In my first private sector job after serving nearly a decade on Capitol Hill, I worked for a former chief of staff who had lobbied me in my former office. He listened, read the room, and learned to find the golden nugget of what mattered most to a new or prospective client.
One of his leadership priorities was for our team members to adopt a meaningful quote that reflected our outlook on working in government and what we stood for in our representation of clients. I chose a quote from legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden that I still live by: “Never mistake activity for achievement.” It is even more relevant nearly 40 years later.
In the early 1980s on Capitol Hill, members of Congress and organizations seeking policies, regulations, or funding from the federal government were crystal clear on their priorities, and it helped if your client’s agenda fit with those preferences.
The advent of online advocacy, grassroots engagement, social media, podcasts, talk shows, and events has made lobbying and government service a 24/7 responsibility overwhelming to policymakers, their staff, and advocates.
Too many advocates are needlessly distracted by unnecessary meetings and time-consuming showcase activities on behalf of their clients. They believe it’s quantity over quality of tactics and strategies that carry the day.
I am fortunate that my time on Capitol Hill and as an advocate has been focused on the annual federal appropriations and competitive grant processes that are more clear-cut and likely to happen.
Many clients who aren’t seeking a programmatic increase or a congressionally directed funding project rarely think of the appropriations process as a mechanism for authorizing, reauthoring, or upping the funding levels for a program that can boost their organization or industry. Achievement suffers.
Another way to achieve a client’s priority may be to follow a major, must-pass legislative vehicle such as the farm bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, a federal reconciliation measure, or the transportation bill. Although your client’s issue might be a two-sentence line in the omnibus bill, or a line item in the committee report accompanying the legislation, achievement prevails.
It is also worthwhile to accept a fallback (partial success of what you want) that gives you a foot in the door to open it wider in the following year or later Congresses.
Being a good listener and reading the halls of Congress has benefited me and my clients over the years. Becoming more relevant in the vast universe of issues and noise around Congress and the administration can be achieved by aligning your request(s) to major administration priorities. Options include, but aren’t limited to:
- Advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) food initiative under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.
- Emphasizing your health issue (headache and migraine disorders, cancer prevention, fertility, etc.) under the global umbrella of women’s health issues
- Fitting your client priority into a potential defense supplemental spending bill to help fund military needs during Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East
- Pushing for more critical minerals and rare earth elements to boost the economy and national defense
- Protecting the US supply chain and blocking foreign interference
I have also found it effective to partner like-minded clients or organizations to work together on common policy and funding goals. Working within coalitions, trade associations, congressional caucuses and working groups, and geographic strategic alliances can help yield faster and incredibly beneficial outcomes.
I also tell my clients—in order to not be the organization that takes the easy route of following the herd—to seek out the white space in their areas of strength and professional capabilities. Taking the road less traveled for a congressional or federal agency ask can be rewarding.
A case in point is a university I represented that could have asked Congress for funding to support any of a dozen projects instead opted to bolster its prosthetics and orthotics training program (one of only a dozen or so in the country). The senator’s office was so happy not to see the “same old” asks from this higher education client that the project moved to the front of the line and was funded for more than a million dollars.
Lobbyists should consider educating their clients when they are first retained and throughout the process on what matters most—without falling into the trap of confusing activity with achievement. There are a lot of bells and whistles to distract one from the singular focus of success.
Distracting pitfalls take on many forms and can include congressional briefings where one is lucky to entice summer interns; buying cable TV ads to try to sell a complicated issue and encourage viewers to call their members of Congress; and excessive meetings with Capitol Hill offices without delivering a clear and timely ask.
To preserve our personal and firm reputations, it is far better to help clients get what they want in the shortest amount of time and not stretch out an engagement longer than our welcome. I have found that happy clients come back to you again and again when they know the consultants are focused, action-oriented, and share a pathway to achieve the desired outcome.
An advocate’s track record follows him or her like a basketball player’s jersey number and their corresponding statistics. While we can’t score 20 points every night, working smarter and offering consistency in one’s business conduct is essential in advocacy and communications.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Tax, and Bloomberg Government, or its owners.
Author Information
Mike Fulton is director of public affairs and advocacy at Asher Agency, where he leverages targeted advocacy, education and communications strategies to counsel and assist his clients. He worked for 10 years on Capitol Hill.
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