Interviews > Elisbeth Millard
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What leadership lessons have you learned from mentors or leaders who inspired you?
I had one non-career boss in particular who was an excellent mentor. Although not a career diplomat, he was confident in his role and was not at all threatened by other people. He could admit that he did not know everything. He used to ask, “How can I add value to what you’re doing? How can I help you?” He would give direction and identify a theme or a program, and then he would get out of the way. He wouldn’t suck the oxygen out of the room, by launching into a long briefing with a visitor, or dominating the conversation at the Country Team meeting. He would let others speak first, and then some time afterwards do an after-action review and provide guidance. Also, I learned that leaders don’t gossip! You have to be above it, and not tolerate it from your team.
You mentioned that this particular leader had a program or a theme for the Mission. How did that work?
It is helpful to have a plan that pulls people together around our goals and objectives. Something simple and succinct is often best. One Ambassador I worked for wanted to raise the profile of the bilateral relationship, so he started a matrix of senior USG officials to help us recruit people to visit. Others came up with slogans, like the “three R’s,” and everything we did had to fit within those parameters, everything had to contribute to those goals. That helped us all stay on the same page as a Mission.
Do you have any advice on how to run an effective meeting?
The Country Team meeting is so important. For that one, you do have to go around the room, because everyone should know what everyone else is doing. But I would usually have a First and Second Tour Officer attend as a note taker, and would insist that staff avoid using acronyms and cryptic shorthand phrases to describe their programs and activities. That helped everyone, actually, not just the note taker, because it provided context and clarity to the briefing.
In general, when you are presenting at a meeting or drafting briefing materials, you must think about your audience. What do they need to know now about this issue (or this trip)? The Ambassador or a visiting senior official does not need a data dump. They will need something tailored to their specific goals and desired outcomes for that engagement. And if you don’t know what those are, ask their staffers.
Do you have any advice on how to be an effective public speaker?
Again, I’m reminded of a political appointee Ambassador who was such a confident speaker. He was calm, poised, but not pretentious. He never stood behind a podium, and always had a hand-held mike so he could move out into the audience, make eye contact, and engage them. He used minimal notes, if any. The last thing you want to do is stand in front of a crowd and read from a sheaf of papers.
When writing speeches, drafters have to write as if the words will be spoken. Use short sentences and compressed paragraphs. Consider using memory joggers instead of the full text. Speechwriters for the Secretary and other senior officials spend hours and hours on multiple drafts. They would define the themes, audience, style, context, structure, etc. Speechwriting is a craft that does take time and hard work to hone. With few exceptions, you can’t just “wing it.”
I also noticed that, at events with multiple speakers, everyone often tends to say the same thing. So I learned to come at the issue from a different angle. No one is born knowing how to do be an effective public speaker. You just have to practice, practice, practice!
How can we develop an effective “elevator speech”?
I would advise you to know your brief, write succinctly, and practice your delivery. To focus your thoughts, it might help to write a one-page summary of your portfolio. When I had to learn a complicated issue quickly as Ambassador or DCM, I would sometimes ask for a one-pager, with background information, the policy objective, and our proposed way forward. That often helped to crystalize the issue.
You had two assignments on the NSC staff at the White House. Would you recommend an NSC tour to Foreign Service Officers?
Absolutely. Go for it! It’s an honor and a privilege to serve at the NSC. It will teach you how to share information and coordinate action across the interagency community, which is often easier at Post than in Washington. One of the “best practices” I adopted was to hold weekly AS-level meetings with colleagues from other departments and agencies. Our goal at the NSC was to achieve agreement on policy at the lowest possible bureaucratic level. At times, it was harder to persuade the working level officials to agree to some new initiative than the senior policy decision-makers. Sometimes, I had to get a mandate from the top and go from there. Other skills I learned at the NSC were to prioritize my time, read and clear paper quickly, play nice with others, and make changes when they mattered, not just changing “happy to glad.”
How did your experience as Deputy Executive Secretary make you a better manager and a more effective diplomat?
I learned to ask, Who is the audience for this paper, and what do they need? The Secretary doesn’t need the kitchen sink. I learned to select one or two issues for the Secretary to focus on, and I anticipated how the meeting would go, how it would play out, and to prepare for that. I also learned that you have to be a Jack of All Trades; you have to be prepared to do a little bit of everything to get the job done. I learned how to speak truth to power, to provide context, and see the big picture. Once, for example, the Secretary planned a major overseas trip soon after the New Year, which would have required the advance team to leave home on Christmas Day. The Secretary wasn’t aware of that, so I mentioned it, and he graciously agreed to delay his trip by a few days. And I listened and learned from senior principals. I observed how the President and the Secretary conducted meetings, how they made decisions, how they delivered remarks. They were confident, poised, respectful, and deferential to their counterparts. And they often worked without notes!
What lessons did you learn from your experience working with USAID?
I was always delighted to serve where USAID had a presence. I highly respected their technical expertise and professional networks, which often opened doors for Embassy colleagues. They have an impressive Foreign Service cadre whose work was critically important to the goals of the Mission. I found the partnership most effective when the Embassy did not treat USAID as a separate part of the U.S. government. It was best when the USAID office was co-located with the Embassy. At some posts it took considerable effort to align the USAID office with the Embassy.
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