It turns out that there is a lively market for advice and training on the subtle arts of Diplomatic Protocol and Etiquette. Why? Because these days many organisations (including official international organisations among eg the UN family as well as NGOs and large corporations) send people on postings in far-flung […]
Attentive readers recall that a year ago I joined a group of former British Ambassadors in setting up ADRg Ambassadors, a new panel selling professional diplomatic consulting, training and mediation skills to support ‘corporate diplomacy’. Here is what I wrote at the time. Since then we have been busy ‘building the brand’ to […]
Things have been quiet here at this for a few days over Christmas, and are going to be quiet here for a few days more as we enter the final throes of moving house. The current house looks like a total wreck as we try to sort things out and […]
Katharine Birbalsingh asks why any sane parent would want to send a son to Eton. The answer is all about aspiration and ambition, of course. Not everyone’s cup of tea, plus an option available only to a few lucky parents. But it’s worth mentioning that Eton is a towering if […]
Do read this fine piece by Tyler Cowen on different aspects of inequality. It’s stuffed with interesting ideas and thought-provoking arguments: First, the inequality of personal well-being is sharply down over the past hundred years and perhaps over the past twenty years as well. Bill Gates is much, much richer […]
A kind reader has sent me the text of the FCO’s Diplomatic Excellence: Our Reform Agenda for the FCO. I’ll read it closely when heading for Brussels for another round of Speechmaking/Speechwriting training for European diplomats. One odd thing – the version put out on the FCO’s staff website is […]
A good general rule is that any organisation starting to talk about ‘excellence’ has a serious mediocrity problem. Excellent people and organisations don’t need to worry about excellence. They just get on with delivering it. Alas the FCO has launched a new scheme intended to help its staff claw their way […]
In central London yesterday I walked past some of these odious so-called students. Some of them from the evergreen rent-an-idiot Socialist Workers tendency had mass-produced posters: We Demand Free Education The fine example of Cambridge student vandal Charlie Gilmour, rich and pampered beyond belief, shows us what ‘education’ does for […]
As England groans under snow and howling icy gales, I am heading for Mauritius. On a training expedition for a UN organisation. ADRg Ambassadors have been asked to give their senior officials some expert training in Diplomatic Skills (Making an Impact) and Negotiation (Reaching the Deal). What are so-called diplomatic […]
Back from giving further diplomatic mediation skills training in Brussels to EU officials. Unlike the FCO, the EU’s nascent foreign policy machine dimly sees the point of understanding how to get better outcomes by using smart mediation techniques. So, I duly help deliver the superb training they need. In the margins I […]
