You wouldn't try to build a house on quicksand, would you?

Unless you're Camp. Who totally would and has. On quicksand. In the Vegas Business District. Without planning permission. Before it ultimately got torn down. He's a bit nuts though and being a camper isn't all that used to houses, so let's not follow his lead.

So why the hell would you try and build a family, a legacy or a dynasty without first putting in the foundations and a safe base on which to build? 

In recent times we've heard a lot of speeches and discussions aimed at or coming from new leaders. They've touched on topics from member whoring to making a positive contribution in this world. Sadly, for many of us, whoring wasn't included as one of those positive ways of contributing so Borkers is going to have to reconsider his current Norweigan Rent Boy strategy. This is great if you aren't actively hoping for incompetent leaders to actively shoot themselves in the head, foot or crotch. Personally, I'm on the fence about it. Sometimes Darwinism is the best bet in this thing of ours.

Having said all that, if we are going to hold hands, sing songs and hug each other you can be damn sure I'm going to have the softest hands, sing the most awesome tunes and give the best damn huggles you've ever felt.

With that said, it's time to talk about THE most important part of being a good leader in cosa nostra and the one thing that 99% of leaders ignore.

Ehhh, Tsu? You are not a leader? You've never worn a bold suit. Why should we listen to you?

Those are all valid points you raise. Now shut up and sit down before people realize I'm totally avoiding answering them.

Building Bridges 101

<font size="1">~Your guide on how to lick fewer windows~</font>

So you've put on your bold suit, you've managed to convince a hand full of delinquents to follow your lead and you're slowly starting to make some money. What happens next? You die.

Seriously. That's more than likely what will happen. Unless you've gone to the effort of building the relationships, the links and the knowledge you need to survive. So many people think our world is all about how many bodyguards follow you around, how many notches you can put on your shot record, how much money you can wrestle from House's greasy paws or how many nudes you can file away in your top drawer. It's not. This world of ours is all about the relationships. It's all about the politics. It's all about building those bridges.

Knowledge is power in cosa nostra. If you know what's happening around you then you'll be in a far better position to keep your family and loved ones safe. There is no better way to stay in the loop than by earning the trust and respect of those around you. Get them to a position where they actively want to see you and your family survive, where they'd actually feel an impact if you were no longer there, so they have a reason to let you know if they expect something to happen. Get yourself to a position where there's a negative backlash against anyone who moves on you, so that even if they manage to first wave you and your entire hit squad they know they're going to have plenty of waves of negative attention heading their direction and making their life difficult. Having a wide network throughout the six cities of people that would advocate and champion for your cause in meetings and back-alley whispers is the first step to securing your position. The first step to keeping you alive.

Whether people openly speak about it or not, politics is a pillar of this thing of ours. Understanding the existing politics between leaders and cities, being able to understand how things are likely to shift, being able to read how certain people will react to certain things and being able to read where you have gaps in your relationships is all vital. This shit isn't spoken about openly all that often, but it's absolutely vital if you plan on leading as more than a one week wonder. If you're negotiating with a leader you have to understand how they're likely to react and what the meaning is behind a reply. Getting a "Yeah, that's fine. We can drop it" from one leader could translate to "Go to sleep. I'm totally wiping your family once I've had my tea" with one leader, where with another it means "I really don't care. Leave me alone with this crap. I don't even know who you are". Being able to read the differences between the two is important. Misreading the differences can be the difference between life and death.

Some leaders are up front, direct and straight forward. Someone like our newest Godfather Disorder for example. He says what he means and he sure as hell means what he says. If he says he's going to shoot someone in the face that isn't a threat, it's just him letting you know what's going to happen. He deals in facts and face to face interactions whether that's conflicts or resolutions. It makes him relatively easy to read, which is a great thing for other leaders who have to deal with him as they know just what to expect and is one of the, though there are many many of them, reasons his bloodline has been so prolific and successful as leaders over the years.

So what happens if you're new and nobody knows this stuff? What happens if you haven't gotten to know the other boldies and none of them step up to vouch for you when someone makes a negative comment? What happens when they start to no longer trust you, start believing you're a risk and start thinking about killing you? That's right. You die.

