Zachary W. Speegle

I spent fourteen years as a Navy Chaplain inside the space where people break down and build back up. I sat with Marines after combat, after loss, after decisions that couldn't be taken back. I learned what people do when they are at their most vulnerable — and I learned what other people do to them in those moments.

After I retired, I expected to see the world differently. I expected my training and experience to create a kind of immunity. I was wrong. My longtime mentor — the person I trusted more than nearly anyone — ran a financial scheme. His business partner was convicted of money laundering.

I was not the obvious target. But I was the target.

The experience didn't embarrass me into silence. It turned my attention. I went back through everything I had learned about human psychology and influence, and I started looking for the architecture underneath the tactics. What I found is in this book.