I’m not a diplomat so why am I talking
to you about diplomacy when I was nine
years old I founded a newspaper called
the four corners blabbermouth it got its
name because my I lived across the
street from my four friends in square
the newspaper had all the sections you’d
expect hard neighborhood news sports
weather even a movie review in a
crossword puzzle
we made my mom the editor and publisher
because she was the only one who knew
how to type someone asked me why did you
do that and I don’t know I was curious
about the world it was interesting to
learn about what the neighbors thought
about different perspectives and I do
have to admit that it was kind of fun to
get everyone in the neighborhood working
on something that I was interested in
maybe perhaps getting people to do
things my way
as an educator I get to work with some
of the smartest minds in the world at a
top-flight university I build upon the
lessons I’ve learned working around the
world at the UN and I have a chance to
teach young minds and prepare them for
their careers and complex international
negotiation competitions what is
diplomacy it’s sometimes hard to
visualize diplomacy sounds sort of
fancy-pants like people and elegant
clothing clinking glasses and far-off
embassies and that’s not entirely untrue
but diplomacy has evolved and means a
number of things over time to some its
policy in Grand costume to others the
patriotic art of lying for one’s country
the continuation of war by other means
or my favorite definition the art of
saying nice doggy until you can get a
rock
but still it is hard to visualize what
is diplomacy I mean think about the last
movie you saw with a diplomat Argo was
about diplomats being rescued the
interpreter had translators being chased
around the UN by assassins
okay Madam Secretary if we count
television but just to make it
interesting she comes from the CIA
diplomats are wise to the worlds
realities think about Machiavelli he was
an astute student of diplomacy politics
and human nature and he wrote his master
treatise the prince after he had been
thrown out from ruling and in Florence
tortured by the Medicis in an effort to
get back into power and to show the
family how to be effective political
rulers there are three things that you
can do to master the art of diplomacy
that diplomats do better than the rest
of us first they know their history
second they master the cultural nuances
and third they are the ultimate people
persons as you develop those skills you
can become someone who can let others
have your way first
history the art of diplomacy is based on
historical understanding now I know what
you’re saying
yeah history who likes fat but history
is very important it provides
perspective and an opportunity for us to
understand things in a longer timeframe
it’s a very important skill earnest May
and Richard Neustadt Harvard historians
came up with the term thinking in the
context of time this is not to say that
history tells us what to do
but rather it provides questions and
critical insights and ideas that explain
the cultural time or the historical
epoch and the problems that we’re
confronting one of the ways I like to
teach history to students is through
historical simulations some of my
favorite are
Carine peace in the Balkans the Taiwan
Straits or a student favorite the Cuban
Missile Crisis
imagine this students are playing the
role of the various people and groups
will Fidel Castro’s War Council being
able to push back against pressure from
the Russians and the United States will
Khrushchev broke her peace by sending
unofficial emissaries and can JFK resist
his generals who are urging him to
attack let me tell you how this usually
works after a while students get kind of
frustrated the United States decides to
attack the USSR counter-attacks nuclear
World War three this is not the best
outcome but what students learn is that
thinking in history is difficult
complicated and it feels real diplomats
master this skill and use it to their
advantage in brokering compromise and
understanding other positions next
culture if you’re going to work with
foreign emissaries it makes sense that
you should learn foreign languages
diplomats also master economics politics
religion and of course culture so they
know why does someone put mustard on
their pancake when they should be
putting syrup or more importantly how do
you endear yourself to someone rather
than offend them especially if you’re
going to be party to a very lengthy
negotiation consider for a minute the
Shanghai communique an important
document that you maybe haven’t heard of
it’s just a stack of papers would it
reshape the way the United States of
America and the People’s Republic of
China had interacted since 1972 this
Agreement which was very tricky to
achieve is based on a number of
challenges that were overcome how to
keep the peace in the neighborhood
the tricky Taiwan question and one word
the word recognize now in English we
have one word that does the job for us
but in Chinese there are many versions
one version is too
see another version is to grant
legitimacy can you see the problem
how did Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai
overcome 23 years of diplomatic
stalemate by understanding the culture
and language differences between their
countries and working toward a
compromise it’s kind of the reason that
some people think why you can go to
Costco down the street and buy an
inexpensive television or why many of
our children in Utah schools are
learning Mandarin the art of diplomacy
applied through the lens of culture is
powerful and diplomats are masters at
that the third area and art of diplomacy
is people diplomats understand
relationship problems hashtag right they
are the ultimate people persons and how
do they do that you would imagine that
after World War two the world was
exhausted and ready for peace a number
of institutions and ideas and concepts
were being kicked around to never go
backwards in history one of those is a
document called the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights it’s a
general statement of principles that
everyone should agree upon it’s kind of
like pulling your kids in and saying eat
your dinner
clean your room and don’t punch your
brothers the process to negotiate that
document was anything but easy
Eleanor Roosevelt the United States
representative wrote the following about
her experience in developing this
document intrigue lobbying secret
arrangements blocks etc it’s terrible
power politics and bargaining nauseate
me there is so much unreality and play
and sham that I can’t swing myself into
this atmosphere and act fortunately she
