Berlin – ESI workshop with young think tankers on how to have impact

9 July 2024
Gerald at the Think Tank School
Gerald speaking to the Think Tank School. Photo: Think Tank Lab

Gerald Knaus held a workshop at this year’s “Think Tank School” hosted by the Think Tank Lab, a joint initiative of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). The Think Tank School is a training program for early career think tank employees to deepen their understanding of think tank work. In this context, Gerald spoke about effective policy advocacy, drawing on ESI’s success in implementing real world change.

Gerald warned participants against becoming overly focused on physical outputs, such as the number of reports published or events convened. Instead, he emphasized that most important results are the external impacts that a think tank’s proposals generate in general society – the ability to contribute to the solution of a real-world problem or to fundamentally alter a policy debate. He described the real world impact of ESI’s ideas, for example on visa-free travel in the Balkans or on migration with the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement.

In trying to maximize impact, Gerald noted that it is important to think about the target audience – leaders, decision-makers, their staff, and any others who can have substantial impact on a given topic. Gerald stressed that in writing for politicians or other leaders in society, overly academic or complex language should be avoided. Instead, writers should think about how they can use concrete and familiar images that will stick in readers’ heads.

At the same time, it should not be assumed that readers – whose background may be in politics or business – will have comprehensive knowledge on any given topic. Gerald stressed that one way to make a policy proposal memorable is to offer an idea which they may have not considered before, or from a new perspective. Gerald emphasized that thinking up such disruptive ideas is difficult – after all, if the solution was obvious, it would not be very disruptive. At the same time, it is these ideas which can make a difference, and change debates, leaving a real impact on society.