Government Affairs & The Art of Not Making Everyone Happy.

Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying, “If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream.”

It’s a simple fact: as government affairs professionals, we can’t make everyone happy and do what we do well. While we can strive for everybody-wins scenarios, more often than not there is a winner and a loser (or many winners/many losers) in our work. A client once told me, “Jonathan, I hire lobbyists all over the country, and I don’t hire them for the number of relationships they have. I hire them for the number of relationships they are willing to strain to get me a good result.” That statement has stayed with me over the years. He was right. We are not in the happy business, we are in the advocacy business. Not a legislative session goes by in which I don’t strain a relationship on behalf of a client. 

It sounds stressful, and it can be. Lobbying involves sharp elbows and conflicting agendas. We often go head-to-head with people we have known for years as friends and colleagues. When the stakes are high, egos are on the line and if you don't get your ego a little roughed up every once in awhile, you aren't working hard enough.

With all the relationship-straining, high stakes conflict and ego-bashing going on, how can a lobbyist deliver great value to his or her client and still enjoy what he or she does?

1. Act aggressively, but with integrity. When the stakes are high and the pressure is fierce, play the long game and retain the respect of decision-makers and your peers. It pays dividends for your clients and maintains the only currency that lasts in the lobbying business: trust. Your opponent may not be happy you beat them, but at least they can't smear you for playing dirty. If you lose, don't whine about it or bad-mouth the adversary. Come up with a plan B and fight like your job depends on it; it does.
2. Be transparent with your clients and draw clear boundaries around what you will and will not do to get the "win." I have no illusions: we are in a win or lose business. But how you win matters; maintaining an honest, open dialogue with clients gives you the freedom to exercise rule number one, integrity, while building client loyalty.

Steve Jobs was right, we cannot lead and make everyone happy. I learned long ago that engaging in the profession of battling over policy ideas was never going to bring a smile to everyone's face. But selling mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone wouldn't give me the chance to work on issues like revolutionizing the way healthcare is delivered, improving the way millions of people get to work every day, or creating more high wage job opportunities for thousands of people.

And just imagine a world where Steve Jobs hadn't led; we'd be a few billion people on a planet of flip phones, totally incapable of using Yelp to find the best late night vegan ice cream in our neighborhoods. You call that happy?