I recently met some smart students who were considering a career in lobbying, but did not think they had the “right stuff” to succeed.
I realised after a few questions that the “right stuff” meant they did not attend the correct finishing Master’s programme, had family in the EU Institutions, financial backing to do lots of low/unpaid internships, and some other reasons.
Some of the best lobbyists I know never have these privileges.
This is the best advice I could give someone starting in lobbying today.
- A real superpower is to communicate clearly and concisely in writing (it will set you apart from 95% +).
- The ability to communicate clearly and concisely when speaking.
- The ability to shut up quickly. 1+2+3 puts you in a small superpower class.
- Enjoy the hustle.
- The ability to pick up the phone and call absolute strangers and ask them nicely for information. It is the most effective way to obtain information.
- Deal with rejection. People will put the phone down on you, say they don’t like your firm or client. Just pick up the phone and call the next person on the list.
- Develop the ability to learn and unlearn quickly.
- Deproagmme your writing style from University ASAP.
- Be pleasant to people. You’ll get a lot more people than being a psychopath, bully, or rude.
- Learn to work with people. If you can’t work well with your colleagues, clients, partners, and politicians and officials, you are useless.
- Avoid procrastinating and just do the work when you said you would so, when you said you would do it.
- Turn up early to meetings. Ask the question you came for, thank people, and leave. People will appreciate the extra time they have.
- When presenting, start on time and finish ahead of time.
- Don’t lie. Don’t send false reports, fake evidence, or be disingenuous.
- Don’t slag people off in public or in private. Brussels is too small a place.
- Realise that good writing takes time to produce. The best writers never produce a perfect first draft. Reviewing and editing is part of the course.
- Just do the work. Get your hands dirty. Enjoy learning the craft. It’s hard work.
- You are learning a craft. It will take you several years to learn it well enough to become a journeyman. And, only after several more years, you may be seen by your peers as a craftsman.
- Practice radical detachment. Your job is just a job. Your employer is not your family. You are not working for a cult.
- Turn your brain off in a healthy way at the end of the day. Find a hobby. Lift weights, do 2000-piece puzzles.
- Don’t close your brain down with booze.
- Real intelligence does not come from chance encounters on Place Luxembourg at 11:30 pm on a Thursday night. It is from speaking to people in the room/holding the pen.
- If you can’t separate your personal views from your work, join a cult, a political think tank, or a religious order.
- Learn to say No. You can only do so many things in a day.
- Realise this is a business. Unless you’re a trust fund kid (and I’ve met a few who are) you need to make a living.
- Learn quickly to catch your own food. It’s a business. You need to catch your own keep. Do this as quickly as possible.
- Learn the processes. If you don’t, you are like a blind man driving at speed on a road you have no knowledge of, with many tricky turns and blind spots. What could go wrong!
- Don’t agree to your client like a Pavlovian dog. They are hiring you for your counsel, not to be a morbidly obese cheerleader.
- Learn to visualise information. Only a few people love the power of words vomited up over 44 pages or data dumps.
- Deal with political reality, not fairy tales.
- Do not rely on your nationality or Party card.
- Keep confidences.
- Realise some people won’t like what you do for a living. Deal with it.
- Don’t pretend you’re a Saint.
- If you don’t like being a lobbyist, there are a lot of other fun jobs out there.
- Understanding that expertise takes time. A lot longer than you think it will.
- Understand not to step outside your circle of competence.
- Deal with the only constant – change.
- Learn the skill to adapt your client’s case to different political interests/agendas.
- Understand that if you put in the time and develop the right skills, there are many amazing opportunities that you may never have known existed.
One of the things I like about Brussels is that few people ask about or care about your class, race, religion, University, or background. That’s not to say they are not asked. I’ve been asked all in job interviews, but it’s easier here being a Northern Irish (lapsed) Catholic than in England.