SXD Leadership Communications Ltd
For corporate affairs and strategy leaders in complex political environments who are done with ad hoc approaches - and want a more deliberate way to work.
Make sense of your external landscape.
BUILD INFLUENCE. ACCESS. TRUST.
The external landscape shapes every major business decision.
Leaders know that external affairs determine their licence to operate, growth, and reputation.
But there’s rarely a shared map, an internal framework, or a unified set of relationship priorities.
Decisions are made without a clear view of external risks and opportunities.
Many rely on memory, informal networks and gut feel, with little space to step back and see the whole landscape.
Let’s connect your strategy with the bigger picture
Sheldon Daniel
External Affairs expertise with a commercial understanding, a social scientist multi-disciplinary perspective, and a strategic thinker.
Deep Business Experience
Senior roles at BP Global and BP Trinidad and Tobago, leading external affairs, government relations and stakeholder engagement at both country and group level.
Over 15 years as an independent adviser to more than 30 companies across energy, government, financial services and telecoms — navigating the region’s most complex political and commercial environments.
Multidisciplinary Perspective
Postgraduate degrees from Cambridge (MPhil in Sociology and Politics of Development) and UWI (MBA with Distinction, MSc Development Studies).
Published as a co-author on coaching and diversity in the FT Guide to Business Coaching (2020).
Accredited Executive Coach (EMCC) and Faculty member at Meyler Campbell.
What You Get: Clarity, Challenge, Confidence
I don’t tell you what you want to hear. I provide a calm, analytical view of what’s actually happening in your external landscape — the power dynamics, the unstated interests, the risks you’re not seeing.
My role is to sharpen your thinking, test your assumptions, and help you position with confidence.
“I help leaders be more deliberate about access, influence and trust.”
Real-world solutions: How this work changes outcomes
High-stakes government relations and negotiation strategy of a multinational energy company
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
The company shifted from reactive, issue‑by‑issue engagement to a more deliberate and consistent strategy for its external interactions.
Cut Through the Noise in Your External World
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Map the external landscape into your strategy in a form that your executives and board can actually use.
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Identify the relationships that matter most, assess their current state, and build a deliberate plan to strengthen trust, access and influence.
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Use research and external insights to understand how business plans will land with key stakeholders - and to test the policy, political and social assumptions underneath them.
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Shape messages for high-stakes moments and build leaders’ communication capability through practical preparation, coaching and training.