was able to do that and the document was
signed
how do diplomats do this how do they
deal with the most difficult people well
there are a number of hacks and tactics
that you can use one in particular
involves will
I tell my students when they go into a
room the first thing they should do is
not go up and give an important speech
or slam their fist down and state their
position but rather go up to people and
ask them what do you think it’s
unexpected it lowers their guard but it
also is very important because it helps
you understand what it is they want from
the equation persuasion is not like we
imagine it’s not taking your views and
convincing someone else that their views
are wrong it works like this taking one
plus one equals three or in other words
your ideas plus my ideas into a new
reality it arranges the consensus in a
shared understanding which is very
different from forcing someone to do
things your way another tactic that
diplomats use is to reframe the problem
a good friend of mine who is the
ambassador of a Central European country
was at a negotiation he had been there
for months working out deals making
promises and using his capital back and
forth between many countries one day
before the vote he received a communique
from his capital it said vote against
the document no explanation so what do
you do if you vote against the document
you undermine everything that you’ve
been working for for the past months not
to mention you will be completely
ineffective in the future in
representing any interest or country has
on the other hand if you vote for the
document you will be unemployed what did
he do the Ambassador found a third way
he recognized that there was an arcane
rule that allowed someone to vote on the
document that was currently being
negotiated not the final document his
government opposed he quickly gathered
support called for an intermediate vote
the document as it stood with a language
he could support was
voted by acclamation the parts that
we’re bad were thrown out mission
accomplished
if you can reframe the problem and look
at it from a different perspective you
can get even a group of people to have
your way another challenge that
diplomats face probably the biggest of
all is conflict now most of us fear it
some people thrive in conflict but
diplomats run toward it because they
recognize it is a powerful tool you may
experience conflict if you’ve ever gone
into a Chinese market where the prices
are not set I once took my son and
explained it this way to him we’re going
to go in and the sellers going to ask a
high price we’re going to counter with a
low price and then in the end we
probably would pay $30 for the purse so
just as I had explained the seller asked
for $50 I quickly countered with $10 my
son immediately blurred it out but Dad I
thought we were going to pay $30
conflict is difficult and tricky and
it’s hard to know they’re doing what’s
right if you have a plan you know your
red lines you know where you can
compromise you can find ways to get to
solutions and that’s an important thing
I tell my students frequently words
matter in the art of diplomacy if you
can do the things I mentioned if you can
master history understand the culture
and master your relationships with
people the other alternative is not as
good letting others have your way [Applause]
to you about diplomacy when I was nine
years old I founded a newspaper called
the four corners blabbermouth it got its
name because my I lived across the
street from my four friends in square
the newspaper had all the sections you’d
expect hard neighborhood news sports
weather even a movie review in a
crossword puzzle
we made my mom the editor and publisher
because she was the only one who knew
how to type someone asked me why did you
do that and I don’t know I was curious
about the world it was interesting to
learn about what the neighbors thought
about different perspectives and I do
have to admit that it was kind of fun to
get everyone in the neighborhood working
on something that I was interested in
maybe perhaps getting people to do
things my way
as an educator I get to work with some
of the smartest minds in the world at a
top-flight university I build upon the
lessons I’ve learned working around the
world at the UN and I have a chance to
teach young minds and prepare them for
their careers and complex international
negotiation competitions what is
diplomacy it’s sometimes hard to
visualize diplomacy sounds sort of
fancy-pants like people and elegant
clothing clinking glasses and far-off
embassies and that’s not entirely untrue
but diplomacy has evolved and means a
number of things over time to some its
policy in Grand costume to others the
patriotic art of lying for one’s country
the continuation of war by other means
or my favorite definition the art of
saying nice doggy until you can get a
rock
but still it is hard to visualize what
is diplomacy I mean think about the last
movie you saw with a diplomat Argo was
about diplomats being rescued the
interpreter had translators being chased
around the UN by assassins
okay Madam Secretary if we count
television but just to make it
interesting she comes from the CIA
diplomats are wise to the worlds
realities think about Machiavelli he was
an astute student of diplomacy politics
and human nature and he wrote his master
treatise the prince after he had been
thrown out from ruling and in Florence
tortured by the Medicis in an effort to
get back into power and to show the
family how to be effective political
rulers there are three things that you
can do to master the art of diplomacy
that diplomats do better than the rest
of us first they know their history
second they master the cultural nuances
and third they are the ultimate people
persons as you develop those skills you
can become someone who can let others
have your way first
history the art of diplomacy is based on
historical understanding now I know what
you’re saying
yeah history who likes fat but history
is very important it provides
perspective and an opportunity for us to
understand things in a longer timeframe
it’s a very important skill earnest May
and Richard Neustadt Harvard historians
came up with the term thinking in the
context of time this is not to say that
history tells us what to do
but rather it provides questions and
critical insights and ideas that explain
the cultural time or the historical
epoch and the problems that we’re
confronting one of the ways I like to
teach history to students is through
historical simulations some of my
favorite are
Carine peace in the Balkans the Taiwan
Straits or a student favorite the Cuban
Missile Crisis
