The Foreign Service Journal, May 2020

14 MAY 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL learned and tips we have started to elu- cidate. We hope that the project can help connect current employees with former ones for advice and mentorship. Can you share some of the best advice that you’ve received working on this project? There have been so many excellent insights that it’s hard to choose. A few that stand out: take time to enjoy the career, the experiences; keep learning; be humble; listen; excellence is worth striving for and can be achieved only by getting everyone on board; invest time in relation- ships, both with foreign counterparts and throughout the U.S. government; work outside the State Department, whether at another agency, the National Security Council or otherwise. Fromwhat you have learned doing this project, what are the top five essential skills for successful diplomats? I’d point you to the checklist published on the site that answers this question: www.25yearapprenticeship.com/become/ what-it-takes-to-succeed-at-state. What areas of growth do you see for this initiative in the near future? We hope to continue to generate and develop content; find ways to encourage a more interactive site; and expand the mentoring component of the project, from 25YA participants to peers, from “legends” to current State folks, and from all of us to potential future State employees. We hope the site can help educate the general population and inspire future State employees. How can FSJ readers get involved and support the initiative? Send the apprentices your ideas, your questions and your input. Let’s work together to lay out a path toward becom- ing the best experts, professionals, “jour- ney-people” diplomats we can be. The project will be most successful when more people are contributing, so please write to us at 25yearapprentice@gmail.com , follow us on Twitter at @25yrapprentice, and join the conversation. n