I believe that my past years of coaching, and managing rugby teams (both codes), be it at the village, or premier grade levels, had prepared me well with the appropriate organizational ability, energy, competitiveness, enthusiasm, and optimism, in addition to the willingness to work hard at a task that was similarly intriguing and fascinating. Ambrose (1990) said, “Someone had to give the bureaucracies directions someone had to be able to call in all the information they gathered make sense out of it, and impose order on it someone had to make certain that each part meshed into the whole someone had to decide someone had to take responsibility and act. I’d taken a big gamble, based on my steadfast trust and belief in God, and got away with it. This was combined with my determination to make something different out of the scenario, and foregone conclusion, which my highly experienced and decorated Foreign Service colleagues were already singing into my inexperienced ears because it was me, and not them, who was continuously on the receiving end of the “free-riding” intimations.ĪPEC 2018 was the pinnacle of my career in the public service.īeing of the restless kind, I started looking for other mountains to climb and conquer when General George Custer’s quote directly in mind: “ You ask me if I will not be glad when the last battle is fought, as the country is concern, I, of course, must wish for peace, and will be glad when the war is ended but if I answer for myself, I must say that I shall regret to see the war end.” From this vintage point, it laid the foundations with the appropriate tools upon which I would build another family-enriching career in the private sector. It was pure instinct, and the ever-present hand of the almighty God, that drove me out of this safety zone, into the unknown world of strategic management and planning, and high-end multilateral diplomacy. I respectfully declined his offer, but thanked him nevertheless, for his consideration. One member of the Senior Management team made a half-hearted attempt to dissuade my intentions, assuring me that another diplomatic posting in the very near future would guarantee solutions to my ongoing work and family concerns. So, exactly two days after my return from Honiara, I left DFA, quietly and without any fanfare, after a solid nineteen years, and five months of dedicated service, which included a very enriching diplomatic posting in the Middle Kingdom.

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