The Foreign Service Journal, February 2010

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 vantage of my “employee discount” at another campus. He now teaches at an urban high school, using his international perspective to work with Somali, Sudanese and Latino students on English, history and government. Our other child is doing her bachelor’s degree in Europe. I have a very similar portfolio to the one I handled in the Foreign Service, looking after the university’s budget, accounting, facilities, environmental health and safety, procurement, business services and police. I think the sort of position I am in is really a great match for a retir- ing FS management officer. The challenge is in convinc- ing an institution that diplomatic experience translates to higher education. (I told my school that my political- and economic-cone colleagues were like the university faculty — they think they are in charge!) A lot of university ad- ministration is about trying to reconcile differing per- spectives, which I think is not all that different from what I did in the Service. I have also had the opportunity to pursue the dream of a doctorate, which I will attain if I can just manage to com- plete my dissertation. In addition, I have been president of the local chamber of commerce and was able to take an active role in the political process, even serving as a dele- gate on behalf of a presidential candidate in 2008. Retiring can bring new opportunities. I loved my work for State and the experiences are always with me — but there is life after the Foreign Service. F. Stephen Malott Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly the Univ. of Missouri-Rolla) Rolla, Mo. A DVENTURES IN THE W ORLD OF THE I NTERNATIONAL NGO Since leaving the Foreign Service at the end of 2004, following postings as ambassador to Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have headed two well-known non- governmental organizations: Plan International (for four years) and The United Nations Association of the USA (for the last six months). Plan International is a $700 million NGO that works on behalf of children living in poverty in 66 countries around the world. UNA-USA, while much smaller, is the largest and oldest grassroots NGO in the U.S. Our 135 chapters around the country work to connect the American peo- ple with the work of the United Nations. The most interesting and striking contrast between the Foreign Service and the NGO sector is in terms of insti- tutional culture. While the State Department is hierar- chical, highly disciplined and goal-oriented, I have found the NGO sector to be much more consultative, more prone to ponder and often to delay decisions, and less dis- ciplined. Speaking as one of the relatively few diplomats who have made the transition from FS culture to a position of leadership within the NGO sector, I can attest that the challenges are monumental. But they can be surmounted by bearing in mind the following five considerations: 1) Very few people outside the State Department have a clue of what a diplomat really does. The stereotype is that we frequent cocktail parties and that we all started out as ambassadors. It is worth taking the time to edu- cate your new colleagues about the dangers and chal- lenges of the diplomatic profession, lest they default to this stereotype. 2) There is a lot to be said for consultation and listen- ing, but it doesn’t necessarily come naturally after work- ing in a hierarchical environment. Here is where we have to change and be more flexible. But we shouldn’t try to fake it by appearing to listen when our mind is already made up. 3) Where the nonprofit sector benefits most from for- mer diplomats is in our pushing for decisions and results. This is a substantial asset. 4) While measuring effectiveness in diplomacy is hard, measuring effectiveness in the nonprofit sector is even more difficult; but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. What is important is to get away from equating outputs (e.g., number of children in school, inoculations given) with outcomes (e.g., are children learning? are they healthy?). 5) Most important, we all consciously and subcon- sciously form stereotypes of people working in other pro- fessions with which we have little firsthand experience. We should do a better job of resisting such biases and judgments, and instead allow facts on the ground and real- F O C U S Being able to recount our “war stories” to eager audiences is great fun.