The Foreign Service Journal, September 2003

B eing AFSA’s acting presi- dent allows me to use this space to pay homage to an extra- ordinary Foreign Service director general, Ambassa- dor Ruth A. Davis. Her tenure as DG has pretty much coincided with my first term as the AFSA vice president for State. And after working together for two years, I have to say that “brave” is a word I would use to describe her, although I don’t know if she sees her- self this way. Many DGs have come and gone since I took the oath on the 8th floor, but I don’t believe any of them trans- formed a bureaucratic culture as pro- foundly as she has. Or to put it another way, they all could “talk the talk,” even eloquently, but couldn’t “walk the walk” the way DG Davis has. She has used Secretary Powell’s obvious confidence in her to advance many initiatives to make the Foreign Service better. For example, the Secretary launched the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative and proved wrong all those naysayers who claimed State couldn’t compete for the “best and the brightest” with the private sector. The DG knew the problem was with a ponderous, inefficient bureaucracy, not with the talent pool. She quickly identified the logjams to recruiting talent — scanty advertising, weak follow-up, long lag times between the written and oral exams, interminable waits for security clearances, etc. — and fixed them. As a result, not only has State been hiring large numbers of new personnel, but has a much bigger pool to choose from. Veteran employees judge the new hires of much higher quality than in the recent past. She didn’t stop there. Coming from the Foreign Service Institute, where all new hires land first, she was all too famil- iar with the administrative headaches junior officers traditionally encounter: late notices, sloppy paperwork, erro- neous salary computations and conflict- ing instructions, etc. Using her new power, she changed that culture. Meanwhile, she went through all the recommendations for reform so care- fully iterated in those voluminous stud- ies of the State Department and the Foreign Service over the years, break- ing them down into the immediately doable, the doable in the medium term and the ones that are probably too damn hard to do at all. Then she pro- ceeded from there. Acknowledging that the Human Resources Bureau is a monopoly and that employees can’t go elsewhere for its services, she announced that employees deserved better treatment and she would see to it that they got it. She told us, “Put your complaints in writing, name names and send them to me.” I know service has improved because in my first year as AFSA State VP, I received numerous complaints about career development officers who ignored their clients, didn’t answer their mail, didn’t serve as their advocates, etc. This year, not one employee has written us claiming his CDO was wanting. Amb. Davis also invited the employ- ees to respond to a survey rating State on how they are treated by manage- ment. Now that’s a worthwhile study of the department! Then she published the results. And, recognizing that a higher-quality workforce requires bet- ter leadership and management, Amb. Davis instituted mandatory leadership and management training for all employees. The Foreign Service owes Director General Davis a lot. In just two years she has changed a culture. Her legacy lies not in yet one more study of State to throw on the fire, or in more rhetoric about Foreign Service sacrifice. Her legacy is fast service, high standards, transparency, honesty and recognition — all those old-fashioned virtues which must have been apparent to Secretary Powell when he asked her to take the job. Thank you, Amb. Davis, and God- speed. ■ P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS She Talked the Talk and Walked the Walk B Y L OUISE K. C RANE S E P T E M B E R 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 5 Louise K. Crane is AFSA vice presi- dent for State. The Foreign Service owes Director General Ruth Davis a lot. In just two years she has changed a culture.