Regulatory Negotiation Strategy

Regulators don’t just assess compliance, they interpret behavior, structure, and credibility under pressure

We enable clients to manage political and regulatory risk not by avoiding it, but by negotiating with power across governments, regulators, and shifting policy agendas

Regulatory approvals are rarely denied on legal grounds, they’re lost on behavior, structure, and tone under pressure, We support every phase of the deal,before the table, at the table, and behind the scenes.

Strategic negotiation requires the application of thought to behavior, not just tactics to position

We help executives govern negotiation where value, risk, and behavior converge. We work inside your negotiation system coordinating strategy, authority, and execution

Architect the Structure

We map escalation paths, behavioral risks, and internal power dynamics before exposure hits.

Preparation

We translate your business objective into a Kennedy-style Negotiation Agenda—defining tradables, authority limits, and fallback logic.

Manage the Rhythm

We manage decision gates, stakeholder rhythm, and authority discipline under scrutiny.

Management

We govern alignment across internal teams—avoiding red/blue drift, last-minute improvisation, and fractured messaging.

Protect the Surplus

We stay close to protect surplus, credibility, and post-agreement alignment.

Engagement

We brief your executives and sponsors ahead of high-stakes engagements—shaping behavioral posture, escalation logic, and counterpart response strategy.

For over 40 years, Kennedys has advised CEOs, boards, and investors on nothing but negotiation, Our work has helped leaders negotiate billions of pounds through better decisions and stronger agreements.

We don’t just advise, we lead, structure, and embed negotiation capability from within.

“Negotiation is not an event—it is a strategic process that aligns internal objectives with external behaviors under conditions of risk.”
Gavin Kennedy

Select a view:

Across all engagement types, we work side-by-side with your executive sponsors and negotiation leads to govern the process from the inside:

Govern preparation
We apply Kennedy’s Strategic Negotiation Process Model to develop the right Negotiation Agenda, including issue mapping, tradable identification, escalation logic, and walk-away thresholds.

Align and manage internal systems
We structure and coordinate the full ecosystem—boards, legal, finance, external affairs—ensuring internal alignment before any external exposure. We help set decision rights, design escalation pathways, and manage workstreams across competing stakeholders.

Advise in high-stakes moments
We provide real-time behavioral and structural guidance before, during, and after key meetings: from tactical role assignment and script preparation to conditional proposal framing and counterpart behavior mapping.

We help you move from ambition to structure in four key ways:

Make sense of your current state
Diagnose structural, behavioral, and governance risk using Kennedy-calibrated diagnostics.

Co-develop your strategic plan
Define negotiation purpose, actors, tradables, and behavioral posture under conditionality logic.

Drive change across your system
Align stakeholders, restructure governance, redesign escalation, and build behavioral alignment before meetings ever begin.

Stay ahead of complexity
Apply Kennedy’s red/blue/purple behavior theory and force-field analysis to anticipate resistance and plan responses that move others—not provoke them.

We help you achieve disciplined, strategic progress under pressure:

A Kennedy-based Negotiation Agenda that structures issues, tradables, governance risk, and behavioral postures
A clear escalation and decision map to maintain internal discipline
Real-time behavioral calibration of counterpart actions, using Kennedy’s red/blue/purple framework
Advanced preparation tools including draft proposals, voice-role assignments, and conditional language scaffolds
Meeting strategies that integrate legal, political, and reputational perspectives—without sacrificing behavioral flexibility

Faster clarity
Reduce ambiguity and misalignment before external negotiation even begins.

Decision discipline
Prevent drift and politicization by clarifying governance thresholds and behavioral boundaries.

Greater influence
Shift the balance of power through structured preparation and behavioral precision.

Fewer surprises
Spot and address implementation and reputational risks early—before they surface in the room.

Sustained capability
Build repeatable, Kennedy-based negotiation maturity across your senior teams.

Boards
Seeking independent assessment of high-stakes negotiation risks, especially involving public scrutiny or joint control.

CEOs and General Counsel
Leading multi-party negotiations and requiring system-wide discipline—beyond legal advice.

Sovereign funds and family offices
Seeking to govern partner, government, or commercial relationships with influence and precision.

Executive teams
Operating in high-growth, regulatory, or partner-dependent markets, needing to structure and govern the negotiation process—not just the content.

Confidentiality Note:
All diagnostics, negotiation reviews, and engagement design are conducted under strict client confidentiality. We do not disclose client names, negotiation strategies, or behavioral assessments before, during, or after engagements.