Consent Is the Real Currency of Public Affairs

Matthew Klink

In public affairs, the smartest argument doesn't always win. The best data doesn’t always carry the day. The most morally certain side doesn’t automatically prevail.

The side that wins is usually the one that earns enough permission from enough people to move action forward. That permission is called consent, and it’s the real currency of public affairs.

Too many executives view public affairs as a technical task. They think that if their policy is strong, their facts are correct, and their lawyers are ready, the outcome will naturally follow. That’s a dangerous misconception. In the real world, success depends on others. Elected officials, regulators, reporters, employees, community leaders, and voters decide whether your project, policy, or company gains their trust or dismisses it outright.

Consent is not unanimous enthusiasm. It is not a standing ovation. In most public affairs conflicts, consent is more practical. It requires enough support, tolerance, and neutrality to prevent organized opposition from stopping you. It’s the difference between a state legislator feeling safe enough to vote yes or feeling exposed enough to duck. It’s the difference between a reporter writing a story about economic value or one about community backlash. It’s the difference between your employees becoming supporters or becoming silent spectators.

Edward Bernays called it the “engineering of consent,” and the phrase still unsettles people who prefer to think that public opinion exists in some pure, untouched state. It does not. Public opinion is shaped every day by incentives, narratives, imagery, repetition, emotion, and trust. The only real question is whether you’re helping to shape it or if your opponents are doing it for you. In public affairs, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.

That’s why consent matters so much. It is not just a soft, feel-good addition to strategy; it is strategy itself. A company can have a legally strong position and still be overshadowed. A trade association can be economically important and still lose the public argument. A ballot measure can have elite support and still fail due to distrust, confusion, or poor framing. Consent is what transforms raw ability into effective power.

For public affairs professionals, there are three main areas where they must earn, maintain, and continually rebuild trust: government, media, and employees. These are the big three. Neglecting any of them can cause the entire structure to wobble.

Government consent is essential because the government can obstruct you. A permit might be indefinitely delayed, a regulation could be enforced too strictly, or a hearing could be misused. A politician with a grievance can turn your business into a target to please activists or donors. Effective public affairs efforts lower the political risk for officials to support you and raise it if they oppose you. It gives decision-makers cover, validation, and a reason to believe that backing your position won’t leave them isolated in facing criticism.

Media consent is crucial because first impressions often last. If the initial portrayal of your company makes you seem greedy, tone-deaf, or dangerous, you’re already stuck in quicksand. In a fast-moving digital world, there’s no time to wait three days for the perfect response. Delay isn’t just unwise; it’s surrender. Today’s media landscape favors speed, emotion, and clarity. If you don’t shape your narrative early, someone else will define you crudely.

Employee consent is often the most undervalued. Employees are more than just staff; they are witnesses, neighbors, and voters. They are the people strangers ask, “What’s really going on over there?” When employees understand the mission, believe the company is worth defending, and feel respected enough to speak credibly, they become your strongest supporters. When they are disengaged, confused, or embarrassed, your opposition gains strength without even trying.

So, how is consent obtained?

First, it is achieved through clear storytelling. People don’t process complexity the same way public affairs professionals do. They do not live inside committee analyses, regulatory drafts, and stakeholder maps. They need a story that explains what is happening, why it matters, who is affected, and what is at stake. If your side cannot explain the issue simply and with emotional impact, then your side is not prepared. Policy details matter, but a good story moves people.

Second, consent is built through credible messengers. The CEO isn’t always the best messenger. Neither is the lobbyist, the trade group president, or the consultant. Sometimes, the right messenger is the employee who explains what a bad regulation means for her family. Sometimes, it’s the small business owner who discusses what a tax hike means for payroll. Sometimes, it’s the neighbor, the pastor, the parent, or the local official willing to say, “I know these people, and the caricature being pushed here is false.” Trust depends on the messenger just as much as on the message.

Third, consent is obtained through emotional relevance. People rarely act because your argument is technically airtight. They act because it touches on fairness, fear, pride, hope, security, or anger. Emotion is not the enemy of sound public affairs; it’s the delivery system. The goal isn’t hysteria, but resonance. Public affairs professionals who speak only in abstractions are bringing spreadsheets to a street fight.

Consent is not only obtained; it must also be maintained.

That means relationships must be established before a crisis occurs. Goodwill needs to be accumulated before the hearing. Coalitions should be developed before running the attack ad. Too many companies only show up in the community when they need something. That is not relationship building; it’s panic dressed in a blazer.

The best public affairs professionals understand a simple truth: dig the well before you’re thirsty. Arrive early. Build alliances before you need them. Invest in employees before they are tested. Meet reporters before they write about you under pressure. Educate third-party validators before they are asked to take a position. Consent retained is often just trust stored in advance.

Then comes the hard part: consent can be revoked.

It is lost when arrogance replaces empathy. It is lost when leaders assume the facts speak for themselves. They do not. It is lost when companies communicate as technicians rather than as advocates. It is lost when organizations cut corners on research and convince themselves they already understand what the public thinks. It is lost when they respond too slowly, fight the wrong frame, or let opponents monopolize emotion. It is lost when employees are treated as afterthoughts and stakeholders are contacted only after the house is already on fire.

It is also lost when leaders confuse silence with discipline. In today’s environment, silence is often seen as guilt, weakness, or indifference. A vacuum never remains empty; it gets filled, and rarely in your favor.

For public affairs professionals, the lesson is clear. Consent isn’t something you automatically earn by being right. It’s something gained through disciplined strategy, compelling storytelling, credible validators, and constant attention to how decisions truly happen. It must be built. It must be protected. And when it starts to slip, it must be fought for.

That may sound harsh. Public affairs is not amateur hour. It is not group therapy. It is not an academic seminar where the best footnote wins. It is an arena where interests clash, narratives compete, and outcomes go to the side that most effectively creates the conditions for action.

Public affairs professionals who grasp consent understand the true nature of the game.

Everyone else is just reacting to it.

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Matthew Klink is the founder and president of Klink Campaigns, Inc. a Los Angeles-based public affairs and political consulting firm. He is a past president of the International Association of Political Consultants.