What I do
Most mandates I take on involve more than one of the following at once. They're described separately here for clarity, but in practice the lines between them blur, and most projects involve several at the same time.
International relations and public affairs
Government engagement and policy strategy in markets where the political environment is part of the operating model. Cross-border market navigation - into the UK and EU, into the Gulf, between the two. Most often called for when a client needs to engage with a government or regulator on something material, or when a transaction or programme has implications that will be read politically before they're read commercially.
Strategic positioning
The articulation of who a client is, what they do, and why they should be welcomed - internally, to counterparties, and to the market. Communications strategy, media relations, announcements, brand positioning, integrated campaigns. Less about volume of coverage, more about whether the right counterparties understand and appreciate the position.
Stakeholder engagement
Identifying the institutions, regulators, investors, media and commercial counterparts who matter to a programme; mapping where each of them sits today; and designing engagement that builds standing over time rather than asking for things transactionally.
Partnerships and commercial
Identifying, structuring and announcing strategic partnerships and commercial transactions - alongside the bankers and lawyers running the deal, not in place of them. The contribution is judgement on which partners fit, how the relationship should be sequenced, and how the announcement should land.
Less about volume of coverage, more about whether the right counterparties understand and appreciate the position.
Governance
Owner-entity governance frameworks, operating-model design, professionalisation. Often needed inside sovereign-linked organisations going through structural change - building the institutional architecture that lets a young or fast-growing entity behave like one that has existed for longer.
Risk and issues
Crisis preparedness, narrative control, sensitive matters. Most of this work is confidential by its nature, and the measure of it is usually what doesn't happen rather than what does.