the art of leading

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Good relationships keep doors open

Leadership, as you probably know, involves having good relationship skills. Positive relationships facilitate the task of the leader by creating a more receptive audience. Followers are more willing to follow you when they maintain good relationships with you and when they trust you. But there’s another reason, and mafiosi know it well: positive relationships keep doors open.

Most high-rank mafia leaders come from the lower ranks. Therefore, people who build good relationships with them while they are at the bottom have a high probability of being dragged up along with them. In the same way, those who create animosity from the beginning will suffer the consequences in the end.

Be it as it may, I’m not in favor of building relationships just for the sake of self-interested convenience. Relationships should be used as ends and not means. But it is impossible to deny these ’side-effects’. Granted, many mafia leaders turn on their ‘buddies’ and betray them. But they know the importance of building a ‘contact list’ early on, in terms of career advancement.

Let’s take the entrepreneurial world as an example. You might be going door-to-door trying to sell your new product.You chat with the janitor while waiting for the shop owner of a particular business. This owner doesn’t want to even hear your pitch. So you just go on your merry way. The next day you come back to the same store and now the owner is happy to display and sell your product! What happened? The janitor told the owner what a great guy you are. Think this is far-fetched? Think again. This kind of scenario happens everyday, and it shows how powerful relationship-building with everyone is, and not just in the Mafia.

Categories : Communication, General Leadership, Mafia, Relationships //