What a Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Learned

The former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has long thought that getting the two countries to better understand one another could ease international tensions—a belief he's held since the early 1980s, when he first visited what was then the Soviet Union. When he served as ambassador under Barack Obama from 2012 to 2014, he—unusually for a diplomat—kept a high profile, using social media to connect with people spread across a country that spans 11 time zones.

McFaul, who built an academic career at Stanford University before his ambassadorship, has received professional guidance from a patchwork of mentors, which he says has prepared him not only to serve as a diplomat in an environment that was often openly hostile, but for a career as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations outside government. He’s now back at Stanford, working as a professor of political science and the director of the university’s Institute for International Studies.

 I spoke to McFaul for The Atlantic’s series on mentorship, “On The Shoulders Of Giants,” about how a conversation with Condoleezza Rice shaped his career and the kind of professional guidance that the uncertain life of a diplomat requires. The conversation that follows has been edited for length and clarity.

B.R.J. O’Donnell: What's the most important professional guidance you’ve received?

Michael McFaul: Condi Rice, who was a colleague of mine here at Stanford—and obviously a former government official herself—convinced me that you cannot predict whether you are going to work in government, or for how long. Even if you do have a long career as a foreign-policy maker or analyst, as she has, you are still likely to spend most of your career outside of government.

Read more at The Atlantic