A World in Flux

You were in charge of 29 embassies and 23 consulates in 30 countries. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in managing so many different bureaus across so many different places, different cultures, different languages, different customs?

It's a great question. I think probably the biggest challenge was doing that in a time of dramatic change in the world where we're in this moment where the world is in flux and things are changing very rapidly. And I think this can be very unsettling for people. And so the real challenge was how do you manage those kinds of operations across literally a hemisphere? In a moment of dramatic change in policy and institutions around the world, that was the biggest thing.

And what were some of the innovative strategies that you came up with to tackle some of those challenges?

I don't know if my strategies were particularly innovative, but there were two things that I really tried to focus on. And I think the first was really acknowledging the fact that people felt that the world was changing very quickly. And how do we think about this and how do we deal with it? And my challenge to them was first to acknowledge the feeling of being unsettled, but secondly, to say, look, the world is changing rapidly. Let's seize this as an opportunity. If we're not going to do things the way we've always done things, how can we do them differently in a way that's better? What changes can we make that will actually improve our situation? Take this as an opportunity rather than a challenge. And the second thing was it was very clear that it was important to show up. And as a result of that, I did a lot of travel, visited as many embassies as I possibly could to talk with folks. I always met with first and second tour officers to get their feelings and get a sense of how things were going in the embassy, what their questions were, what their concerns were.

Why is that so important do you think? Because we live in a world now where tele-communications is everywhere. It's easy to be wired and talk to anybody via video conferencing. So why does that showing up in person make such a big difference?

I think for a couple of reasons. One, I think it's a commitment of your time. It's a demonstration, particularly when you're flying halfway around the world in some cases, it's a commitment of time and energy to actually going there and spending time with people. And I think people recognize that that really matters. The second is that human touch that you can't get over a video teleconference. New technology is amazing. Certainly use it all the time, but it's very different to sit around a table and have a conversation and have kind of the conversation that goes on before and after the conversation. That part of it is really important to have dinner and just kind of bond as people and sort of understand where your folks are coming from.