Now, don't get me wrong here. This shit isn't easy. Building a relationship doesn't mean you just follow Bonkers around from street corner to street corner kissing his ring with a stupid "Well said boss, you're so clever".... though obviously both Bonkers and Argyle would thank you profusely for that. Relationships are about getting to know one another. Seeing what they say, seeing how they say it, seeing what actions they do in the light of them saying things, seeing what they say behind closed doors relative to what they've said in public. Relationships take time and effort to grow and cultivate. Sometimes they can happen organically and you'll find people you just click with. Though in many cases it takes a conscious effort in order to achieve it.

Look around the world you now. Who would stand up for your family? Who would stand up for your life? Who would care if you took that nap with the fishes?

If you don't know the answers to those questions or if the names you're answering with aren't holding enough weight. Get to work. Sure, communicating with your family is vital and all... but that's the bare minimum you must be doing. If you're not taking it fifteen or twenty steps further your days as a leader may be numbered.

While you're looking at the world around you, can you tell who would back who? Who'd put their entire family at risk to save another leader? Who'd actively look to see another family fall? These are all questions of politics you need to start piecing together in your head. If you can't see what the jidsaw looks like how the hell are you going to move the pieces.

Build more bridges than you burn. Build the right bridges. If the ground starts to crumble under your feet you'll have nobody to blame but yourself. 

Normally this strapping young lad didn't wander so far into the Streets, arguing and discussing the political climate wasn't his cup of tea, as he preferred to deal with problems his own way. Using a rather large piece and ramming it into the other man until they finally came to seeing his way of things, he liked to think of himself as a hard and fast kind of guy -- not the one you'd normally see walking around having quaint conversations about his problems or curiosities.

Yet something drew him to this one. Maybe it was a good debate, or a rather smart and wonderfully detailed explanation of how something works in this world of ours. Maybe it was the way the story was told, or perhaps the woven word was so beautiful that he just had to come check out what this man was saying.

Nah. It was none of that, he had just simply heard his own name. 

"...Bonkers and ARGYLE..."

He caught bits and pieces and nodded to all of it, even though sadly there were no more mentions of his name during the conversation he was happy enough to give his thoughts on the matter. Clearing his throat so all of the attention would now be on him, he began to speak in a thunderous manner that made them all listen intently. 

Building bridges. Ahh. Bridges, yes. I remember those, we had a lot of them where I was growing up, my mother used to tell me not to walk on the bridges and I never knew why, then one day my best friend Timmy was ran over by four separate buses. It took them five years to get all of his body parts scraped off of there and yet his ear is still to this day important to the structural integrity of the entire bridge. Sad story, yes, but it comes with quite the message - always listen to your mother, unless she's mine. My mother turned out to be quite the dirty whore, but we'll save those sexcapades for another day in time.

What we're talking about right now is bridges, and with that I think my story does come with a rather important lesson, always be sure to watch who is on your bridge. Make sure they're there for the right reasons, and not just using it to travel along to the other side where they see a greener grass. If you don't know who's on your bridge at all times, you may end up like Timmy over there, his ear still listening to the coming and goings of every car that zips past, yet his body, uh, is like gone. So, yeah. It's a negative. You don't want to be like Timmy.

While building bridges are important. Knowing who you're building them with and having a mutual trust is even more important, at least in my opinion. I could have every bridge in the world, but some people just aren't worth building one for. Unless they offer you a lot of money for the bridge, in which case put on your hard hat and take that money. Money is great. 

Metaphors were never his strong suit, but he was sure he had gotten through to everyone who was willing to pay attention, and with that he ended his two-cents and waited for the entire crowd to agree with his wisdom. Any minute now...

Please.

Angy sat next to Argyle in time to hear him tell the story of the poor Timmy, and silently she remembered how many little timmies she watched die along her journey. Many moved by the innocence of a utopian family ideal, where they would have their own group to lead. Others motivated only by the ambition that this status would grant them.

Shaking her head she looked directly at TsuDhoNimh and said,

"I agree with you. This world is made up of bridges where we have to make the right connections if we want to reach the next step, but I wonder, how can we see them along the way if we often mistake our lack of experience for real experience? This has already happened to me many times. I believe everyone that has passed through this knows it serves to make us stronger and analyze the world as a whole. Do not just focus on your own district as a leader fated to fall would. Try to be cordial, to know the other cities and above all respect each one for their history. Often you may not agree with each as they write their own history, but consider what you would do differently if you were in their place .

