On July 3, 2026, ABC News reported that President Donald Trump's personal ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were a decisive factor in his engagement with this year's NATO summit. The report, citing unnamed officials, suggested that Turkey may secure significant concessions as a result of this relationship, beyond the usual alliance bargaining.
This is not a story about NATO's agenda or Turkey's strategic position. It is a textbook illustration of Chapter 3 of The Deep Edge: Connected Leadership. The chapter argues that in the network age, power flows through hubs—individuals who connect disparate nodes—not down formal hierarchies. Trump's reported behavior at the summit is a case study in how a leader can operate as a hub, bypassing institutional channels to create direct, high-leverage connections.
What the framework says
Chapter 3 opens with a simple premise: the old model of leadership—command and control through a pyramid—is obsolete in a world where information moves at network speed. The connected leader does not wait for reports to climb the chain of command. Instead, they design an information system that places them at the center of multiple, often informal, data streams. They cultivate relationships that are not merely transactional but structural: each connection is a potential shortcut to intelligence, influence, or leverage.
The chapter distinguishes between two types of leaders: the 'node' and the 'hub.' A node is a passive point in a network, receiving and forwarding information. A hub is an active connector who curates relationships across boundaries—organizational, national, ideological. The hub's power is not positional; it is relational. They can convene, broker, and move faster than any formal process allows. The chapter warns that this power is fragile: it depends on trust, reciprocity, and the leader's ability to maintain multiple, sometimes conflicting, loyalties.
What the leader did
According to the ABC News report, Trump's personal rapport with Erdogan was a key factor in his approach to the NATO summit. The report states that Trump 'sold him on this year's NATO summit'—a phrase that implies a direct, interpersonal persuasion that bypassed the usual diplomatic machinery. Trump did not rely on his national security advisor or the State Department to build the case for Turkey's participation. He used his own relationship with Erdogan as the primary channel.
This is connected leadership in action. Trump positioned himself as a hub between the NATO alliance and a member state that has often been a difficult partner. By using his direct line to Erdogan, he created a shortcut that allowed him to influence the summit's dynamics without waiting for formal negotiations. The report also notes that Turkey 'may win big in other ways,' suggesting that Erdogan's access to Trump—the hub—may yield returns that are not available through standard alliance processes. The leader's personal network became a strategic asset, reshaping the distribution of power within the alliance.
The connected leader does not wait for the pyramid to deliver information. They build a network that delivers it before the pyramid knows it exists.
What you can take
- Map your own hub network: Identify the 5–10 individuals outside your formal reporting line who give you asymmetric access to information or influence. Invest in those relationships deliberately.
- Design for speed: Ask yourself: if a critical decision needed to be made in 24 hours, which relationship would you use? If the answer is 'none,' you are not connected enough.
- Diversify your nodes: A hub with only one strong connection is a bottleneck. Cultivate relationships across different sectors, geographies, and levels of authority.
- Beware the reciprocity trap: Every connection creates an implicit obligation. Ensure your network is balanced—you give as much as you take—or the hub becomes a liability.
- Audit your information system: List every channel through which you receive strategic intelligence. If most are formal reports, you are operating as a node, not a hub.
The Trump-Erdogan dynamic at the NATO summit is a reminder that leadership in the network age is not about the size of your title. It is about the quality of your connections. Chapter 3 of The Deep Edge provides the framework for building that quality deliberately. The question for every senior executive is not whether they have a network—everyone does. The question is whether they are using it as a hub or just occupying a node.