It never fails. When I’m out and about with other lobbyists, I see it happen – just as soon as the very first stranger asks “so, what do you do?” In that moment, almost everybody dodges the question.
Unlike so many other industries, we seem to feel compelled to hide our work. We use fun euphemisms. We call ourselves “government affairs professionals” or “political consultants.” We talk about what we do in the vaguest of terms, shying away from our more common label. Why is that?
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to understand the motivation. In modern politics, short of elected officials themselves, no one is more universally demeaned than lobbyists. No matter the issues for which we advocate, we are seen as the guns for hire, the influence peddlers and the inhabitants of smoke filled rooms.
But I think if you spent a day shadowing me through the work I do, you’d walk away with a remarkably different mental picture the next time you’d think about “lobbyists.”
Homework
First and foremost, you’d see that most days aren’t spent in front of legislators or other elected officials. Yes, we have times when we navigate quite a few of those meetings over a given time. But we aren’t just walking in the door. That’s only the 10% of the iceberg that you see above water.
This is a field that requires a massive amount of homework. We study our issue. We study how our opposition sees the issue. We study those we’re representing to better understand and convey their challenges. We study the process. We study the elected officials involved, their role in the process, and how they’ve dealt with the issue previously. And then we do it all over again to try and figure out how to make our position that much stronger.
All of that studying is a fantastic opportunity. In the last few years I’ve learned an immense amount of information about an industry I just plainly didn’t understand – and in such a broad way that every day presents new opportunities to look at new problems. For the intellectually curious, this is dream work.
Helping Others Help Themselves
But as you followed along through all of that homework, you’d probably notice another theme: it’s not about us.
Those of us in the government affairs profession (see, I even did it there) are almost invariably helping others. We’re helping them understand the people, the process, and the politics standing in their way. We’re helping them craft compelling stories that can humanize problems of immense complexity. We’re helping them craft cumulative and iterative approaches to relationship building.
But to what end? Is it just about winning a political fight?
Our political process is complex. It’s why so many get frustrated that “nothing ever gets done.” Let’s set aside the falsehood of that sentiment, and just focus on the feeling behind it.
The vast majority of Americans will never engage proactively in the political debate. We’ve got other things to do. My favorite President, Calvin Coolidge, captured this reality beautifully in a 1925 speech to the Society of American Newspaper Editors:
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”
President Calvin Coolidge, January 17, 1925
The beauty of our representative republic is that this form of government affords us the freedom to let go of the day to day concerns of politics. By design, our system allows us to disengage…to a degree.
But the second order effect of that disengagement shows itself in just how intimidating the average person can feel when faced with a need to advocate on an issue important to them. Plainly put, the conflict and complexity of our political processes is enough to keep most from taking an active role.
When push comes to shove, though, how do they arm themselves to jump into the fray? When the need arises to redress grievances, what does that mean and what should they do?
That’s where my industry comes in. We are there to serve as the guides you may need some day when an issue you care deeply about is stalled in the process. We are there to help you dissect the problem and come up with strategies to get your work on that issue back on track. We’re there to serve those causes, and the real people behind the issues.
But lobbyists don’t have special powers of persuasion. We can’t simply buy votes – that’s illegal. And we face the same evolving political environment as everyone else. So what’s the advantage?
We Show Up More Often
I’ve been saying this a lot lately: advocacy must be viewed as both a cumulative and iterative process. It is unreasonable, even nonsensical, to think the first time you meet or speak with a decision maker that you’re going to compel them to take action on an issue. It’s even more so when you use the wrong tactics like public intimidation. Winning in advocacy requires us to show up, again and again, constantly refining the ways we present our solutions.
What actually works in advocacy isn’t as sexy as marching in protests. It’s the long, often frustrating path of building relationships that wind from issue to issue when advocates choose their battles, and celebrate their champions. That long game is where a lobbyist can add value to you. We’re there to help you exercise your first amendment right to “redress grievances.” And we’re there to help you do it in a sustainable way that will keep you empowered over the long haul.
To me, that’s nothing to be ashamed of – rather it’s something in which we should take a larger measure of pride.
Every day I get to pull the curtain back on government and politics and help others see the world just a little bit differently…maybe even a bit more positively. Along the way I get to learn some incredible things, in service to issues that may just help lots of people. That’s pretty cool – even if the masses don’t agree that it’s also commendable.
Part of the Possible 