Twenty-Five Year Apprenticeship

Who was your best coach or mentor and what did they teach you?

I would like to highlight five mentors and the lessons they taught me:

Hodding Carter, then the Spokesperson, once asked me to draft remarks for the Secretary, and I did so, assuming he would edit and improve them because his predecessor had rewritten everything I had submitted. Instead, he took the draft, signed it and put it in his outbox to be sent to the Secretary. I was mortified. I said to myself, “I can’t send this to the Secretary!” So I explained my error, reworked the text, and submitted something more suitable. Lesson learned: Do your best the first time, no matter what!

Reggie Bartholomew, who was not exactly a mentor, but who had a well-deserved reputation for his very short temper. He yelled and enjoyed watching people squirm while he yelled at them. I wasn’t intimidated and didn’t cower, so I was often asked to deal with him. I didn’t necessarily like it, but I didn’t back down—and I think he respected me more because of that. This allowed me to get involved in lots more policy discussions since I could effectively deal with him.

Tom Pickering, whom I worked for when he was Ambassador in Moscow. He respected and empowered his Country Team, and did not micromanage them. But he held a firm line and asserted his authority when necessary. Once, someone went around him to Washington and he got wind of it. At the next Country Team meeting, he got out his letter of instruction from the President and read it aloud, while the officer who’d tried to go around him suffered in silence. Message received, by all. He was in charge.

Jim Collins, who was Ambassador in Moscow when I was DCM. My job was to run the railroad on time, manage the vast mission. I was previously the Political Counselor, so Jim and I knew I could do that job, but he encouraged me to step away from it. Lesson learned: Do your job, delegate and don’t do someone else’s job for them. Of course, as a supervisor, you’re still responsible for them doing their jobs well!

Beth Jones, who never hesitated to call people out when she saw improper behavior, regardless of the consequences. She taught me to always do the right thing.

What lessons did you learn from your time at the NSC about interagency policy coordination?

First of all, you’re not entirely in control of the process, or the product, even if State is the clear lead on the issue and you have a direct line to the Assistant Secretary or other senior officials. State is often the best informed, because we know the leaders, culture, history, language, etc. To be an effective policy advocate in an interagency context, you need to provide the full case, not just the standard talking points.

To be successful coordinating policy, get all the views out on the table in order to get the policy proposals considered. Then work through them to define the policy, build consensus, and get White House approval. Then you need to move on, quickly, pivoting to implementation. The agencies and departments are implementing agents so let them do what they do best, which is not to deliberate the policy, but to implement it.

Should FSOs be generalists or specialists?

I think the answer is, both. If you go too far in one direction, you get lost. You need depth and feel in one or two specific areas, but also a broad base of experience to draw upon. And keep in mind that service in one region can have lessons for another region. My time in Africa helped to inform and shape my assignments in the former Soviet Union, for example. Try to get as close as you can to become master of all trades, not just a jack of all trades. Also, professional experience in different sections of an Embassy (Consular, Public Affairs, etc) will help you to be a more effective Chief of Mission and a more effective leader.

How can one be a “policy entrepreneur” without getting into trouble?

It depends on how much space you have in which to maneuver. If your boss is against your proposed course of action, you might need to bide your time, save your strength, build your expertise. You could also look for allies elsewhere in the mission, the interagency, etc. to help promote ideas. Or you could identify policy niches to explore that won’t rock the boat.

Also, this just shows why you should never be that boss. Don’t discourage initiative or fresh ideas. You’ve got to engage and encourage your staff to come up with ideas. I used to always wonder, “What if I’m wrong?” You need to listen, talk things through, consider other views, and then make sound decisions.

How can we be effective building alliances, whether internally or externally?

Identify the interests and goals of your potential allies or adversaries. Know where your interests overlap or coincide and find the common ground. Even with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, we had things in common, such as nuclear non-proliferation or space. To this day, despite our difficult relations with Russia, we rely on each other to maintain the international space station. There are limits, of course, but exploring the possible can also give you insight into your adversary’s strengths and weaknesses. There isn’t a country in the world where we don’t have at least a few overlapping interests.

How can we be effective advocates for U.S. business?

First, we should understand that we all have a role to play in commercial diplomacy. The best FSI course I ever took included a four-week immersion in the fundamentals of economics. It helped me immensely throughout my career keep up with economic, trade and commercial policy conversations.

Every part of the Embassy has something useful to contribute to commercial diplomacy, and to successful advocacy. Everyone has some knowledge, connection, understanding, relationship, awareness of the risks and opportunities that affect U.S. companies seeking to do business in a foreign country. For example, the Embassy doctor may help analyze and understand the local medical or pharmaceutical industry.

How did you coach or mentor others? What was your approach?

You need to let people do their job, but make sure that they do their job. Identify what motivates each employee, looking for what they can do, and what they want to do. You need to monitor the “supercharged” overachiever as much as the “stubborn horse” who doesn’t want to move. Identify what motivates each person, and seek to match that with the mission. But don’t do their job for them! Sometimes, you have to butt heads and have that tough conversation to tell someone they are not performing.

In addition to not doing your subordinates' jobs for them, you should also avoid sidelining them in the personnel structure. It's normally fine to go directly to the responsible person (American or LES) in any Mission for information, a quick word of encouragement, or to request an action that is clearly in their scope of duties. But what you should not do is interfere in the chain of command. Discipline, directions on how to do their job, special assignments -- all that has to be worked in the normal channels. And this is not just for COMs, DCMs.and chiefs of large sections It applies to anyone who supervises LES who themselves are supervisors.

How were you able to be so effective during multiple assignments as a short-term Charge d’affaires?

I was Charge six times after I retired from active service and I learned that when you’re Chief of Mission, you don’t have to know everything about a country or an Embassy. Essentially, you need to do two things: (1) Establish relationships with key officials in the host government right away, so you can go to them when you need to get things done; and (2) Lead the Country Team. Make the tough decisions, assert institutional authority, be the boss.

Oh, and one “pro tip”: Never overrule the housing board. Otherwise, you are the housing board.