imagine this students are playing the
role of the various people and groups
will Fidel Castro’s War Council being
able to push back against pressure from
the Russians and the United States will
Khrushchev broke her peace by sending
unofficial emissaries and can JFK resist
his generals who are urging him to
attack let me tell you how this usually
works after a while students get kind of
frustrated the United States decides to
attack the USSR counter-attacks nuclear
World War three this is not the best
outcome but what students learn is that
thinking in history is difficult
complicated and it feels real diplomats
master this skill and use it to their
advantage in brokering compromise and
understanding other positions next
culture if you’re going to work with
foreign emissaries it makes sense that
you should learn foreign languages
diplomats also master economics politics
religion and of course culture so they
know why does someone put mustard on
their pancake when they should be
putting syrup or more importantly how do
you endear yourself to someone rather
than offend them especially if you’re
going to be party to a very lengthy
negotiation consider for a minute the
Shanghai communique an important
document that you maybe haven’t heard of
it’s just a stack of papers would it
reshape the way the United States of
America and the People’s Republic of
China had interacted since 1972 this
Agreement which was very tricky to
achieve is based on a number of
challenges that were overcome how to
keep the peace in the neighborhood
the tricky Taiwan question and one word
the word recognize now in English we
have one word that does the job for us
but in Chinese there are many versions
one version is too
see another version is to grant
legitimacy can you see the problem
how did Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai
overcome 23 years of diplomatic
stalemate by understanding the culture
and language differences between their
countries and working toward a
compromise it’s kind of the reason that
some people think why you can go to
Costco down the street and buy an
inexpensive television or why many of
our children in Utah schools are
learning Mandarin the art of diplomacy
applied through the lens of culture is
powerful and diplomats are masters at
that the third area and art of diplomacy
is people diplomats understand
relationship problems hashtag right they
are the ultimate people persons and how
do they do that you would imagine that
after World War two the world was
exhausted and ready for peace a number
of institutions and ideas and concepts
were being kicked around to never go
backwards in history one of those is a
document called the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights it’s a
general statement of principles that
everyone should agree upon it’s kind of
like pulling your kids in and saying eat
your dinner
clean your room and don’t punch your
brothers the process to negotiate that
document was anything but easy
Eleanor Roosevelt the United States
representative wrote the following about
her experience in developing this
document intrigue lobbying secret
arrangements blocks etc it’s terrible
power politics and bargaining nauseate
me there is so much unreality and play
and sham that I can’t swing myself into
this atmosphere and act fortunately she
was able to do that and the document was
signed
how do diplomats do this how do they
deal with the most difficult people well
there are a number of hacks and tactics
that you can use one in particular
involves will
I tell my students when they go into a
room the first thing they should do is
not go up and give an important speech
or slam their fist down and state their
position but rather go up to people and
ask them what do you think it’s
unexpected it lowers their guard but it
also is very important because it helps
you understand what it is they want from
the equation persuasion is not like we
imagine it’s not taking your views and
convincing someone else that their views
are wrong it works like this taking one
plus one equals three or in other words
your ideas plus my ideas into a new
reality it arranges the consensus in a
shared understanding which is very
different from forcing someone to do
things your way another tactic that
diplomats use is to reframe the problem
a good friend of mine who is the
ambassador of a Central European country
was at a negotiation he had been there
for months working out deals making
promises and using his capital back and
forth between many countries one day
before the vote he received a communique
from his capital it said vote against
the document no explanation so what do
you do if you vote against the document
you undermine everything that you’ve
been working for for the past months not
to mention you will be completely
ineffective in the future in
representing any interest or country has
on the other hand if you vote for the
document you will be unemployed what did
he do the Ambassador found a third way
he recognized that there was an arcane
rule that allowed someone to vote on the
document that was currently being
negotiated not the final document his
government opposed he quickly gathered
support called for an intermediate vote
the document as it stood with a language
he could support was
voted by acclamation the parts that
we’re bad were thrown out mission
accomplished
if you can reframe the problem and look
at it from a different perspective you
can get even a group of people to have
your way another challenge that
diplomats face probably the biggest of
all is conflict now most of us fear it
some people thrive in conflict but
diplomats run toward it because they
recognize it is a powerful tool you may
experience conflict if you’ve ever gone
into a Chinese market where the prices
are not set I once took my son and
explained it this way to him we’re going
to go in and the sellers going to ask a
high price we’re going to counter with a
low price and then in the end we
probably would pay $30 for the purse so
just as I had explained the seller asked
for $50 I quickly countered with $10 my
son immediately blurred it out but Dad I
thought we were going to pay $30
conflict is difficult and tricky and
it’s hard to know they’re doing what’s
right if you have a plan you know your
red lines you know where you can
compromise you can find ways to get to
solutions and that’s an important thing
I tell my students frequently words
matter in the art of diplomacy if you
can do the things I mentioned if you can
master history understand the culture
and master your relationships with
people the other alternative is not as
good letting others have your way [Applause]
Please follow and like us: