My background is all things “regulatory.” I am a regulatory attorney, Head of Regulatory Affairs, former regulator, and former lawyer of regulators. I have spent A LOT of time working with (and unfortunately sometimes against) regulators. I have also spent a lot of time working with business leaders. The majority of whom, to put it bluntly, hate regulators. So, are regulators really the evil enemies that many businesses make them out to be?
I can honestly say that answer is YES. But at the same time, the answer is also, NO.
The truth is, regulators are before all else, human. They are people like you, like me, like the person who made you mad at Wal-Mart the other day because they cut you off and yelled at you, like the smartest and most reasonable colleague you have ever had. All of these types of people can be regulators.
So with that in mind, let’s dive more into what it means for a regulator to be a friend or a foe.
First, what does it look like to have a regulator that is a friend? Well, to put it plainly, regulators aren’t really meant to be your “friend.” They are meant to regulate you and scrutinize what you are doing. So the kind of “friendship” we are talking about here is different, and expectations need to be adjusted accordingly.
But there are a few qualities you can find in a great regulator to consider them a “friend.” A regulator is a “friend” when they are great at their job. When they are an expert in the area they regulate. When they love to “nerd out” about it. When you ask them a legitimate question and they can give you a knowledgeable, well-reasoned answer, or they promise to go find that answer and then do so. A regulator who is a “friend” is not on a power trip. Instead, they understand they have great power in their role, and they respect that power. Instead of using that power to bully, or to favor one industry over the other, they use that power to get to the bottom of an issue and help solve it in the fairest way possible. The majority of regulators I have met are “friends.”
Now let’s turn to what it looks like when a regulator is a “foe.” Regulators are foes when they have no clue about the area they regulate and they don’t even try to lean on others who do. A “foe” makes decisions based on their limited knowledge, no matter the collateral damage it causes. They have little or no legal basis for a decision they make and they don’t care. They know they have power and they throw it around haphazardly to impart their will on others or pursue an agenda. I have not met many of these regulators, but the few I have encountered made running a business a truly miserable and expensive experience, for no reason tied to fairness or the law.
But at the end of the day, though some regulators will act as your “friend” and some as a “foe,” they all regulate your business. And like every aspect of your business, you succeed when you recognize the realities of the world and react strategically to come out on top. So, instead of complaining about how regulators are your enemies, channel that energy instead towards getting your business the resources it needs to understand and comply with the regulatory environment in which you operate. Then, no matter if you run into a regulator who is a “friend” or “foe” you will be in a position to navigate every regulatory matter you encounter and come out of it far better off.
Katie Treadway is the Head of Regulatory Affairs at One Energy.
