I Would Have Bought the Goat

A field guide for leaders who want to drive change across business and culture, drawn from the highest-stakes arena of influence in the world: Washington government advocacy.

What if the skills that move governments could transform your company, your team, and your career? I Would Have Bought the Goat pulls back the curtain on how power operates from Washington to global legislatures and corporate boardrooms, converting raw political lessons into practical strategies for executives, founders, and leaders.

The book opens with a simple but unsettling question: what if better laws made the goat unnecessary? From there, it sweeps readers into U.S. Senate hallways, international parliaments, and closed-door negotiations, pairing raw, real-world political drama with practical leadership takeaways.

Anne is a government affairs executive, the CEO of Ascend Consulting DC, a former presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice, and the founder of the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking, which represents more than thirty countries. She has spoken before Congress, the United Nations, and legislatures throughout the world. Drawing from those global stages, Anne shows why charity alone isn’t enough: while charity feels good, advocacy changes systems. This book provides leaders with the definitive blueprint to stop outsourcing change and start driving it.

Subscribe to Anne’s Substack, where she is exploring these topics right now: Keys to the Room.