Golden Rule of Influence Number One: Live a Life of Undivided Integrity
by Chris Widener

The following passage is excerpted from Chris Widener’s popular book, The Art of Influence.

At eight-thirty a.m. sharp, after having left Bobby’s apartment exactly at seven for an early breakfast, Bobby, Marcus, and the security team from the Lincolns arrived at their destination: a relatively small company that Bobby was thinking of taking a stake in, in the hopes of growing it. The CEO’s admin told them that her boss had been caught in traffic and was just a few blocks away. In the meantime, she led them into the conference room between the CEO and CFO offices.

The boardroom had a classic high-powered look. It had beautifully ornate furniture and a killer view—the kind that is hard to come by in the concrete jungle. When Bobby and Marcus entered the room they were quickly greeted by the CFO, who asked them to sit down. The admin asked Bobby and Marcus if they would like some juice and Danish.

“No, thank you,” Bobby replied.

“None for me either, thanks.”

They launched into the basic “getting to know you” chitchat for a few moments while the three of them waited for the CEO to arrive. During a lull in the conversation, the admin came back in and spoke to the CFO.

“Laura Jackson called. She wants to know when she will get the package that includes the business plans and strategic overview.”

“Oh, I forgot to mail it! Do me a favor. Tell her I mailed it yesterday. Then overnight it to her today. Tell her she should get it tomorrow.”

“Will do,” she said before disappearing through the doors again.

“I hate when I forget to do things,” the CFO said as he turned to Bobby. “I must be getting old.”

A few minutes later the CEO entered the boardroom, apologizing for his tardiness. He asked the CFO if he had the financial sheets available.

“Sure do,” he said as he handed Bobby and Marcus a short stack of papers. “The top two sheets are the overview; the next ten sheets have all the details.”

Bobby turned to Marcus. “Give those a once over, will you? Let me know if anything pops out at you.” Marcus began to delve into the paperwork. He loved this, barely out of business school and here he was sitting at the right hand of one of the biggest movers and shakers in the world, helping him decide whether or not to go through with a deal. Who would have thought? As he started through the paperwork, he also tried to keep an ear to the conversation. Bobby was known for his keen intuitive sense of which deals were right and which ones were wrong. Sure, he looks at the numbers, but he trusts his gut a lot, as well.

After about twenty minutes of give-and-take, Bobby thanked them for their time and told them that he would get back to them by the end of the day. One-day decisions may seem like a quick turnaround on a 50 million dollar deal, but in the overall scheme of Bobby’s wealth, it was a pretty minor decision. Bobby had attended the meeting himself only because the CEO was a friend of a friend and he also thought it would give Marcus some action.

They discussed the meeting on the car ride back. “So, what did you think?” Bobby asked Marcus.

“It was great. I can’t think of a better way to get my feet wet.”

Bobby spoke to the driver. “Larry, can we hit a Starbucks? I’ll have the usual.” He turned to Marcus. “Anything for you?”

“Sure, a tall black drip.”

“Got it,” Larry said from the front.

“So, Marcus, let’s see what Northwestern did for you. How did those numbers look to you?”

“I thought they looked really good.” He was a little bit hesitant. They really did look good, but he just hoped that Bobby thought the same thing. He didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of the fence right off the bat, missing some crucial piece of information. He wanted to impress Bobby. “What did you think?”

“I agree. The financials look very good. This 50 million could turn into four or five hundred million in six to seven years.”

“So, are you going to do it?”

Just then the Lincoln pulled over for Larry’s run into the Starbucks. “Well, let’s talk about it a bit. We know the science works, right?”

“The science?”

“Yeah, remember? The science and the art? The science is the numbers. Those work on this deal. What about the art?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, the two guys seemed sharp. They seemed like they knew what they were doing. They had a plan for expansion. What did you think?”

“Okay…” Marcus didn’t get where Bobby was going with this.

“Those two guys were trying to influence me to put 50 million dollars of my money into their business, right? Which means I’d have to hold them to my Golden Rules of Influence. Unfortunately, their CFO broke rule number one before the meeting ever began.”