The original comment was: use your charm to gain the trust of people, meet with each person, assess how they are useful to get your goals done.
Those are the textbook first steps of the workplace psychopath.
Then comes establishing a network of patrons and pawns, confronting your rivals and the psychopatic ascension, where useless patrons and pawns are forgotten or even eliminated.
That is your interpretation of the original comment, not even close to a direct quote (and I'm sure many would take it as a gross distortion of what was actually said).
Obviously you and I interpreted the original comment very differently.
