Anticipation Versus Reaction: The General Counsels’ Role in Integrating Global Intelligence Into Corporate Decision Making
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2025年3月12日
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Corporations cannot afford to be caught off-guard. As a result, the role of general counsel (“GC”) has changed dramatically over time. Their mission is no longer just about ensuring regulatory compliance, but about interpreting the global environment to anticipate regulatory, reputational and operational risks before they materialize. In 2025, a GC’s ability to proactively connect the pressure arising from global processes with their local impact will be the key differentiator between companies that lead with action and those that follow by reacting too late.
Shape Strategy, Drive Success: The Modern General Counsel
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Today, major changes that impact businesses across all corporate functions emerge not only from national governments, but also from policymakers’ actions at international levels that materialize in local markets. Global processes—both those operating quietly behind the scenes and those publicly visible—shape the course of affairs. The most influential actors actively use international platforms to inspire favorable rules in other countries.
If decoding local politics is already a daunting and time-consuming task, addressing international processes is equally as challenging. This is one of the reasons why corporations tend to favor domestic over global strategies. However, international and local politics aren’t as distinct as that global deliberations ultimately have the primary goal and consequence to influence local markets1 —general counsels must own this space. The best way to stay ahead of the curve is to integrate global intelligence into corporate decision making. This action requires going beyond simply monitoring regulatory and other corporate-affecting trends—it is about transforming knowledge of global dynamics into strategic advantage for the company.
Global Pressures as an Accelerator of Regulatory Risk
Behind the constant and complex origination of new business rules and expectations, intense global pressures are ever present. These are not isolated legislations, but major trends reshaping the way businesses operate and their perception. Sustainability regulations, artificial intelligence (“AI”) governance frameworks, energy policies and product-specific regulations at international levels have very specific and traceable global origins to them.2 The vast majority of the standards, best practices and other policy levers of influence that are presents in domestic regulatory frameworks have been brewing for years in international platforms.
As such, C-suite leaders have an opportunity to debunk a common myth that has limited the effectiveness of corporate decision-making in this field: international platforms are commonly depicted as impenetrable and their processes unpredictable. However, there are effective ways to meaningfully engage in these processes to anticipate their direction of travel. The outcomes of these pressures have proven their ability to create expectations among investors, consumers and stakeholders, causing companies to face pressures even before formal regulations are in place. Grasping which global debates and conversations are shaping expectations for regulatory compliance in the short, medium and long term is essential for general counsels.
Strategic Anticipation: How GCs Can Turn Global Intelligence into Advantage
To avoid corporations falling into the common pitfalls of short-term firefighting linked to global processes, GCs must adopt a model that favors strategic anticipation over reactive responses.
Given their line of sight, general counsels can promote cross-functional thinking so that corporations can fully grasp the signals emerging in global bodies, networks of regulators, and influential groups. For example, many of today’s sustainability and supply chain regulations at national levels began as seemingly informal discussions in international forums where voluntary standards morphed into legal obligations.3 Companies that read these signals early not only avoided risks but were able to position themselves as leaders in compliance and governance.
Another recalibration point is seeing compliance as a distinct end in itself, separate from business strategy. In the new reality, general counsels must work seamlessly with public affairs, risk management and corporate planning to integrate regulatory and reputational readiness into a substantive corporate resilience model. Compliance is no longer enough; the ability to adapt to an environment where rules are constantly changing is the gold standard. Aligning a group’s legal strategy with a global view of concrete and traceable risks stemming from international processes is paramount to mitigating operational and reputational impacts.
Regulatory and reputational risk are more intertwined than ever. What starts as a regulatory debate in a global forum can turn into a public crisis if a company is caught by surprise with emerging expectations from various stakeholders. Leaders that understand these dynamics are already moving their legal function towards an integrated and cross-functional approach that empowers dialogue and joint actions bringing together business strategy, regulatory anticipation, risk management and external affairs.
Navigating 2025: The Convergence of Regulation and Reputational Threats
Several regulatory processes that have been under construction for years are reaching their maturity point in 2025, while others are emerging. Across geographies and sectors the pressure keeps on building. From accelerating sustainability and corporate governance regulations to artificial intelligence regulation, plastics regulations and financial transparency, global models are defining new rules of the game. Despite their sectoral differences, these processes have one element in common: they increasingly shift responsibility to companies. General counsels that can lead the company during these turbulent times adequately see international organizations as future regulators, reputational shapers and arbiters of the major markets where their companies operate. Upgrading the corporate understanding of international organizations as merely bureaucratic entities into convening platforms for market shapers is an essential next step to anchor engagement on the most important issues.
If 2024 was the year of politics, 2025 is the year of policy. This year is already seeing a confluence of regulatory processes and global debates that will set the agenda in the short, medium and long terms. In 2025, more than ever, the success of a general counsel will not only be measured by capacity to mitigate risks, but also by the ability to turn global pressures into a strategic and tangible advantage. In this new scenario, anticipation and global intelligence are no longer a luxury, but an imperative for business competitiveness.
For more details on our analysis of global policy developments visit our report Global Pressures, Local Impact: How 2025 Redefines Corporate Affairs Strategies.
1: For example, the Italian Medicines Agency has taken significant steps to increase transparency in pharmaceutical pricing, aligning itself with the principles of a 2019 WHO resolution. See Health Policy Watch, “Italy Publishes National Regulation Requiring Pharma Disclosure Of Public Support For R&D On New Drug” (July 2020)
2: A majority of the Top 10 G7 and European banking institutions reference OECD-driven responsible business conduct guidelines and sustainability criteria commitments in their reports, generating a reassessment in their portfolios and risk frameworks. See Société Generale, “Responsible Employer Report 2024” page 59
3: The EU Council adopted a regulation banning the marketing and export of products made with forced labor on the European market, based on ILO and OECD guidelines. See Council of the European Union, “Products made with forced labour: Council adopts ban” (November 2024)
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2025年3月12日
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