I’ve had a few things that I just couldn’t put into full blog posts, so here they are!
- How the Foreign Service Lost its Way - The Stabroek news had an interesting piece lamenting the polticization of the Guyanese Foreign Service. It’s interesting that Americans aren’t the only ones who sometimes think anyone can be a diplomat.
- Secretary Clinton may have made another diplomatic faux pas. While looking at a miraculous image of the Virgin of Gualupe in Mexico, she asked “who painted it,” getting a response that reminds me of a certain Russian’s, “God.” That’s the story according to the L.A. Times. According to an aide, however, she was looking at a replica of the image and wanted to know who painted the replica.
- Barriers to Innovation and Inclusion - This is a phenomenal video created by an astronaut criticizing barriers to innovation in NASA. I’m linking instead of putting the video here because the comments are actually pretty good reading too.
- I’ve been reading The First 90 Days in Government: Critical Success Strategies for New Public Managers at All Levels by Peter H. Daly and Michael Watkins. The book is pretty good, it’s about steps you can take to better transition between government jobs (something we all do regularly in the Foreign Service). There’s an interesting thought in the book. They refer to the difference between private and public employment as the difference between the minor and the major leagues. Government work, like the major leagues, has a bigger rule book and a lot more people watching. I don’t know how apt the comparison is, there’s more competition and higher pay in the major leagues, as in the business world. What do you think, is business or government work the major league?
