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And i ll listen. i had an old crusty sergeant first class when i was a brand-new second lieutenant, if you ll shut up and listen, your life will be a whole hell of a lot better. he was right about that. he taught me a lot about how to be a good platoon leader. i plan to do that with the talented people that reside at the state department. i ll talk a little bit about the work itself. by definition, the jo be description is to serve as the president s chief foreign affairs adviser. this was driven home to me in those conversations with every former secretary of state to a person that were remarkably consistent by saying the job number one is to represent the president. for me this means building substantial relationships with our allies, relationships that president trump and i can utilize for both tough conversations and productive cooperation. it also means working with our adversaries where needed to make clear objectives and let them know the means by which we intend to achieve them ....
The same goal, it s difficult to think you would achieve it. i ve always done that. when i traveled as part of the agency, i met with my team and spoke to them about the things i was going to demand of them and permit them to do and how i was going to hold them accountable to that desk. i remember i went to a location, the housing floor officers was inadequate. i didn t have a lot of time. i spoke with the ambassador and told him it needed to be fix. i wanted the state department families and ours to know that we cared about them enough to provide living quarters that were sufficient for americans. and you should know i believe deeply that state department s work force must be diverse. diverse in every sense of the word. race, religion, background and more. i ll work to achieve the diversity as i ve done in my current goal by focusing on the mission and demanding every team member is treated equally with dignity and respect and i ll listen. i had an old crusty sergeant ....