The First Discipline of the Trusted Strategic Advisor: Be Trustworthy

The following is an excerpt from Influencing Leaders: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor by James E. Lukaszewski with Helio Fred Garcia.

Trust has various definitions like reliability, confidence, and credibility: “you can count on the performance or behavior or thinking of an individual.”

Jim’s definition, though, is that trust is simply the absence of fear. Fear is corrosive, negative, detrimental, and sometimes toxic to relationships. The feeling of concern that fear generates may cause the boss or leader to ignore, preempt, suspect, or resent the ideas of others, even ideas from advisors who, historically, have had access and credibility. When trust is lost, suspended, or damaged, the managerial attitude of distance readjusts quickly.

As you move up in authority, responsibility, and power, trust is the crucial factor because this ingredient in the relationship is what permits, sanctions, and protects interpersonal openness, candor, truthfulness, and face-to-face engagement. The stakes are always high in the relationship dynamics between trusted advisors and the leaders who rely on them. Serious ideas, issues, or money, even the future, are always on the table. There is also a sense that develops at senior executive altitude that, “Either you’re with me, or you’re someplace else.” Neutral ground is hard to find at the altitude of senior executives. An environment of trust helps to constructively channel emotions and thinking.

Trust is one of the important reasons people are promoted. Sometimes trust has more weight than actual competence or accomplishment. Many senior executives we have worked with have selected surprising people as true confidants. These trusted individuals may or may not have relevant business experience. But, somehow, the boss has come to rely on the judgment, observation, or insight these people provide. It also helps if the trusted individuals pose no particular threat, even when they challenge the most cherished beliefs or inclinations of leaders. Know who those confidants are.

Loss of trust is one of the unstated but real reasons people are demoted, fired, or just ignored at every level. Why? Generally, the higher the altitude in management, the lower the tolerance for mistakes in judgment. Apparent attempts to usurp power to which one is not entitled, and the exercise of authority without support from another leader or established internal benefactor, gets a negative reception. One is tempted to call this politics. Politics certainly is a useful analogy at senior levels. Because to be trusted, especially during times of stress and change, requires the advisor’s ability to manage the politics of relationships, including among those around senior leaders.

It is worth noting that most managers and leaders rely on their advisors to develop the necessary relationships among the other managers and executives surrounding them, so the advisor’s ideas can be well thought of rather than being designed just to please the manager or boss.

One chief executive mentioned that more often than not, she has had to caution an advisor that pleasing her, while important, was only one ingredient in successfully advising at the upper levels of management. The advisor was expected to build relationships with the chief financial officer, legal counsel, strategic leaders, and the handful of other top people who advise the senior executive. It is the rare consultant who can work exclusively for the CEO and survive for any length of time while ignoring the concerns, issues, questions, and relationships of those also near the top.

An advisor is trustworthy because they are helping and advising, obviously for the benefit of the other person. From the trusted advisor’s perspective, it must always be about the other person. One general axiom of relationship success is often stated in terms like, “When you help others get what they want, they will help you get what you want.” This is absolutely true in the business of strategic consulting and advice giving. Fail to help, waste time, misjudge your relationship, seem self-serving, or exploit your proximity to power, and the relationship of trust will suffer, or you earn the negative attention of those also needing to have influence over other people.

A question we often hear, especially from more junior aspiring advisors, is, “How old do you need to be to be heard and trusted, or just get in the room?” There are, in fact, many examples in the business world, in academia, in key professions, and in government indicating that competence, expertise, and the ability to convey critical information effectively matter more than age.

Some examples are:

• Steve Jobs (he started Apple at age 21)

• Bill Gates (Microsoft became an independent company when Mr. Gates was 21)

• Warren Buffet (he taught a night class at the University of Nebraska, “Investment Principles,” at age 21).

Having spent some time in government service and much more time in the private sector, Jim can tell you that being trusted and being effective are rarely about age. Being trusted, at least at first, is about service to others based on some specific, unique knowledge or aptitude. It’s about demonstrating competence even if the area of knowledge is narrow. In fact, the truly general business expert is a rare commodity. Most expert advisors have a limited spectrum of knowledge and experience. What makes them successful is the ability to use their expertise as a platform to have maximum management impact. 

One of the great services that the Trusted Strategic Advisor can provide is being alert to future expertise to recommend to those in charge. Just as the CEO has learned to avoid being the know-it- all, so to the Trusted Strategic Advisor is a scout for talent inside and outside the client organization. We’ve commented before on the protective nature of staff; the thing to remember is that unlike staff people the Chief Executive working with a very senior operator will have a full horizon of interests that often get activated when challenging situations arise.

If you are around long enough, you begin to recognize that CEOs have enormous reach and an even larger curiosity. It’s helpful for you to know whom they reach out to even for the most mundane kind of advice. This matters because your willingness to share other sources with them builds trust even more so at emergent times where it’s the boss’s neck that is on the line and probably nobody else’s.

The more trust you build, the more influence you have, the more access you get, the more acceptance comes automatically. Your behaviors and input provide enormous impact and calmness at serious times. The bottom line is you’ll be included in more things and your level of respect among even competitive staff members will grow.

During urgent situations, the younger the executive, the more likely they will feel that they pretty much know how to handle things. Sometimes you find the same situation among more senior executives. Because of really deep experience, we can almost always pull a story or two out, on the spot that will calm things down, maybe entertain ever so slightly, and the boss gets the message that there are better ways and better times to do what has to be done. 

Fred began giving advice to clients when he was 23. At age 30, a couple of years after Jim became his mentor, he advised his first Fortune 500 CEO. That CEO, who was in his late 60s, was trying to fend off a hostile takeover attempt. Fred and the CEO spent hours together, preparing him to face skeptical investors, the news media, and other key stakeholders. After the threatened takeover was successfully blocked and shareholders expressed continued support for the company’s leadership, the CEO invited Fred to his Park Avenue, New York office to have a celebratory drink.

Afterward, as the two walked through the wood-paneled hallway to the elevator, the CEO put his arm around Fred’s shoulder and again thanked Fred for his help. Then he asked, “Oh, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. How old are you?” Fred replied, “I’m 30 years old.” The CEO stopped in his tracks. His facial expression was a mix of horror and confusion. How could he have put his reputation and his company’s fortunes in the hands of someone so young? But he quickly recovered from his initial shock, and they resumed their walk to the elevator.

The answer to the age question is, “It’s about what you know and what comes out of your mouth rather than the grayness or absence of your hair,” or for that matter, your years of experience.

If anything, continuous and relentless expansion of knowledge, especially in developed cultures and societies, means younger people absolutely know a lot more than someone more senior knew at the same age.

Each generation is better informed and pushing upward faster with a more strategic value in its knowledge base. The greatest challenge for the rising star is building the trust component of their relationships. Too often, it appears that up-and-comers are more interested in their own career trajectory than the crucial tasks managers must meet or accomplish. Remember, when it comes to those you advise, it’s always about them, at least first.

Influencing Leaders: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor provides the proven framework for becoming a trusted strategic influencer partner that leaders turn to when facing critical decisions. The book presents seven essential disciplines: establishing trustworthiness, mastering verbal influence, developing management perspective, thinking strategically, recognizing patterns, structuring constructive advice, and teaching leaders to apply counsel effectively.

Influencing Leaders is perfect for mid-career professionals, external consultants, and anyone aspiring to influence organizational leaders. Influencing Leaders demonstrates that true influence is about mastering the disciplines of foresight, strategic thinking, and trust that make trusted strategic advisors and influencers essential to leaders making their most challenging decisions.

Pre-order your copy of Influencing Leaders here.