Tradecraft > Collected Wisdom
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Rules for Diplomacy
Keep the interests of the United States at the top of everything you do.
You have a boss. Remember who it is—never forget who you answer to.
Know your organization. Who does what? How do things get done?
Enthusiasm is everything. Hate your job? Do it like you love it. Never think you’re just passing time.
Inspire confidence. Look the part, know your brief. Take notes—follow up.
Be better prepared than your colleagues, counterparts, and adversaries.
Be a player. Do not wait to be asked. Be proactive.
No one cares more about you than you.
Do not force the shot. Contribute when you have something but not just to be heard.
Do not play bureaucratic games. Do not knock others to get ahead. Keep your elbows tucked in and don’t make harsh remarks.
Bad things happen. Live with it or change it.
Don’t be a whiner. Have solutions to offer. Don’t just point out problems.
Enjoy the ride. Don’t hold out for that perfect job or assignment. It won’t work out.
Give someone else a chance. Someone took a chance on you.
Remember, public service is rewarding,
Make your job rewarding by trying to learn something new every day.
Be nice and helpful to everyone.
A Strongly Worded Statement
Often in response to horrific atrocities, our only diplomatic recourse is to craft and release a “strongly worded statement” that can leave even the most upbeat dip feeling they could have done more.
A quick, clear statement can make a difference—see the power of statements regarding Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity or the tweets and statements in August and early September 2018 that helped stave off further violence in Idlib, Syria.
Please send us tips on how to make as many of our “strongly worded statements” matter. Not all will have a direct effect, but it is almost always worth doing. Hope we can find together some tips and suggestions for how to make the most of each opportunity to stand up publicly for what is right.
What it Takes to Succeed at State
Ingredients for Success at State: We asked some of the most respected ambassadors of recent years what they thought were the most important attributes that could contribute to a successful career at State. Here are a few pro tips:
Be curious—About other people, about the world, history, culture.
Listen—Really listen and, even when you disagree or don’t incorporate your interlocutors point, listening makes a difference.
Write Persuasively—Writing well can be learned, work at it. Write clearly, quickly, concisely (See Vershbow guide to State Dept Writing)
Be Patriotic—Every day, do you get up wondering how you can serve, how you can advance U.S. interests? Then this is the career for you!
Speak Clearly—A good “elevator brief” is essential. Practice telling people the most important thing first, making sure you can explain quickly why any particular issue matters.
Courage—Stand up for what you believe in, take (reasonable) risks. It is better to ask forgiveness than permission sometimes. Try, mess up, be confident that you will learn from your mistakes.
Humility—Essential for good diplomacy, for good leadership. Know you can always learn, can always be wrong.
Have Heart—Skills can be taught, desire not so much.
Flexibility—It is hard to move every few years and it takes constant work to get it right for you, your family and the department.
Try to Connect—The personal matters, work hard to reach out, to learn about the people you work with, your foreign counterparts. Think of everyone as a friend or a friend to be; how can you build something meaningful with everyone you meet?
Be a Great Teammate
As a leader and as a diplomat of any level or rank, we believe good colleagues and peers are another critical part of the diplomatic recipe for success. We have listed a few traits and vignettes of what our peers, colleagues and friends have done for us and what they have meant to us in our career, in our lives, and to our efforts to succeed as activist diplomats:
Read—The best colleague takes time to read anything sent to them and offers feedback, good and bad. (Note—this counts double during EER season.)
Listen—Complaints about boss/employee/computer system/administrative hurdles to transfer: We all experience difficult people and personalities and struggle with the constant moves and dislocations of State Department life. A good colleague listens even if/when the irritant is not nearly as severe as whatever they are experiencing.
Help Grow Ideas—Whether the person works on the same policy issue or not, a colleague who listens to policy proposals, ideas for new approaches or suggestions and helps make the idea work is essential particularly due to the clearance process and hierarchy that can sometimes discourage creativity and iterative thinking.
Share Praise/Take Responsibility—This is especially important as a team leader, but also as a team member to share praise and take responsibility if something goes wrong.
Share information, share contacts—Avoid stove-pipes whenever possible and create work environments conducive to sharing information/contacts.
