The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2011

derstood that it was missing a lot of good people by being the way it was, I don’t know. But judging by those pictures, a lot of change has taken place. Judging by what I see in the Foreign Service Jour- nal and State , technology and the whole world of information and media and things of that sort have imposed changes. And, of course, terrorism and new security requirements have im- posed enormous pressures on the State Department to change. Still, when it comes to recruiting, I think State ought to continue to go after the very best people it can find. We have to find the kind of people who constantly learn, who have the ability to adjust, a sense of humor, a delight in interchange with people and other cultures, and general tough- mindedness. The Foreign Service is a demand- ing profession, where careers can be 30 years long or more. Recruiting for specific skills and assuming that those requirements are not going to change will simply leave you with an inflexible FSO corps with all the wrong abilities as time passes. I’m a great believer in going out and finding bright people who are educa- ble, comfortable in changing circum- stances, able to relate to other cultures, able to function in other languages and able to keep learning. Men and women with intellectual and physical courage and stamina. That’s what I would look for. FSJ: Do you do any recruitment for the Service? RR: Yes, when I’m back in Min- nesota at Hamline University. Plus a lot of people call and ask me to talk to their children or to small groups of people. I’m happy to do that. For one thing, it keeps young people moving through my life. Where else am I going to see them? I’m a big fan of government service. I’m desperately sorry to see the deni- gration of public service at any level. There may have been mistakes. And I understand the concern about the pen- sion problem and so on. But the un- derlying issue is whether we’re going to continue to value public service, as I think we must. For women and minorities in par- ticular, public service has offered equal pay for equal work longer than many other parts of the economy. And in a sense, it has moved more quickly to create equal opportunity. That isn’t always the case in other professions. So pub- lic service has been a good place for people to start. The Foreign Service is a wonderful career, I believe — an exciting place to be, as are most government ca- reers. I believe in the im- portance of public service and the value for our coun- try of public servants. FSJ: Do you see the Foreign Service as a career as opposed to a series of jobs? RR: Yes, it’s a career full of building blocks. We’re back to the capacity to learn. No matter whether you’re a junior officer or mid-level, you’re acquiring 64 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 1 “When you look back on a career and can be warm-hearted about all the people you met, even those on opposite sides of issues, you know you’ve been part of something special.” With Secretary of State George Shultz in Italy, 1987.