP FOUR: CONNECT!

THE STAGE IS SET.

You’ve established your ultimate goal, found people who can assist you, and are ready—without reservation—to align your mission with theirs.

You’ve identified their context, and found reasons to respect and understand it. You’ve crafted your encounter with them.

It’s time to connect, and forge the alignment of your goals into a mission that will change your life, and theirs.

You’ve never been more ready. For one main reason: At this stage of your study of trust, you’ve almost certainly integrated some or all of the Code of Trust into your life, because the Code is one of those things that you just can’t understand without adopting. The powers of its principles are almost unfathomable until you’ve tried them.

To the uninitiated, they’re paradoxical. Leading by putting yourself last? Maximizing your authority by minimizing your ego? Validating the perspectives of people who oppose you?

These counterintuitive lessons are understood only by those who’ve learned to artfully navigate the loftiest atmospheres of trust-based leadership—whether they lead a multinational corporation, a small business, a city, or a family.

If you’ve started living these lessons, you’ve personalized the power of not letting your vanity defeat you, and you’ve gained confidence from your burgeoning circle of associates. You’ve learned to keep manipulation and selfishness from slowing you down, and enjoyed the fast, smooth ride to leadership that’s shared by those who glide down the swift river of fairness, reason, and goodwill.

If nothing else, you’ve already made one connection that will serve your life. With me. You’ve listened to my ideas and stories, and I’ve already imagined your reactions. So: Thank you for letting me tell you the story of my life, and welcoming me into yours. If we ever meet, we’ll share a solid connection: yours, as a reader of a book I’ve written—and mine, as a writer of a book you’ve read.

Connecting, as you know by now, doesn’t mean just getting together with someone, seeing what they’re like, and hoping it leads to something. That kind of connection is nothing more than hooking up: it’s for the careless people who aren’t serious about leadership, long-lasting alliances, or reaching their ultimate goals.

Connecting consists of nothing less than forging a steel-strong bond of trust: seeing into the soul of someone, realizing they can bring you closer to your goals, and—most important—realizing that you can be of value to them.

Sadly, this process often hits a wall of fear, and either disintegrates, or takes a lifetime to unfold. It doesn’t need to—and it shouldn’t, because life’s too short to suffer the waste that intimidation leaves in its wake. You can—with the right intentions, an attitude of confidence, and a mastery of the art of connection—begin to approach a high level of trust in the first moments you meet someone.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. But the most potent powers never are. Right?

As you’ve seen, I’m a systems guy who goes by the numbers, whether I’m flying an airplane, planning a military operation, or recruiting a spy. So how does Step #4 start? It starts the same way it ends—by communicating as effectively as humanly possible.

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