Given that many Generation Xers were latchkey children whose working parents often got divorced, many of these kids were forced to seek a sense of family among their peers; alas they grew up not trusting, not respecting authority figures. You might be a proud card holding member of this demographic. Or maybe you know them in the workplace. If you are a job-hopper in defiance of authority and seeking employment within the Department of State you may be headed for a train wreck Foreign Service officer Alan Roecks, an information technology specialist, has served at numerous overseas embassies and is presently completing senior training at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. According to Roecks disturbing article States Generation X Work Force in the May 2006 Foreign Service Journal Magazine, the thirty-five-year and younger age group of newly minted State Department specialists are hip, cynical computer whizzes that have no respect for their superiors or the basic work principles inherent in the hierarchal structure of the State Department. Preferring to do things their own way, Roecks says they lack basic people skills and do not integrate well into the workplace. I can't imagine meeting former Secretary of State Albright and calling her Madeleine! Addressing a woman by her first name instead of Madame Ambassador or Madame Secretary is an example of what Roecks has encountered in supervising Gen Xers overseas. What might be acceptable in an advertising agency or less formal structured corporate environment is not considered cool in an embassy. Roecks laundry list of Animal House behavior includes showing up at the office in jeans and T-shirts, refusing to follow the bosss orders unless you know what you get out of it, demanding instant feedback on job performance, demanding written referrals for future private sector jobs, refusing to work overtime, refusing to attend official functions because there are better things to do. Most people would agree that official functions, even in the private sector, are a pain in the butt. Wed rather kick back and relax, or Google and relax, or do anything but stand around for two hours. Yet more deals are struck between the glass and the lip while standing around than sitting around a stuffy highly polished ebony table. Boomers will soon be retiring and they will have to be replaced. A graduate with a Masters degree who seeks to represent his or her country abroad in any capacity may possess exceptional technical expertise, but mature adult behaviorthose social skills most senior officers learned in high schooltrumps brilliance. The Department of State has to maintain global computer and communications networks. While in a less formal corporate world technical ability might take precedence over behavior, resistance to following instructions is at odds with the success and security of a close-knit community such as an embassy. It impedes integration into the workplace and is especially non-productive when the workplace is a war zone, or any number of politically sensitive or geographically difficult assignments. In his article Alan Roecks offers some suggestions for what he thinks will help resolve the Generation X dilemma within State. Doubtless it exists in other agencies. As an alumnus of State and the Agency For International Development, it saddens me to witness the slow erosion, by this and other means, of what historically has been this countrys first line of defensequiet effective diplomacy. Americans at home are judged by whom they send abroad. Every American serving abroad in an official capacity is in a sense an ambassador. There isnt much we can do about disrespectful loutish behavior by some people here at home except to avoid them. But young Foreign Service officers should know before raising their right hands to swear allegiance that passing the exam is only the beginning. Mature adult behavior should be a prerequisite to the privilege of representing the United States overseas. In the 1960s Noel Coward wrote a song for the show Sail Away in which Elaine Stritch sang: Why do the wrong people travel, and the right people always stay home? Those who disagree have a perfect right to wear their hats backwards and stay home. Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul |
