“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin (misquotation)
One of the surest ways a lobbyist can guarantee their cause/client loses is by failing to adapt to the prevailing political currents.
If a lobbyist, or their client/cause rejects adaptation, they are likely to embrace defeat.
The best lobbyists will re-frame their case to the decision-maker in front of them, and highlight why their case is fully aligned with the prevailing political currents.
For the next few years, the guiding lodestar of European Leaders, the Commission and many MEPs will be “competitiveness, competitiveness, competitiveness”, and likely with a large dose of European self interest.
If you can’t re-position your case into language that reflects this agenda, you are likely going to find the next 5 years very lonely, and may even want to consider hibernation.
If you find yourself having some blockage communicating with anyone who does not share your niche world view – surprisingly common for many lobbyists – I’d recommend you read Chris Rose’s What Makes People Tick. If you apply the advice there, you’ll find yourself tapping into the values and language of many political interests. When you speak their language and tap into their values, you’ll find they’ll co-opt your cause, as their own.
I’ve used the ideas for decades because they work. If it is citing Pope John Paul II, Saint Francis, or Hayek and Mises, to support the same point to different groups of politicians it matters not. The central message did not change. The language and values used to communicate to the given audience changed. The chances that either of the groups would have supported the client’s asks for the same reason that the client backed them, were likely nil.
If you reject change, you’ll embrace political irrelevance for a few years.