From Reactive to Proactive: Reflections on our Recent Panel Event 

This week I had the pleasure of chairing a discussion that brought together a fantastic panel of senior corporate and public affairs leaders working across a wide range of industries. The questions focused on an ongoing challenge for all practitioners: how do you make the function genuinely proactive when the political and economic ground keeps moving?

Against a backdrop of political and economic disruption, a fragmenting media and a tighter fiscal climate, corporate affairs can no longer afford to simply react to events. The panel agreed that the modern brief is to shape the environment a business operates in, not merely to respond once the headlines have landed.

From Defensive to Strategic

For years the function was treated as a shield, there to protect reputation and absorb risk. Where it has become genuinely strategic, the panel suggested, is where it has tied itself firmly to the commercial agenda of the organisation. Once a team can show how its work helps the business enter a market, influence policy outcomes or save costs, it starts being treated as a driver of growth.

Nobody pretended the defensive work disappears, because crises arrive whether you invite them or not. The more uncomfortable insight was how hard it is to climb back out once a team has been pushed onto the defensive. Organisations emerging from a serious crisis can find they have simply forgotten how to be proactive, and recovering that instinct takes a deliberate decision and strategic planning.

Speaking the Language of the Business

A key theme throughout the discussion was translation. Most colleagues are no more absorbed by policy detail than the public and usually ask the same question of any political development: what does this mean for us? The corporate affairs leader bridges that gap, translating complex policy into clear commercial implications for the business and framing its case in terms politicians will understand.

The same logic applied to campaigns. The ones that travel furthest are rarely those that serve only the company’s own interests. When a campaign also helps government deliver something it already wants, doors open more easily, and a simple unifying theme that colleagues, customers and policymakers can all rally behind tends to achieve far more than a narrow ask.

Politics and Pivots

The advice from the panel was to talk to everyone, to show up at the conference of the party in power rather than only the one you find congenial, and to leave your politics at the door while keeping your principles firmly intact. Tellingly, the relationships that proved most valuable were often those built with people during their time in opposition, who later remembered who had bothered to listen.

There are moments, the panel agreed, when every stakeholder advises caution and the right course is still to say the difficult thing, make the public argument and hold your nerve. The real craft lies in judgement: knowing when to keep pressing a narrative, when to pivot and how to reframe an ask so that the other side is able to say yes.

Final Thoughts

What struck me most was how far the strongest corporate and public affairs leaders have travelled from the old caricature of the function. They are commercial, brave and trusted at the very top table, and they increasingly shape strategy rather than simply communicate it. That is precisely the profile our clients now ask us to find, and on the evidence of this panel the standard is only rising. My thanks to our panellists, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion.

Whether you’re hiring top Public Affairs talent or considering your next career move, our team would be delighted to support you.

Janie Emmerson is UK & Europe Managing Partner and Global Head of Public Affairs. She leads Hanson Search’s UK & European based teams.

Hanson Search is a globally recognised, award-winning talent advisory and headhunting consultancy. Our expertise lies in building successful ventures worldwide through our recruitment, interim and executive search. Our specialisms include communications, corporate affairs, sustainability, public affairs and policy, digital marketing and sales.