Share burdens equally—Make sure both the fun and career enhancing assignments are shared equally as well as some of the more tedious and less.
Good Colleagues Do the Right Thing, Even When it is Hard—For example, Officer A learns of an initiative that s/he strongly believes needs to be addressed—whether a pro-active initiative or a current policy that does not serve U.S. interests best—but cannot break through the hierarchy and their concerns are not addressed. Officer A, blocked from taking the action they deem right, takes a risk and reaches out to Officer B outside their office—someone they know (but maybe not that well) who is able to consider and advance the issue. Officer B agrees with Officer A and takes the issue forward to resolve it or at least ensure the valid idea is heard. Both officers technically operated outside of SOP and took a risk, but together advanced what they knew was the right call. In doing so, they develop rapport and trust.
Words as the Primary Instrument
Your writing could be your first impression on a boss who could become your future mentor and champion. Make it a good one. Here are 6 ways how:
Know who you’re writing for and why—May sound obvious but it’s astounding how many State writers expect their bosses to bend to their style and not the other way around. People consume information differently – listen to her for signs of what they like, emphasize and gravitate toward. Channel to those preferences in your writing.
Keep it to one page—Once it goes over a page, it loses its power. And no tiny font or fudged margins.
Make your papers “nutrient rich”—Your papers should be bullion cubes of information packed tight with “nutrients” –hard facts that your ambassador or assistant secretary can use (statistics, budgets, poll numbers, economic numbers, time lines, meeting dates). This hard data gives your reader a lot of rich content.
Break up the page—Use bold settings, bullet points and underlining often. It guides the reader through the material to the key points. It also makes the page punchier and more interesting.
Cut, cut, cut – no, really—In Germany, the Swabian Hausfrau is world famous for her stinginess -- clutching her purse unwilling to give out one red cent unless it’s absolutely necessary. Be a “Swabian Hausfrau” with your words. Don’t give them out too easily. For example, instead of writing “since the establishment of NATO in 1949,“ you can write “since NATO’s 1949 establishment.“ Look – you saved three words! You will be surprised how much tighter your writing can be.
Make it relatable—Ask yourself, is it always necessary to write and talk like a technocrat? Government speak can come across as clinical and distant and, at its worst, arrogant and obfuscating. Keep it simple and relatable. For instance, the State Department funded uniforms for police patrol units in Ukraine, a great initiative that brought some morale to the officers. But instead of writing about “police patrol units,” write about “beat cops.”
As one top diplomat was fond of saying, where other departments have massive budgets, investigative powers, even arsenals, the State Department’s primary instrument is words. Make them count.
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Ten Principles for Successful Management and Leadership
Delegate, delegate, delegate—When we asked 25YA legends what made their best boss so great, invariably it was linked to how much the individual felt trusted through delegation and support.
Trust—See above. Give good guidance, offer opportunity, and then let your folks succeed (or make a mistake). Then do it again, regardless.
Coach—Tasking and teaching are different. Ask yourself if you are teaching as much as you are tasking. Tasking is easy, work hard to teach, all the time, every day.
Keep Up—Follow everything; only by knowing the contours of the issues can you support your team. See first point—ok to not to be expert, but be familiar.
Be Present—Door open, answer to “do you have a minute?” always “yes”. Make it easy, schedule time—meeting, coffee, lunch, counseling, etc—so you know folks and they know you are there for them. Foster diversity and inclusion.
Motivate—Self-motivated staff easy, but even for them, inspire them by example to do more, to set their sights higher. For less motivated, encourage, offer opportunity, and hold accountable. Make your team feel they have a stake in success.
Hold to Account—Ok to identify shortcomings (see coaching) and demand excellence. Take the time to document and make clear documentation is for improvement, not an EER tool.
Recognize—Say thanks, praise in public, in private, in email, via awards. Never a down side to taking a moment to say “good job!” Set up a weekly “award” formal/informal recognition. Make it fun!
Stand up for team—You are their advocate and defender. Help them get onwards, let them know you are always looking out for them.
Give folks credit—Every success has lots of owners. You are the boss so you get credit without having to say so. So pass it down, pass it on
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