The Foreign Service Journal, December 2010

W orking as an Office Man- agement Specialist in a multilateral setting, I am reminded daily of why I joined the Foreign Service in 2005. I have always been keenly interested in foreign af- fairs, and this position has afforded me a bird’s-eye view of the inner workings of our own government, as well as those of other nations. I am also privy to our interactions with the United Na- tions, as well as other important inter- national organizations, many of which are headquartered here in Geneva. The issues that are on the table here are large in scope and generally cov- ered widely by the press. Moreover, they are often of interest to our less- foreign-affairs-oriented friends and family back in the United States —and that has been one of the most mean- ingful parts of this experience for me personally. Although I was interested in, and quite satisfied with, my work in bothmy former posts — Conakry and Oslo — our mission in each was under the radar from the perspective of our family and friends inColorado. For instance, while we were posted in Conakry, civil “dis- turbances” verging on riots rocked Guinea, but the all-consuming news at the time in the typical mainstream American media concerned the tragic death of a celebrity blonde in a foreign island paradise. Howmuch nicer to be able to share with them that we are witnesses to the New START Treaty process! Even if our Stateside group is not that familiar with the negotiations, at least they have heard of the Obama administration’s nuclear nonproliferation efforts. In just about every performance re- view I have had during my FS career, the phrase “in this busy office” appears. Here in Geneva, that is no exaggera- tion. Due to a staffing gap in the front office, I spent the first several months answering the chargé d’affaires’ phone. Although I did not keep track, I would guess that in my first two weeks here I spoke to more ambassadors or their as- sistants than I had during my previous four years in the Foreign Service. The inquiries were constant, and the re- quests for appointments with, and in- vitations to, the chargé were nonstop. The visitors we host run the gamut. A stranger you meet in the hallway might be a high-level guest hosted by one of the four entities housed here in Geneva. On any given day you might share the elevator or be in the cafete- ria line with a U.S. ambassador here overseeing a large delegation. Or the other person might be a new employee detailed to the World Health Organi- zation office a block away. The unfamiliar face might also be- long to a new Foreign Service em- ployee attempting to navigate our maze of six floors, or one of the several interns assigned here each year. Our local staff take care to get to know us, but the constantly changing cast of characters must be a special challenge for them. Being part of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva has broadened my worldview considerably. I am a big proponent of win-win solu- tions, but have found achieving them to be a much more knotty and hard- fought process in the multilateral world — mostly because there are so many stakeholders. My appreciation for the sheer com- plexity of our mission has likewise only increased. And it has been a huge ben- efit for me to be able to share what we as a nation and a mission are doing here with my social network back home. Serving in a multilateral environ- ment definitely has a different feel to it — one I heartily recommend. ■ Rosemary Motisi currently serves as the Management Section Office Man- agement Specialist at the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. Her husband, Dan Mal- one, serves there as an Information Management Specialist. They have also served in Conakry and Oslo. In every performance review I’ve had, the phrase “in this busy office” appears — but here in Geneva, that is no exaggeration. 108 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 R EFLECTIONS Working in a Multilateral Environment: A Different Feel B Y R OSEMARY M OTISI