Twenty-Five Year Apprenticeship

Who was a key mentor and what did you learn from that person?

Tom Simons. He was a DAS in EUR and then Ambassador to Poland. He was working on Poland in the early years of the Polish transformation, and the core question was could something decent be built on the ruins of Communism? It wasn’t clear back then whether anything could; most were very pessimistic. It was not popular in early 1989 to suggest that democracy could replace communism in Poland, but I was making the case that it was at least possible, and Tom Simons backed me when others at State considered me “barking mad.” I learned from him that you have to let people put their necks out and make judgment calls. As I would later tell my people: “Intolerance of errors means intolerance of action.” We’ll all make mistakes.

It also helped that Tom Simons could write as well as George Kennan. Another key thing I learned from him was that he had a way of putting himself above politics. In Poland he demonstrated how an ambassador could stay above political winds of the day.

Any advice on political reporting?

The key is to make analytical points and craft daily events into a narrative that puts it in context for DC. Working with Simons in Poland, in particular, we did synthesis, not spot reporting or cables-as-memcoms of whatever a senior official said that day. There was too much going on for that sort of reporting to work.

Washington cannot really do its own thinking about what’s happening in the field. They often just don’t have the context. Those in the field have to do more than simply supply the raw information.

By providing the narrative for Washington, we made the Embassy more important. But there's a risk, too. There’s much greater exposure in saying ‘here’s what’s happening and what is likely to happen.’ So, you have to get it right—you need to consider and incorporate local politics, public opinion and context. You’re always dealing with probabilities when you’re forecasting what is going to happen, so it requires a higher level of reporting.

Did particular jobs force you to push your boundaries?

Working at the NSC meant working at a higher level of strategic thinking, especially when staffing there was so low. Also, when I took on Sanctions Coordinator, it required learning a whole new vocabulary and an entirely different set of people. Both types of assignments are valuable.

Do you have advice on speaking with the media?

Don’t be boring. Don’t sound like a Foreign Service weenie. Always tell the truth and nothing but the truth (but not necessarily the whole truth). You shouldn’t just regurgitate talking points. Boiling it down like you have to do on Twitter is actually a useful exercise. You have to understand the essence of what you’re saying.

How does one best deliver difficult demarches when there is much to criticize in the U.S. domestically?

First, it should not be about the U.S. lecturing. If you want to raise difficult issues, first acknowledge US shortcomings as well. We are all beholden to higher standards and we all fall short in various ways. So, own American imperfections up front; it’s disarming.

It’s different in every context but you need to say something that is true and that isn’t going to get you fired.

What are your thoughts on diversity?

I don’t want to be part of an organization that is just old white men. We know that there is and has been subtle bigotry in the State Department. We need to develop a culture that won’t accept that crap. Also, how you mentor people and help them out as individuals goes a long way. That’s why leadership matters—it sets the tone for an organization.