The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2021 45 Speak globally and carry a positive message. Former Presi- dent Bill Clinton famously said, “People are more impressed by the power of our example rather than the example of our power.” Climate change, pandemic response, global cyberse- curity, arms control and managing the rise of China are areas that intersect with the interests of our many (admittedly bois- terous) allies and offer opportunities for U.S. leadership. While trade will remain contentious, the Biden administra- tion can engineer win-win scenarios for American middle- class workers and international partners through vigorous business development efforts. Even when foreign governments are not synced with the U.S. position, we can proactively set the global agenda, offer viable alternatives, and create future negotiating space and momentum. Missions overseas can contribute to policy formulation, bring foreign governments aboard, connect our private sectors, and communicate with elites and broad audiences. Reconstitute the interagency process. Ad hoc approaches to policymaking or endless interagency debates can hamstring development of coherent lines of effort to advance U.S. inter- ests, result in missed opportunities and drain the morale of our diplomats. A slimmed down, efficient National Security Council can harness the talents of the interagency; provide broad policy guidance and an approved playbook for execution; and let departments and overseas missions implement without micromanagement. Ambassadors and country teams should be front and cen- ter on these engagements to provide options to policymakers on how to advance American interests in foreign capitals or multilateral institutions. The most important work starts at home. Let us recall the prophetic words of FSO George Kennan in his 1946 “Long Telegram,” which laid out a framework for containment of Soviet power: “Much depends on the health and vigor of our own society … measures to solve internal problems … are worth a thousand diplomatic notes and joint communiqués.” As citizens and FSOs, we now face the challenge of our time. Foreign Commercial Service Officer Michael A. Lally is serving as minister counselor for commercial affairs at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels. Overhaul the Assignments Process Evidence shows that diverse teams perform better, and a diverse diplomatic corps would more effectively formulate and implement policy in our national interest, build stronger relationships with foreign governments and their people, and promote peace and prosperity worldwide. By harnessing America’s diversity, we gain competitive lin- guistic and cultural advantages compared to largely homog- enous societies. But while the State Department is relatively successful at recruiting women and minorities, it is not retain- ing this talent, which suggests our personnel systems need examination. A key to retention is the assignments process. Landing top assignments opens doors, but sometimes it’s more about who you know than what you know that determines outcomes. Moreover, biases against women and minorities in leadership roles affect their selection for top assignments. The current system is inefficient, labor-intensive, and exploits employees’ professional and personal time. It also advantages those skilled in the art of self-promotion or who have mentors or sponsors, and it is riddled with partialities such as senior leaders’ interventions and affinity bias in selec- tion (our tendency to gravitate toward similar people). The new administration can reinvigorate U.S. diplomacy by centralizing assignments in the Bureau of Global Talent Man- agement, focusing on qualifications and potential rather than who you know. Employees submit bidding materials with pro- fessional, personal or medical considerations to GTM. GTM mitigates against biases by standardizing criteria and inter- view questions; anonymizing résumés and recommendation letters; conducting interviews with more than one interviewer through the same medium; using a scorecard; and creating a 360-degree feedback process (which can help eliminate a kiss- up, kick-down culture). GTM then matches skills and scorecards to vacancies, using the Nobel Prize–winning solution to the stable matching prob- lem, which finds matches given an ordering of preferences. CIV-MIL partnership o