Admiral John Richardson served as Chief of Naval Operations for four years. This is the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy, overseeing the efforts of over 600,000 people. Now that he's retired from the U.S. Navy, he serves on numerous boards of directors, including Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, and Constellation, a Fortune 150 company, which is the country's largest supplier of carbon-free energy.

His framework of Competence, Character, and Connections has been increasingly used within this community to describe the skills that leaders need. And I’ve hypothesized that technology leaders often don’t have enough or adequate connection with their peers or with their bosses.

As one gets more senior, the needed skills for success are less about Competence and depend more upon Connections. He sums it up so well when he says that the goal is to gain their confidence and trust, especially as one’s area of responsibility grows and the amount of regular oversight goes down.

He shared some remarkable stories of how he’s been in situations where he built Connections, and in one case, having to start from zero, and the impact that had on his ability to get the outcome he, his team, and his organization needed.