A World View

It's time for the federal government to invest in training global leaders.

The United States, and thus the federal government, finds itself in an unprecedented maelstrom of globalization. Most issues have a global component: Trade policy. Drug interdiction. AIDS. Labor practices and protections. Biological diversity. Clean air standards. Food and drug safety. Transportation security. Nation building and disaster relief. At least eight of 12 critical issues identified by the Government Accountability Office in a report on 21st century challenges have significant global content.

The forces of economic integration, networking across national borders, an exponential communications revolution, proliferation of nongovernmental and international organizations, and the rise of transnational issues are reshaping the contours of world politics and the pressing issues facing governments everywhere.

The work and responsibilities of the government are clearly a microcosm of these trends, even in traditionally domestic arenas. The Social Security Administration, after all, manages more than 20 bilateral agreements. With each day, our traditional division between domestic and foreign becomes more of a fiction, a concept that helps us mentally order our world, but describes it less and less accurately. Further, the presumption that global leadership and related issues are limited to foreign affairs and defense agencies alone is invalid and dangerous.

Yet despite increasing international responsibilities, most civil servants, particularly in domestic agencies, have received little preparation. In research by the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Executive Institute, more than two-thirds of federal leaders surveyed rated their own proficiency for international work below midpoint on a five-point scale. According to a 2003 RAND Corp. report, "The nation is producing too few future leaders who combine substantive depth with international experience and outlook."

Within the federal sector, outposts of global perspective have slowly emerged. For example, at NASA, leadership and management development features an international competency. But isolated islands are not enough. The agenda for today's federal employees at all levels must include the development of international, intercultural and strategic perspectives essential for the nation to succeed in our globalized world.

Leadership development programs must expand to incorporate broad, global outlooks and understanding. Qualifications should reflect the 21st century by including an international competency, which would then be built into professional development programs. An enhanced Intergovernmental Personnel Act Mobility Program could facilitate these assignments with rich international content.

The newly formed Global Leadership Consortium at the National Academy of Public Administration has potential as a center of excellence. Being developed in partnership with the Federal Executive Institute, the Graduate School at the Agriculture Department and the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, the consortium will serve as a research and learning network that supports agencies in cultivating leaders who excel in the global environment.

It's time for the federal sector to move into global leadership development. The stakes could not be higher in the realm of security and beyond. Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, perhaps best sums it up in The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course (PublicAffairs, 2005) saying, "This continues to be a moment of rare opportunity for the United States and the world. The United States, working with the governments of the other major powers, can still shape the course of the 21st century and bring about a world that is to a striking degree characterized by peace, prosperity and freedom for most of the globe's countries and peoples. Opportunity, though, is just that. It represents possibility, not inevitability."

For the nation to seize this opportunity requires a globally savvy federal corps-whether one of 73,000 overseas or one of the legions stateside working on issues with international implications. Whether an empire, hyperpower, hegemony or unrivaled great power, America faces unique leadership demands, which require that we invest time and resources to ensure that our public servants are the best and brightest global leaders possible.