Interviews > Harry Thomas
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Who was your best mentor or coach? What did they teach you?
Two of the most influential were Jeff Davidow and Kristie Kenney. They each had different leadership styles but were both excellent officers and good people. Jeff was the rare leader who achieved policy objectives and took good care of his team. He would swing by and ask you out to lunch but he would also hold you accountable for your work. He was just an excellent person who had no ego.
Kristie was a tough taskmaster. She was also a keen judge of talent and took care of her people. So, she was tough, but if you met her standards then she would always go out of her way to help you. She taught us to always be honest. It’s amazing how surprised most people will be if you are honest. Always be honest, in everything from policies to EERs.
One lesson I learned from Secretary Rice is the importance of having confidence in your people. She had so much confidence in us that she would leave us one on one in meetings with POTUS. I doubt any other Secretary has had the confidence to do that. Consequently, we would have run through a wall for her. From that experience I learned to give other people similar opportunities. You need to give people real opportunities without micromanagement.
How do we institutionalize mentorship?
Other organizations and government departments have done a much better job of this. For example, in the military, if you want to become a flag officer, then you must have a mentor. The Department needs a formal mentorship system. The challenge with a formal system is that the only way to sustain such a system is to reward people. We need some way, within the rules, to either compensate or reward mentors. We also need to be realistic about what our goals are for such a program and what can be achieved. Everybody is in favor of more mentorship but what exactly we expect to achieve hasn’t been articulated.
What did you do before each post (as an ambassador or otherwise) in order to prepare for the tour? For example, a Frank Wisner type letter that explains your goals and expectations.
Before Dhaka I actually reached out to Frank Wisner because he has contacts everywhere. Frank introduced me to people and spurred me to study what was going on in the country and become familiar with the issues most important to the United States, particularly related to trade and economics. Because of him, I met with the clothing exporters, Chevron and Citibank businessperson to talk about import/export and the AFL/CIO to discuss labor issues. Frank really helped lay the groundwork for me and introduced me to energy execs and other business leaders that helped prepare me to succeed. I am also a big believer in the importance of learning languages and the benefits of communication. I already had Hindi so I took a conversion course for Bangla, which was a great benefit.
Before I went to the Philippines, I spoke to former Deputy Secretary Rich Armitage and asked his advice. He said—“lead.” Lead by example. The most important thing is to be a leader of people. You aren’t going to be the expert on every issue. You can’t be indecisive and no matter what is going on you must show people that you care about them
Before I went out to all three posts I developed a 90-day plan. I would have post involved in the development and ensure we set up a strategic plan for whom I should meet, what I should say, what restaurants I should go to on arrival, etc. I even wanted to get information on such details as what do I wear stepping off the plane? What do I say stepping off the plane? It was comprehensive and I always made sure to stick to the plan and the plan helped me be more effective from the day I arrived.
What did you learn working in the Executive Secretary (7th floor)? What is the best reason to work there?
The benefit of working on the 7th floor is that you learn to manage crises, operate quickly, and see how policy is made. You learn how to draft quickly and draft well. Communication, whether oral or written, is paramount.
What did you do during your first ambassadorship that helped you in your subsequent positions? Any mistakes or lessons learned?
I once received an important piece of advice on crisis management from Ambassador Bill Swing. He told me that, when you are in the middle of a crisis, “feed the beast” by keeping Washington informed or they will seek to manage you. That was some useful guidance. During my time in Bangladesh we had a bomb threat. The Emergency Action Committee unanimously recommended we shut down the embassy. Ultimately, my decision was not to shut down. Of course, it was a false threat and we couldn’t be certain at the time but it turned out the response was correct. This experience helped me prepare to lead in a crisis. It reinforced that we must always be prepared. After that, whenever I arrived at post I would ask for the updated security plans within the first ten days.
This wasn’t an experience as an ambassador, but I had a spectacular failure when I was Director General and lost my temper. Don’t ever lose your temper—I learned from that mistake how important self-control is at all times.
Could you offer some advice for how to most effectively argue the fact that greater diversity inclusion in the Foreign Service is a strength and advances our foreign policy goals?
There is a lot of focus about including diversity and inclusion in the performance and evaluation precepts in some manner, but I am not committed to that approach. I believe the challenge has been and continues to be in recruitment, retention, and promotion. We have some important issues to address in these areas. For example, we have the fellowship programs (Rangel and Pickering) which are an important channel for recruitment. However, fellows don’t have to take the Foreign Service entry test which creates the perception of inequality. We are attempting to address one inequality by creating another perceived inequality. The fellowships are important but we should treat them more as a ROTC style program.
We also need to do a better job of counseling junior officers about how the Foreign Service really works. For example, we do a decent job of mentoring junior officers about EERs but we have a very competitive system for promotion and job selection. Junior officers are not properly prepared for those challenges.
There should also be more tension between human resources and the bureaus on job selection. If bureaus are going to make claims about who they want to hire then there should be more accountability for that. There needs to be greater transparency.
Finally, there are some societal problems that I just don’t have answers for. Greater flexibility for leave without pay might be a solution to some of these issues but what other organization is going to allow somebody to step away for five to ten years and slide right back into their previous position? So, I think we need to continue to look for creative ways to offer career development and flexibility.
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