The political storm has moved the best Government Relations talent in Europe. Are you paying attention?

We are living through a period of political and regulatory volatility that most senior leaders have not experienced in their careers. Tariffs introduced overnight. Multilateral institutions under existential funding pressure. Regulatory frameworks around AI, ESG, and trade shifting faster than most corporate strategies can absorb. In that environment, the ability to understand how governments think, how policy gets made, and how to build trusted relationships with the people who shape decisions is not a support function. It is a strategic capability.

Most boards have not caught up with this yet. Those that have are already ahead.

The professionals who have spent careers inside international organisations, multilaterals, and public affairs functions have developed something that is extraordinarily hard to build any other way: the ability to navigate complex multi-stakeholder environments without formal authority, to read political dynamics, to build coalitions across cultures, and to anticipate regulatory direction before it becomes public. These are not skills that transfer in from a standard corporate career path. They take decades.

And right now, an unusually strong cohort of these professionals is in motion.

The combination of US funding withdrawals from multilateral institutions, restructuring across Geneva and Brussels, and shifting policy priorities has created a moment of genuine availability among people who, not long ago, were simply not in the market. Senior professionals with serious track records and the kind of networks that take a career to build.

This will not last.

I have just completed mandates in this space. If this is on your agenda, I would be glad to have a conversation.

📩 info@rachelsheehan.com