REFLECTIONS ON A DIPLOMATIC CAREER.
Representing your own country is a great responsibility, but also a great honor. I had the opportunity to serve Guatemala as its ambassador to the United States between 2004 and 2008.
The central goal at the beginning of my time as a diplomat was to successfully close the free trade agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the United States (CAFTA-DR). As part of that administration, I was able to visit 44 states in the North American country. That gave me the opportunity to meet with Guatemalan organizations in many of them, helping me better understand and serve their needs.
I would like to share some of the experiences from this time in my life that may be useful for other people or activities.
LEARN TO LISTEN
Although protecting the interests of Guatemala and Guatemalans, especially those living in the United States, requires you to promote various ideas and projects that will facilitate their progress, it is equally important to listen to the opinions of others – including the interests of your counterpart – not to respond, but just to understand and dialogue. A diversity of ideas, visions, and points of view regarding any given issue is guaranteed to give rise to innovative, useful solutions for all those involved. Responses add value when they not only help meet company or government objectives, but also keep people and empathy at the core. The ability to listen to understand, as well as create strong working teams, were fundamental to bringing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to a successful conclusion. I had the opportunity to work in coordination with U.S. congresspeople and senators, with an extraordinary team of ambassadors and diplomats from both my country and others in the region, with trade associations, business people, journalists, advisors, and more. The lessons I learned from each of them have been very valuable in my life.
BE FLEXIBLE
Attentive listening, accompanied by deep critical analysis, needs to be complemented by another skill for personal and professional success: Flexibility. Being able to adapt to different contexts, environments, and situations is fundamental to overcoming the challenges we all encounter throughout our lives.
In diplomacy, especially in the United States, the issues to be addressed are many and varied. From trade issues, such as the approval of CAFTA or negotiations for U.S. market access for various Guatemalan products, to issues surrounding migration, human rights, security, and human and drug trafficking, not to mention monitoring the many economic and social indicators comparing Guatemala with the rest of the world’s countries, among many other tasks, diplomacy requires a lot of flexibility and skill to handle.
To find allies or raise interest in possible partners, I developed, with support from the Embassy team, what I came to call my “Rubik’s cube of interests.” This was based on having a central theme that was of interest to the various parties involved. That same theme was then represented on different “sides,” with arguments summarized in 15-second speeches that could be conversations in an elevator. Flexibility, speed, creativity.
BALANCE
Since I was young, I have had and developed many interests beyond the professional. This includes, for example, my interest in the arts, music, literature, history of religion, and social work, among others. Professional or diplomatic work is based on developing deeper relationships that go beyond the workplace, usually built through shared hobbies. In Washington, D.C., I felt like society was made up of ascending concentric circles, and the gateways into those higher circles lay in all those important things that happened outside of work. It was things like an interest in music or religion that allowed me to be much more effective in my work at hand. Through those interests, I got to meet fascinating people and have very enriching life experiences.
All in all, the experience of being an ambassador for our country was full of challenges, but also great opportunities. Having received a Fulbright scholarship for my graduate studies, it was a privilege to represent the interests of my native country in the nation that gave me that opportunity for advancement. During that time in my life, I was given great opportunities, which were reflected in the experiences and lessons that supported the good work I did in partnership with the embassy team. Although it has been more than 13 years since I left my diplomatic career, the skills and aptitudes I developed during that period have accompanied me to this day, remaining useful on many different levels.
