The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022 35 Marc Grossman, a retired Career Ambassador cur- rently with the Cohen Group in Washington, D.C., served as under secretary of State for political affairs, Director General of the Foreign Service and director of human resources, assistant secretary of State for European affairs and U.S. ambassador to Turkey, as well as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other assignments. Lessons in Leadership APPRECIATION A lthough I did not realize it at the time, I began my 36-year appren- ticeship in the values and tech- niques of leadership the first time I met the late Colin Powell, then Major General Colin Powell, at NATO headquarters in Brussels in 1985. Powell was military assistant to U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger while I was the deputy director of NATO Secretary General Lord Carrington’s Private Office. Powell had come to report that Weinberger would be late for his meeting with Car- rington. Being the most junior person in the neighborhood, I got the task of reporting this to Lord Carrington, who was a fanatic about being on time. Carrington told me to tell Powell that since “Cap” was late, he would not be having a private meeting with the secretary gen- eral. When I conveyed this news, Powell stared at me, told me he was sure I could reverse this decision and sat down on a couch to wait until I did. No raised voice. No drama. Lucky for me, Powell did not remember this incident years later. He also turned out to be a stickler for being on time. Colin Powell 1937-2021 BY MARC GROSSMAN Official photo of Secretary of State Colin Powell, 2001. U.S.STATEDEPARTMENT