VII. The Network
Each one we build makes the next one stronger.
The Conference.
At the heart of O’Sullivan & Partners is an annual event: the O’Sullivan’s Law Conference.
It is focused on uniting the right — but in practical ways. As much a trade show as a conference. It takes organising seriously.
Most conferences talk about “what we’d do if we won.” This one is about how we win — and how we then stick together and implement.
Over time, we spin off a Think Tank School: a semi-annual gathering where workers and leaders meet for two weeks of intensive work on how to make their think tanks better.
The conference is also our networking and recruiting tool for the next year’s client book.
The List.
We will map the conservative ecosystem, systematically.
We start from John’s contact book. Then, more broadly, we use modern LLM and database tools — Obsidian, graph databases — to surface connections that would not have been possible even two years ago.
Our clients buy the capacity to tap into this network. If you need “four panellists who have published on family policy in the last two years, within Europe, excluding the UK, no personal disagreements” — we can give you the answer in an afternoon, with full contacts.
Building ‘our people’.
We will recruit the young.
We take advantage of bright graduates who don’t quite know their path. We benefit them, and us, by training them up.
Most skills — podcasting, editing, writing, production, events — can be taught. What they rely on is intelligence and judgement. That is what we select for.
Over time, our development pipeline becomes a standing army, an affiliate group, a fraternity — whether they did six months or five years — who take the skills and philosophy into the wider conservative world.
Plugging in.
Multiple think tanks of differing scales under the same umbrella means network effects travel both up and down the chain.
Our affiliates can call on each other for expertise. People are shared across orgs.
Equally, everything they do funnels upwards. We take content from individual think tanks and re-package it on a master brand. This ‘super think tank’ does some thinking on its own and serves as an aggregator for good quality thought on the right.
Part of what clients buy is the capacity to plug into this system.
The Network is internal — we build synergies. The Network is external — we act as a co-ordinating force.