Why Smart CEOs Value their Corporate Affairs – Before the Crisis

Written By: Kirsten Thorne, former Chief Strategist for Corporate Affairs, Chevron and Jimmy Leppert, Co-Founder of Empactful Advisors

Most CEOs will admit that their calendars are filled with competing priorities: earnings, operations, talent, innovation, strategy. Corporate reputation often makes the list only when something goes wrong. A crisis hits, and suddenly communications, government relations, or stakeholder engagement are top of mind.

But the smartest CEOs don’t wait for a crisis. They recognize ongoing management of social, political and reputational risks is key to avoiding the storm and creates an advantaged position when a crisis arrives. They know that corporate affairs, when integrated into enterprise strategy and operational planning, is about managing risks effectively. Damage control is too late - it’s about positioning the enterprise for resilience, growth, and trust long before headlines turn negative.

Here’s why a proactive approach to corporate affairs is a strategic advantage for today’s leadership teams:

Anticipation is More Valuable than Reaction

Once a crisis is public, your ability to control the narrative is limited. Regulators, employees, and customers are already forming judgments in real time. The question is no longer whether you’ll take a reputational hit; it’s how deep and how lasting it will be.

By contrast, when CEOs partner with corporate affairs as business as usual, they gain meaningful and actionable foresight that can aid strategies in the event of an incident. Corporate Affairs can help map and prioritize stakeholders, model scenarios, and assess vulnerabilities before they become front-page stories. That kind of preparation doesn’t just minimize risk; it positions leaders to act with speed and authority when challenges do emerge.

A Broader Lens on Risk and Opportunity

Executives are experts in their industries, but even the most seasoned leaders operate with blind spots. Corporate affairs advisors bring an external and heavily informed independent perspective. They’ve seen how other companies, sectors, and even governments have navigated similar challenges.

A strong corporate affairs partner looks beyond messaging. They examine regulatory shifts, geopolitical dynamics, and societal expectations. They help CEOs see connections across ESG, operations, legal, and public policy that may not surface on their own. That broader lens can reveal both risks to manage and opportunities to seize.

Creating Organizational Muscle Memory

Crises often expose an organization’s weakest links: slow decision-making, unclear chains of command, or conflicting messages. Corporate affairs can help leaders identify those vulnerabilities early and strengthen them before they’re tested under pressure.

Tabletop exercises, scenario planning, and stakeholder simulations create a kind of “muscle memory.” When real events unfold, leadership teams already know their roles, escalation paths, and communications playbook. The organization can move faster, more confidently, and with far greater coherence.

Protecting Leadership Bandwidth

A CEO’s attention is one of the company’s most precious resources. In a crisis, it can be completely consumed. That’s when having a trusted advisor already in place makes the difference.

A trusted corporate affairs leader can act as an extension of the CEO.  They filter noise, pressure-test decisions, and keep stakeholders aligned allowing CEOs to focus on steering the business, not just firefighting. And when that leader is already well integrated into business strategy and execution, their guidance is sharper and faster.

Building Trust Before You Need It

Trust is never built in the moment you need it most. Stakeholders are far more likely to give a company the benefit of the doubt if they’ve seen consistent transparency and accountability over time.

Corporate Affairs can help CEOs design proactive engagement strategies that strengthen relationships with employees, regulators, investors, and communities before a crisis occurs. Those relationships are the currency that buys you time and credibility when difficult decisions must be made under pressure.

From Insurance to Strategic Asset

It’s tempting to view corporate affairs advisors as an insurance policy – a resource you only tap when something goes wrong. But smart CEOs know that’s the least effective (and most expensive) way to use them.

The real value of corporate affairs comes when they are fully integrated into strategic planning and priority business execution. They help shape narratives that support growth, guide capital allocation with an eye toward societal expectations, and ensure that purpose and performance remain aligned. That is how CEOs turn corporate affairs from a cost center into a competitive advantage.

The CEO’s Call to Action

If you’re a CEO, don’t wait until the crisis finds you. Ask yourself:

• Do we have clarity on our top social, political, and reputational risks and a plan to manage them?

• Are our stakeholder relationships strong enough to carry us through a rough patch?

• Is our leadership team adequately incorporating these risks and insights into their decision making to ensure they are prepared to act decisively under pressure?

  
  

If the answer to any of these is “not yet,” then now is the time to strengthen the role of corporate affairs in your organization. Giving your functional experts a seat at the table is key. Because in today’s environment, crises aren’t a question of if; they’re a question of when. And the CEOs who emerge stronger aren’t the ones who scramble after the fact. They’re the ones who prepared before the headlines ever hit.