The Foreign Service Journal, May 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2019 45 A High Standard Importantly, what I remember most about Ambassador Fischer was his gift for speaking clearly, even about complicated questions. My late, German-born academic father was always impressed by the top-level diplomats he heard speaking on TV and radio for that gift: knowing how to say just what they wanted to say, no less and no more, in precisely the way they wanted to say it, hitting the desired point at just the right slant, with just the right pressure, using just the right tone. This is much harder to do than it sounds, and you really do know and recognize it when you hear it, anchored as it is in a disciplined awareness that con- crete events in the real-world flow from words, for good or ill. So using words with care and precision is critical, sometimes even life-and-death critical. Ambassador Fischer was one of those diplomats: lucid of thought and highly articulate, with a finely calibrated delivery and a knack for finding just the right word at the right time. I admired his flawless extemporaneous public speaking most of all. When introducing a visiting speaker or presenting a topic at a World Affairs Council event, he used words that seemed to flow seamlessly forth with cool precision, in clear and energetic sentences, even in fully crafted paragraphs. I wished at the time that I could one day find a way to achieve the same kind of pre- cise and fluent delivery, ably fusing content and form, and have aspired to Fischer’s high standard ever since. Two or three times after I had joined the Foreign Service, during or between my earlier tours in Guatemala, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., I stopped by the World Affairs Council offices in San Francisco to say hello to Ambassador Fischer. I did this without advance notice, so was not surprised to find that he was out of the office when I happened by. (This was in the days before cellphones and texts were pervasive.) But each time I did so, I left himmy new calling card, each one reflecting a different professional role. It turns out we never met or spoke again. I suppose this, too, was a representative Foreign Service experience, and one to bear in mind before you get started. As Ambassador Fischer told me those many years ago, you will have the opportunity to meet and speak with many incredible people throughout the course of your career, including some who are often featured on the front pages of the newspapers from the country where you’re posted—and whom you would never have dreamed of getting to know if you didn’t happen to live and work as a Foreign Service officer in that country or place at that time. But then you move on. n