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# You don't win overnight
- URL: https://www.mastersinpublicaffairs.com/essays/you-dont-win-overnight/
- Published: 2026-09-19T13:10:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-19T13:10:44.000Z
- Author: Joseph Lavoie
- Tags: Politics is for Power, #essay, #ai-0, Eitan Hersh

Before we get into the story, let me just say, I actively avoid using this platform to share case studies, or to brag. However, the story I'm about to share relates to this week's episode, [Politics is for Power](https://www.mastersinpublicaffairs.com/episodes/politics-is-for-power/), and I promise to cut to the "so what" of it all.

Six months ago, our team at Crestview was hired to fight a proposed new tax. Six months after this tax was first proposed by a provincial government, the tax has been put on ice. How did we get there so quickly?

Well, first, we have an awesome client that carries significant respect as a go-to-stakeholder. They haven't earned this position overnight. They have spent *decades* earning that respect by thoughtfully engaging with government and the stakeholder universe it serves.

Second, our client was willing to leverage that respect to campaign. In my experience, many organizations are too scared to leverage their reputation to campaign. They worry that if they engage voters, they'll become a target, and decision-makers in government will retaliate. Our client saw it the other way: "Don't take our word for it, listen to your own constituents."

Third, our client agreed that the best path to change was to mobilize voters, to ensure real authentic voices shared their concerns with their local representatives. That's because they recognize, like we learn in this week's episode, that politics is for power.

The story I come back to in the book is the one of Howard Schultz, former Starbucks chairman and CEO, who grew Starbucks methodically, one store at a time, one community at a time between 1986-2000 (and then again from 2008-2017). When the financial stakes were high, he built, and he built for the long-term. And yet, when he was considering a presidential run, he took to the late night TV circuit, hoping an 18-month air game would get him the win. He was hoping to become an overnight success, and wasn't ready to put in the hard yards, over years, to earn that success.

Now, if we return to the case study I shared above. On paper, it looks like we won it in a six-month period. But let's circle back to the first of three factors that drove the win: The client has spent *decades* building support. This was far from an overnight success. By taking decades to build support, they earned the right to ask voters to engage. They earned the right to ask those same voters to lend them their voice to the cause. Yes, the campaign was fast, but the relationships it drew on were old.

Plus, our client recognized that politics is for power, that building power means collecting votes. They were prepared to put in the same hard yards elected officials do at every election to collect those votes, and mobilize them. It's pretty powerful when you can look a decision-maker in the eye, and tell them, "Don't take our word for it, listen to your own constituents."

[*This post is AI-0*](https://www.mastersinpublicaffairs.com/ai/)*.*