Interviews > Herro Mustafa
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You were born in Iraq, spent two years in a refugee camp, came to the United States with your family as an asylee, and grew up in North Dakota. How does this experience flavor your approach to leadership and management today?
It was a tough journey. My parents, who had been professionals, had to start from scratch and each worked multiple jobs. They taught me to study hard and take advantage of the opportunities in America. My background definitely shaped who I am and my approach to leadership and management.
I actually carry a notecard with me where I have written lessons learned on leadership and management:
Never let anyone tell you can’t do something. Set your goals high and then aim ever higher. When I was in A100 training, a senior officer told me I’d never work in the Middle East given my background. It crushed me at the time, but here I am. After that day, I learned that we often come across negative attitudes and it is better to live in the impossible to make it possible.
Become the expert. There is no substitute for being good at what you do. In any position, focus on the details, it's always the details that win our battles in negotiations. If you become the expert, your bosses will see that. During my first assignment in Greece, I was the Human Rights Officer so I was responsible for the Human Rights Report as well as the other Congressional reports—a thankless job nobody else wanted to do. I owned those reports. I also owned my assignment as Post Language Officer. My bosses at the time, Ambassador Nick Burns and then Ambassador Tom Miller, took note.
Raise your hand. We perform best a little outside our comfort zone. Whether it is a higher-level assignment, speaking opportunity or even if Washington wants something, raise your hand.
Learn skills. They make you marketable and they’re always something you can take with you to the next assignment.
Be a good manager of your time, resources, and people at every level. This means taking the opportunity to develop your management skills even before entering into a leadership role. You’ll figure out what you’re good at and what you need to develop and when you do enter into an official management position, it won’t be your first time.
Focus on EQ not IQ. State has a lot of smart people, but emotional intelligence is something I wish we spent more time on. In the Foreign Service, we all learn from and appreciate working for someone with EQ. It's the strongest driver of leadership in my opinion.
Don’t be afraid to speak up. I served in Mosul as an untenured junior officer and my “counterpart” was a four star general. I was clearly junior but what I had to say was still important to the mission. Speaking up pays off, even when you’re the most junior person in the room, which I often was.
Embrace diversity. Diversity gives us a competitive advantage as an organization and as policy-makers. Diversity isn’t always visible—it can also mean diverse views. Encourage the people around you to express their views, even when they are different than yours.
Failure is part of the process. You’ll try something and it may not go your way, but you just have to dust yourself off and try again. It’s a learning process and as long as you keep raising your hand, things will eventually work out.
Seek a mentor and mentor others. Create your own “board of advisors” that you can go to when you have issues to discuss. They don’t have to be your seniors—your peers can be important. At the same time, you always have to remember to pull others up behind you and pay things forward.
Who has been your best mentor? What have you learned from them?
One of my best mentors was Ambassador Nick Burns, he was a very active coach. First, he taught me that Congress is our friend. Nick always had good relationships with members of Congress and invested a lot of time in Congressional delegations. They remembered how he treated them, and it paid off. The second thing is, don’t be afraid of the press. It’s important to learn how to engage with them. Another point is mentorship. Even on days with back-to-back meetings, Nick always made time to fit people in. Finally, he always encouraged stretching into positions and took an interest in helping others succeed in their careers.
How can the State Department institutionalize mentorship?
I don’t think you can force it. When I first entered, I was assigned a random mentor and it was too forced. Top leadership has to continue to set the tone by reiterating that mentorship is important. It’s a domino effect: you practice what you learn from someone and someone practices what they learn from you.
One thing I learned from [current Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan] Don Lu when he was DCM in India was to conduct professional development sessions. I do this with all members of my teams now—it’s a great way to ask and understand how your team wants to grow professionally and personally. We should give examples of how to have effective and regularly scheduled coaching sessions.
With COVID, I’ve seen more Ambassadors and senior officials take the time to conduct online mentoring sessions and zoom gathering and I hope this stays. Another thing is that FSI offers fantastic coaching programs, but they are only open to Ambassadors and DCMs, so finding a way to expand it to other FSOs would make a real impact.
