ARTICLE by
CAROL ODERO
the lead
How To Make Government An Ally Have you ever wondered about the bridge connecting tech companies with the government or asked yourself what, exactly, public policy is? Robert Condon is that bridge and that man. How did you end up with an impressive title like Senior Director, Head of Government Relations & Public Policy? Someone once said ‘the longer the title, the less important the job’. Hopefully, that is not true! Prior to joining VMware four and a half years ago, I was the managing director of a consultancy firm. I started out working in public policy and strategic communication consultancy, in London. In fact, the person who hired me into that world was Liz Truss (now former Prime Minister, UK) in 2007. I first worked in government with the European Commission in 2006 in Luxembourg and Brussels, then agency and then moved to in-house with VMware. I take it you didn’t train or go to school for this? That’s something I am often asked. You get into public policy by being interested in government policy, how society works and political economics. If you are not interested in current affairs, policy or reading the newspaper, it might not be the thing for you. I studied history and economics and I wanted to work in that intersection of business, law, politics and public opinion. What brings you to Kenya? We are opening an extended office over here. Kenya is a forward-thinking country that is interested in tech utilisation and we want to enhance our relationships in the country. What, exactly, do you do on a day-to8
day basis?
are quite optimistic.
I got this question a lot when I first arrived at VMware, I do any number of things. Government Relations’ main job is to protect the company and enhance the bottom line. We do this in several ways. We ensure VMware has a ‘license to operate’ when we go to a new country; good public policy allows us to do our jobs just the same way having great engineers works for our customers. We involve key government players who impact public policy. We ask, what is the right approach towards data, privacy, and security? What is our position on digital sovereignty – issues like that. We think about problems and try to solve them, using our partners to try and do this. In short, I am a corporate diplomat, working between VMware, governments, regulators and trade bodies around EMEA.
It sounds like you have some tech knowledge in your background. When you are meeting government officials who have no tech knowledge or context, how do you break down complex perspectives?
How distinct do you find the East African region? You cover three very diverse territories – Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and they couldn’t be more different. I find the professionalism and talent that I get to meet around EMEA is very international and impressive. Kenya seems to be far ahead of many African countries when it comes to embracing technology and digital services. Of course, there are cultural differences. I think everyone knows they need to use tech for their citizens’ benefit. The future is bright, not just for VMware but business in Africa to say the least. We
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I’ve noticed, and I think it is a truism, that businesspeople and government people speak different languages. They live in different worlds, and in a way, my team and I act as translators. We try to turn business speak, technology speak, and engineering speak into ordinary language, and convert government language into the language of the average citizen on the street because sometimes there’s talk at cross purposes. We’ve got to be able to explain complex things. That is part of the skills of the job. We try to do our best. I simply need to know. What is the best way to change someone’s opinion? You need to be honest, clear, and have an explanation. You’ve got to always be evidence-based. The best way of impacting public policy is to understand the person on the other side whom you are trying to engage with. What are they looking for? How do we meet in the middle? Compromise is important, I try and understand the other side, as this is the essence of modern socialdemocratic systems. Policymaking is usually not a zero-sum game. You then bring in evidence, good technology, and good engineering. We don’t make up
