In the world most of us like people, sometimes we want to be around people, sometimes we are equally satisfied being around few people. The common thread is we are social, but which people do you want to be around? In North America we all live a somewhat gated community in the sense depending on your income, depends on a regular basis who the people are and just because some have higher incomes it does not mean they are better people. Sometimes the people who have less income are better people because they want less from us. How do you know?

One of ways is to learn and practice from people like Robin Dreeke who wrote the book Sizing People Up published by Portfolio Penguin, NY, 2020. Mr. Dreeke worked for the FBI and headed up the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and he deals with people who have interests in changing the American system of democracy to something else.

Most of us do not have those high of stakes, we deal with our jobs and homes and families. But can you learn from Behavioral Analysis, the answer is YES. In a book about Steven Cohen and SAC Capital (now called Point 72) and he had or has former people from the department to teach his traders. They come into contact with a great deal of information, some of it you need to do something with, how do you know what is good or what is not so good? People are pitching ideas and asking for money, do they stretch the truth and what are signs they are not truthful as possible?

In Mr. Dreeke’s book one of many examples is after his FBI experience, he was invited to a security firm to give a talk and offer assistance. In the world of mergers and acquisitions, prior to the announcement, companies’ analysts examine the financial details, but they also call on security consultants to “look for the dirt underneath the fingernails”. What details did the analysts miss? what is hidden behind the numbers? who is not telling the truth? what are the true costs which a competitor would love to know? just because someone is prominent, sometimes they lie. Why would you trust them? Management wants to know did we miss anything that will result in write downs or losses? or will the stock price go up with the announcement and stay up?

The 6 signs for Behavior Prediction are:

1. Vesting – creating symbiotic linkage of mutual success
2. Longevity – believing your word is your bond
3. Reliability – demonstrating competence and diligence
4. Actions – displaying consistent patterns of positive behavior
5. Language – creating connections with masterful communications
6. Stability – transcending conflict with emotional accord

In the book there are multiple questions or check boxes that you need to do before you have a long term mutual association, but they happen and it makes life rewarding

Linking to dividend paying stocks, often times people gravitate towards this group of companies because they lost money in the lower stock price of get rich quick. Once in a while it happens, more often people lose money. Hopefully you learn or have learnt when it happened to you. Sometimes the best method to get involved is lose money, then you are ready for education, learning about value and dividends. Whatever your approach is you will need to deal with people – those running the companies, those in your social network and professional network hopefully your relations are long lasting and rewarding.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.