Close To The Powerful

Skip:

"'...I doubt if anybody in this country is more than, oh, ten steps away from the top. Usually fewer. Like, I know my father, who knows a state committeeman of the Popular Party, who must be buddy-buddy with our senators, who've got the ear of the President. Like that.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Byworlder, III, p. 35.

(Four steps.)

We discussed this question here.

Skip's approach is from himself to:

his friend, Roger;
Roger's foreman;
the Caravan Chief;
a reputable scientist or engineer;
a politician;
President Braverman, Commissioner Uchida or someone else at the top.

Thus, six steps. Skip displays considerable acumen by planning this line of approach. He might also go through his father for back-up.