How has being a woman and/or a person of Iraqi origin been an asset in your diplomatic work? What are some of the related challenges you have had to navigate?
I have almost always been a minority in some way. Growing up in North Dakota, I was a minority race and a minority religion. Working in Iraq, I was female and Kurdish. In India, even as a minister counselor I was considered and treated as “young” by my local counterparts. Even as an ambassador, I worked in a country with politics dominated by male oligarchs. I am used to it now.
I have learned that to overcome the challenge you always have to be good at what you do. To do that, I discovered I could turn my minority background into an asset. For example, being a woman in Iraq allowed me to have conversations with local women that others could not. I could also hold useful conversations in Arabic, Kurdish, and English. In Sofia, I am still considered “young” for an Ambassador. So I embraced that image and tried to do more to reach out to the youth, for example, creating a public diplomacy music video.
While it can be advantageous to use your background as a source of strength, it is also important not to let yourself be pigeonholed. You do not have to be the minority that takes on the minority issues. It's ok to push back back on that. It can sometimes teach your boss a lesson in a nice, professional way.
What have you learned from your experiences at the NSC, White House and State Department? What are the biggest differences between your work in DC and abroad?
Each administration does things differently but the first six months is always a power play where the system is working itself out. Don’t try to be a part of that crowd and don’t focus on those dynamics. Instead, be good at what you do, give objective advice on policy, be a problem solver and be known as the person who can get things done. Do a good job and people will notice.
One thing I’m actually thinking about making number eleven on my leadership notecard is “build allies along the way.” When you have an idea, try to present the argument in different ways that will bring different folks on board. It will take patience, and will result in a longer policy-making process, but will be more effective in achieving your goals.
The greatest difference between being in DC and being abroad is that overseas there is less of what I call “bureaucratic noise.” It is easier to get things done abroad because in DC you are inundated with bureaucracy. You can come up with really creative ideas abroad and see them through. At the same time, when you are at post it can be difficult to see that you may not be number one on Washington’s priority list. In DC you get to see the broader perspective.
How did your experience as DCM prepare you for serving as chargé, and what did you learn in Lisbon that has served you well as ambassador?
As a DCM it is really, really important to be a good manager. In Lisbon I focused on management and the two political ambassadors I served focused on policy. I have worked for five political ambassadors throughout my career and, while I have found that they are more likely to be risk takers, that is an important quality in an ambassador. They pushed the limits by promoting new policies and pushing the agenda in Washington. It’s worth taking risks, especially when transitioning from chargé to ambassador. If you look at people like Toria Nuland, Secretary Blinken’s pick for Undersecretary for Political Affairs, you’ll see her constructive risk-taking approach.
Another angle to consider is public relations and just what an impact it has. The more people that see us in a likeable light, the more likely they are to listen to our messages, especially when those messages get more difficult down the road. I also found that it is useful to volunteer your post for things—DC really likes that. For example, volunteering to host regional embassies for programs. Learn to think from a regional, not just national, perspective.
Has balancing a family life with your work given you any insights or changed your outlook?
It is important to acknowledge that it is ok to lean back in order to eventually lean in stronger. I’ve spent my entire career in high intensity jobs in the Middle East and Asia, but then my husband and I wanted to start a family. I knew I wanted a DCM job after India, but I also realized I wanted a good place for a family and I ended up finding both in Portugal. People told me I’d never get promoted because that wasn’t where you went if you wanted to rise up. But, I chose it, stuck to my lessons and was offered an ambassadorship after. You can still advance if you think about jobs a little differently. For me now, the assignment has to work for the family, so it’s not just about seeking the job with the most important policy implications. It’s also about making it work for the family and drawing Washington’s attention to you.
When it comes to my family, I can only balance family with work because of my support base. For example, we have a nanny who came with us from Portugal. Having that support is imperative. I could not do this job without support. If you had asked me 20 years ago, I would have given you a very different opinion on the best path to the top. Today, as a senior officer with two children, I am far more understanding than I was as an entry-level officer. I tell newcomers to this lifestyle it is important that they are happy both professionally and personally because a happy family means a better officer. Even if someone doesn’t have a family, it is important to understand their personal situation, respect it, and give them space.
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