Policy Risk Is Business Risk: Why Public Policy Professionals Must Speak the Language of Business

A few years ago, I was in a review meeting where a senior business leader brushed off a proposed regulatory change with a confident wave of the hand. “We’ll deal with it when it happens,” he said. Two quarters later, that very notification reshaped the operating environment, forcing a complete rethink of how the company engaged with partners, consumers, and even its product design choices. It was a stark reminder: policy is not a backdrop to business; it is a determinant of business itself.

Over time, I’ve realized that policy risk is business risk. The two are not parallel tracks; they’re intertwined. Yet, many leaders still treat public policy as a peripheral or “good-to-have” function, something that comes into play once the real business decisions are made. In reality, policy is an early-warning system. It’s the radar that helps companies anticipate, adapt, and align before the storm hits.

In the policy world, we often speak about regulatory foresight - the ability to scan emerging signals across ministries, committees, and draft frameworks before they crystallize. This is not about lobbying or firefighting; it’s about strategic intelligence. The best policy teams operate almost like internal think tanks, mapping the intersection of politics, regulation, and markets to inform business strategy long before others even notice a shift.

I once worked on a project where a single regulatory tweak in how digital content was classified set off a cascade of business implications. What appeared to be a routine policy update soon altered the way platforms had to review, rate, and even distribute content. It wasn’t just about compliance, it reshaped monetization models, user engagement, and the very definition of what constituted “appropriate” or “responsible” content. India’s evolving digital landscape has seen similar moments: new intermediary guidelines, data protection provisions, and evolving content moderation frameworks, all well-intentioned in design, but often triggering ripple effects across creators, advertisers, and platforms. A small change in how content is categorized or reported can influence everything from revenue flows to recommendation algorithms. Those experiences made one thing clear - the most effective policy professionals are those who can think like business strategists. They don’t just read a notification; they interpret its operational meaning. They understand that a few words in a draft guideline can transform how millions of users experience digital content, and how businesses sustain themselves around it.

A policy professional who understands the business model, the P&L, and the market dynamics adds ten times more value than someone who only tracks notifications. Because in policy work, numbers tell stories and if you can’t connect those stories to business outcomes, your influence will always stay limited.

There’s also a mindset shift required. Public policy is not a power center; it’s a support function in service of business outcomes. Our job is not to outshine the commercial or product teams, it’s to make them smarter, safer, and more resilient to change. The best policy professionals I’ve seen are those who can walk into a business review and discuss unit economics and customer experience, and in the next meeting, decode a clause in a consultation paper that could redefine those very metrics.

One of my sharpest learnings came during a policy review some years ago. A recommendation we were evaluating looked perfect on paper backed by data, sound reasoning, and credible citations, yet it missed one critical dimension: the business impact. When I asked how it would influence revenues, customers, or operational priorities, the room went quiet. That moment reinforced a lasting belief for me: policy advice that isn’t grounded in commercial understanding remains incomplete.

The truth is most businesses underestimate policy until it hurts them. And most policy professionals underestimate business until they’re left out of the room where decisions are made. Both need to change.

Policy risk is business risk. They move together, and the organizations that understand this build stronger bridges between their regulatory, commercial, and strategy teams.

For me, the best policy conversations are not about compliance - they’re about competitiveness. Because at the end of the day, public policy isn’t just about shaping the external environment, it’s about shaping how intelligently a business navigates within it.

(The opinions expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer or any affiliated organization.)

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