Leadership Lessons with Jon Elliott MBE, Vice President and Head of Europe Corporate Affairs at Haleon

Peter Ferguson, Managing Consultant at Hanson Search, spoke to Jon Elliott MBE, Vice President and Head of Europe Corporate Affairs at Haleon. They discussed his move from government into industry, the qualities leaders need in 2026, and where the profession is heading.

How did you get into Public Affairs and Politics?

I actually came to  industry quite late. I spent the first ten years of my career in the UK civil service, following a pretty standard civil service career path of shanking roles every 18 months or so, across different parts of government and different policy projects. Most had a scientific or innovation angle, which fits, because my training is in science.

Then around 2019 I had a bit of an epiphany. I’d been working on business policy and had never actually spent any time in business. It felt fairly hypocritical , sitting in front of about 200 senior business leaders during the Brexit negotiations, telling them what I thought was good for them, when I didn’t really know what it meant to be on the other side of the fence.

So I left and joined AstraZeneca in 2019. Back then, unless you were in biopharma or watched the markets, you wouldn’t have known much about the company. Eighteen months later everybody did. I was there through Covid and led a lot of the engagement between the business and the UK government. It was a case of being the right person at the right time, because I’d brought my contacts over from government  which meant we could move quickly.

After a few years I joined Haleon, two weeks before we spun out from GSK. I came across to do UK government engagement, but my role quickly grew into full corporate affairs, first for Northern Europe and now for our whole Europe operating unit.

What do you think are the key qualities needed from leaders in public affairs and politics in 2026?

For me it comes down to three things.

The first is being solutions orientated. One of the traps we fall into as corporate affairs professionals is to tell a policymaker their problem is five times bigger than they thought. You thought you had an issue with an issue like children’s oral care, but here’s the data showing it’s worse. What we don’t do enough is stop and think like the policymaker. How am I going to respond to this? So the quality I value is being able to say, here’s the problem, and here’s the solution too. It won’t cost much, it’s easy to implement, here’s the full package.

The second is communication; ironically we’re not always great at it. I’ve seen a lot of poorly drafted or statistically illiterate material through the years.. You might have 30 minutes with a policymaker, or one leave behind at an event. If it doesn’t land your points, you have to be willing to start again. It comes back to the audience. What do they want to hear, and have you honed your message?

The third is realism. The classic one is someone going into Treasury to seek some fiscal leaver is pulled, a tax relief or incentive or a new spending commitment.. The first thing a Treasury policymaker asks is, great, that leaves an £X million hole in my accounts, how are you going to fill it? If you can’t answer that, you’re not dealing with the real world.

How important is Public Affairs representation at Board level from your perspective?

For me it’s less about representation and more about access to the advice and counsel that corporate affairs brings. Whether someone is literally sitting there with the hat on matters less than whether the board is getting regular briefings, , of the kind they need to make the decision in front of them.

We talk a lot about the world being in perpetual crisis, and there’s a lot in that, if we’re not supplying the information that the most senior leaders in our organisations require to deal with these crises, then we’re not doing our jobs properly. This needs to be actionable information, not just ‘for info’.. What we’re paid for is insight. The best board papers I’ve seen all have it built in. This is happening, it’ll affect us in these ways, and we can mitigate it through these routes.

How do you see the Public Affairs market evolving over the next five years?

It’s evolved enormously. Even in the ten years I’ve been involved, it’s moved on from what people saw as basically a comms function. Covid was the inflection point, because only corporate affairs could bring the insight people needed to adapt in a rapidly changing environment. .

As for the future, AI is the first thing anyone mentions, and rightly. It’s transforming how we work, and the gap between a mention in parliament and a follow-up with that politician keeps shortening. But there are two downsides. We already have an information volume problem, and AI is increasing that exponentially, so the smart thing is using it to condense everything back into actionable insight. The second is that I see communications drafted purely by AI, and high quality communication doesn’t simply come from a machine. It lacks creativity too, mostly passing back what existed before.

So AI is here to stay, and leaders need to use it well. But public affairs is still a contact sport. You can look someone in the eye and show that behind a huge FTSE business there are real people, with problems that line up with the ones policymakers face. AI won’t replace the conversation over a coffee around the corner, and I don’t think that human element ever goes away.

What advice do you have for someone looking to build a career in public affairs and/or politics?

Be curious. Government affairs is basically problem solving, so stay curious about what government cares about, what othersare doing, or what’s been tried before and hasn’t worked. That’s what gets your foot in the door.

Nothing beats spending time in a business. Not every business invests in policy, so pick one with a stake in the game. One that cares about the healthcare system, or energy, or defence spending, because those things are essential to that company. Then work on the interpersonal skills, because that’s how you build your value. Someone who can speak to the right people is already half way there.

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

Peter Ferguson is Managing Consultant in the Public Affairs Practice. Peter advises and supports some of the world’s most renowned communications consultancies, boutique public affairs agencies and global in-house clients.

Hanson Search Group is a global talent consultancy providing executive search, recruitment and leadership advisory services. Built on more than twenty years of trusted relationships, we operate as a connected global platform of specialist practices with expert consultants embedded in key markets.