I have sat in many boardrooms as well as holding one on one interactions with leaders.

Asked, what top three key skills make one an exceptional talent, the answer is (1) trust, (2) skill and (3) passion as demonstrated by ambition and commitment

Are you a person that can be trusted? Can you keep secrets shared with you in your normal course of work safe despite future challenges or frustrations? Do you protect the interests of the company and your seniors at the expense of your personal ego and benefits? Are secrets and intellectual property safe with you?

If the top leaders or your supervisor share personal secrets with you, they trust you. Can someone send you on personal errands like buying their medicine, buying food from the market and delivering it home, sending a private letter to a business partner at their home, inviting you for a meeting at their home? If yes, the person who does that to you trusts you. Once they stop, know that they could have stopped trusting you.

Try to be more open and keep trust. You gain a lot of information and access to opportunities when you are trusted by higher ranks. Imagine the president of the country trusting you and sending you on personal missions and errands!

So it goes for the CEO. If an MTN or Pepsi CEO chooses you as his or her right-hand person, you gain lots of opportunities.

Make sure you don’t hide secrets from your senior that you think if they found out from another source, could affect your friendship and trust.

Remember, you must work on your relationships to thrive.

To be continued