SXD Leadership Communications (UK) Ltd
Making sense of your external landscape.
For leaders of strategy, corporate and external affairs and stakeholder engagement who are done with ad hoc approaches and want a more deliberate way to work.
The work to understand the external business landscape is critical.
Too often, the approach is improvised.
Businesses know this work shapes the licence to operate, growth and reputation.
But there’s rarely a shared map, framework or set of priorities.
Many rely on memory, informal networks and gut feel, with little space to step back and see the whole landscape.
Does this feel familiar?
Strategy is moving ahead, but the impact of the external landscape is not being worked through in a structured way.
Stakeholder issues are handled one issue at a time, without an overall map.
Important signals from key external players arrive late.
Key business relationships depend on personalities rather than a clear, structured approach.
Decisions are made without a clear view of external risks and opportunities.
You know this work matters, but there is no shared internal framework for it.
You are unaware of where your next crisis will likely come from.
Build a more deliberate external playbook
How I help
I work with strategy, corporate and external affairs leaders to help you see your external risks, relationships and opportunities more clearly - and act on them more deliberately.
01
Bring the external landscape into strategy
Map the external landscape into your strategy in a form that your executives and board can actually use.
02
Strengthen the relationships that matter most
Identify the relationships that matter most, assess their current state, and build a deliberate plan to strengthen trust, access and influence.
03
See how strategy lands beyond the business
Use research and external insight to understand how business plans will land with key stakeholders - and to test the policy, political and social assumptions underneath them.
04
Shape credible messages for moments that matter
Shape messages for high-stakes moments and build leaders’ communication capability through practical preparation, coaching and training.
Connecting strategy with the bigger picture
How SXD has helped in practice
Multinational energy producer
High-stakes government relations and negotiation strategy
Context
A multi-national energy producer in the Caribbean faced a critical commercial dispute that had a significant adverse impact on its operations.
Challenge
Engagement with government and regulators had become fragmented and confrontational, with different leaders pursuing conversations based on their own relationships and instincts.
Approach
SXD worked with senior leaders to map the political and stakeholder landscape around the dispute, clarifying decision‑makers, influencers, motivations and constraints. We built a small number of realistic scenarios for how the situation could evolve.
Result