The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

from fear of being accused of being poor team players, it has resulted in a lowering of FCS’s sta- tus at some posts. But we should remember that there is a natural ebb and flow to life in the foreign affairs agency community. To suc- ceed, we must realize that our job occasionally demands the acuity and dexterity of a circus juggler, spinning plates at the end of a stick. We must put several in motion and constantly run up and down the line to make sure none of them falls. We cannot afford to let even one drop, for we are constantly being judged by somebody. And that brings me to employee evaluation reports. Too Many Cooks The average senior commercial officer has four raters/reviewers: the DCM (rater) and the ambassador (reviewer) at post, and the regional manager (rater) and the deputy assistant secretary for international operations (reviewer) back at FCS. With so many people to please (not to mention the hundreds of businesspeople who write letters about our performance) it’s a wonder we can choose a productive course of action and then dare to take it! As ‘Honest Abe’ said, “you can please some of the peo- ple all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.” Here are a few possible solutions: • We should eliminate the DCM as our rater and make the ambassador’s review of our performance the sole statement coming from the mission. (This is realistic since the COM has the last word from post management’s side anyway.) • We should do more of our own administrative work and lessen our dependency on other agencies. (We’re already heading that way as we opt out of more and more admin services, so we might as well make a clean break and tailor the system to meet our specific needs.) • We should encourage more frequent visits from our regional managers to post so that they have a clear picture of the challenges we face. (This is important because sit- uations can change rapidly.) • We should continue to support our officers in the field with clear statements of policy and purpose for each individual post, and we must make a concerted effort to apprise our State colleagues in Washington of them. The Role of the FCS Director General We have been lucky to have had a few good directors-general lead- ing our organization during the past two decades. While some had very pointed, single-issue agendas, others have positively influenced our lives and work. They have fought for us — and, yes, occasionally fought with us. They have allowed us to explain our visions even if they did not always share them. Some have understood what makes commercial officers tick even if they didn’t take the time to check our “main- spring” and ask for our opinions. F O C U S J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41 A Bill of Rights for American Business D eputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, from a speech on the subject of “American Business and Government in a Turbulent World” given in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the State Department on Nov. 30, 1989: “My message to you today is that we are going to do everything in our power to see to it that the State Department is your friend and ally. In this spirit, I would like to leave you this afternoon with what might be called a ‘Bill of Rights for American Business.’ It tells you what you can expect from the Department of State. You have a right: First, to have your views heard and considered on foreign policy issues that affect your interests; Second, to be assured that the ground rules for the conduct of international trade are fair and non-discriminatory; Third, to receive assistance fromwell-trained and knowledgeable trade specialists in each overseas mission; Fourth, to receive sound professional advice and analysis on the local political and business environment; Fifth, to receive assistance in contacts with key public and pri- vate-sector decision-makers; Sixth, to the ‘active promotion’ of U.S. firms in international bids, and where more than one U.S. firm is involved, even-handed sup- port for all interested firms; and Seventh, to receive assistance in achieving amicable settlement of investment and trade disputes, and in the case of expropriation or similar action, to obtain prompt, adequate, and effective compensa- tion. If you are not getting this type of assistance now, let us know. As long as I am in this job, I intend personally to see that you get the response you need when calling on this department and your over- seas embassies for support.” Our job as commercial officers occasionally demands the acuity and dexterity of a circus juggler, spinning plates at the end of a stick.