If you still feel insecure to take big steps and take risks, ask yourself if you really are ready for this or should you spend some time working for the big gangsters who built their empires already. Try to mirror them until you get to the point of being prepared and having the responsibility to have members of your own. That base themselves on your actions, that feel secure under your protection and your leadership to grow in this world. A word placed at the wrong time can be your death sentence."

TsuDhoNimh was quite a prolific speaker but he had a lovely lilt to his voice and Disorder rarely tired of it. I say rarely, there were occasions he had to ban prominent members of the Chicago mob from allowing him near the cocaine he'd been shipping, but those days were hopefully all behind him now. These days he cut a much more measured figure and this speech was a mark of his clearer, more considered thoughts. When Tsu'd finished, Disorder allowed Argyle and Angy to make their contributions. He listened intently to what they had to say before chiming in himself.

"Tsu. What a helpful topic you've raised here! And in such a clear way too. Really, I think this is something a lot of more experienced heads take for granted so a lot of newer faces don't get told. Relationships are everything in our world. You can have any attribute you like but if you can't work with the various personalities and master your own reactions, you won't get anywhere. As Tsu pointed out so clearly, working out what type of people you are dealing with and how to work with them, is 99% of your life. The very nature of the way we live means communication is king. Yes, this fine young man couldn't have made a better or more helpful point!"

He turns to Argyle with a smile.

"Argyle, always nice to see you out and about. You also bring a very important point here. You do need to watch the company you keep. Make very sure you know who you're getting into bed with because you might not like the sex you end up getting. You might get lucky and end up with the perfect double-wristed-loopy, or, you may get the kind of bent over beasting you wouldn't wish on anyone... I may be straying a little with the metaphor here but you get the picture. Choose your friends wisely. The right ones could carry you to glory, the wrong ones may bury you in a dumpster."

Finally he turns to Angy.

"My dear you may have made the best contribution of all. Before getting a bold suit or becoming a big player in this thing of ours, you may be best served to take a step back, consider your position and wait. It may be the sensible call to decide not to take on leadership when the first opportunity arises. The right call may well be to sit in a safe place and learn at a slower pace so that when your time comes, the decision to accept an opportunity to lead, is truly the right call.

It was many generations before my ancestors were first given the opportunity to lead. At the time their journals say they wished it had come sooner. Later diaries have noted that the generations in the trenches served them well in preparing for leadership. This place has been here for so many generations. Some of the blood walking these streets is as old as time. There is no need to be in a frantic hurry to experience everything right now. Quite often a few generations of humble work and study will produce a finer leader. It is only the patiently developed pallet that can truly appreciate the finest wine."

Relationships are everything in our world. You can have any attribute you like but if you can't work with the various personalities and master your own reactions,

Communication, is key. This life we live is all built on networking with others.  This is my favorite piece if I may comment on. 

Insane ponders the latest topic. Agreeing communication is a necessity particularly when it only concerns ones family. Communication is a two way street within a family. Ponders further. We have had two types of fresh off the boat on these shores.  We got those who are bran spanking new with or without potential  and looking to take up another career. Then we have those who are very savvy in this life and all too familiar with the lions and the cubs theme. They are merely looking to expanding their importing and exporting enterprise which would in essence  require talking business. Thus getting to know some folks. 

In my opinion, it is not who you know. it is what you know and the ability to shake hands on business arrangements. Who you know is not working. 

Communication is a two way street 

Yes indeed I agree. Its who you know, and how you preform during such tasks, for sure indeed Insane.

As Kinoko smiles at Insane.

All comes to effect. When building a sturdy "solid" foundation. Remember tho, keep a solid eye out for its cracks and how to fill them, that's the challenge, as many would agree.

I apologise if i'm repeating any of the previous fellow mobsters but i would like to start it with this:

"The most important thing in communication, is hearing what isn't said" 

I know you talked about it Tsu, however i believe that this one thing is the one that every aspiring leader has to understand. Most of the time things are not how they look like, you believe you're doing a great job only to be told by your friends that there is a contract running around to take you out. That deffenitely isn't good and in order to make the best out of every situation possible you should expect the worse situation everytime. I mean if you do that you will never have to deal with dissapointmen!

Also i'm guessing that some leaders took this advice straight forward and went around introducing theirselves to each head of different family. Personally i think that in order to truthfully get to know someone and build a good relationship with them won't be solely be started by a simple "Hi my name is ... and i am ... " You need to come up with something better than that in order to be creative and show that you have more to yourself than what seems.