Patrick Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management
I've being doing management work at the State Department for over 37 years.
There are days when I was able to make sure that a Peace Corps director was able to cook Thanksgiving dinner for his staff by running a midnight delivery of a new stove to the Peace Corps Director's house.
There were joyous days when I was at Stewart Field in Newburgh, New York, when the Iranian hostages came home.
Everything that I've done over these years has been — has been good and bad, but the one thing that it's taught me is that being a manager, being an administrator in the Foreign Service gives you an opportunity to participate in the march of history, gives you an opportunity to get a frontline seat on history, and gives you an opportunity to use your management skills to support, support the U.S. government and the U.S. national interest.
The State Department administrative and management professionals are the literal underpinning of everything that goes on at an embassy.
You have to realize that this is a people activity. You're supporting people. You have to enjoy working with people.
You have to realize that you're going to be operating in a foreign country and everything that you've learned in the United States is absolutely relevant, but you have to be able to modify and adjust those skills to operate in, in very, very different economic, sociological, religious climates.
The opportunity to work on interesting issues, to provide the logistical and administrative support to the Secretary of State, to the President, to other State Department or other U.S. government officials who are trying to advance our activities overseas or who are trying to protect the lives of American citizens abroad, those kind of opportunities are absolutely unique, they're absolutely fulfilling.