Am writing from
snowy Boulder, CO, which picked up a good 4-5 inches of snow overnight and is
looking quite pretty. And a little chilly.
Muriel and I have
some exciting and fast moving news to share, as we now have clarity about what
the next phase in our life will entail. On Monday, I was offered an
appointment into the US Foreign Service as an Economic Officer. I
accepted the offer and will start my job in Washington, DC on May
5th. Diplomatic corps here we come!
In reality,
making this choice took significant thought and consideration on a quick timeline.
The process of these offers is highly condensed, so I had 48 hours to
decide whether to take the position or let it pass. I woke
up on Monday morning after a full weekend of skiing and socializing
to an email from the State Department that started: “The Registrar's Office is
pleased to extend an appointment offer for the May 5, 2014 –
Generalist Class. If you are available for placement in the May 5th Generalist
Class, please notify the Registrar’s Office of
your response, via email, no later than noon, Wed. April 2,
2014.” Whoa, I snapped awake pretty quick – we had some serious
thinking to do. Passing on the offer could mean that this opportunity
would not come again. Accepting means embarking on a job that is more
than a job, it is really a lifestyle.
Thankfully, that
lifestyle is one that Muriel and I have embraced and thrived in over the last
couple of years. Knowing that we had that capacity, and really a hunger,
for a nomadic, wanderlust life made taking the job pretty easy on the personal
side. Still not automatic, but easier. It means a great deal
to know that we can revel in the uncertainty of the unknown, and even when
things get a bit pear shaped along the way make it work.
Why are we thrilled for this new journey?
- These
last 21 months of traveling, visiting and recreating have been sublime.
It really has been an incredible journey through forty countries across
the entire range of global wealth, governance, recreation and
history. We have gotten to fulfill many long held dreams. I
thought about when I have been the happiest, the most engaged and the most in
flow in my 34 years on this earth and concluded that this adventure is the apex,
so far. Once I came to that realization, the Foreign Service made perfect
sense because it is a job that endows so many of the attributes we have sought
out and loved on our current adventure.
- One thing that
made the decisions a little trickier is that I was in the pipeline for a couple
of job opportunities that were very exciting and intriguing. Jobs that I
would have loved to take, if I got them. This made it a little tougher to
lock into this choice when faced with genuine counterfactuals. Applying
for job I have found that each time I hit submit, I spend at least as long as I
prepared on the application imagining my life in the job. What is the
work like? How would it affect my personal life? Picking one
opportunity necessarily closes off others. This is really a reflection of
opportunity cost and would be the same with any final decision about the next
steps in the Korol’s life. But having that process be condensed to 48
hours made it harder emotionally, because a big part of me would love to work
for a cool company in the States doing corporate sustainability, seeing lots of
friends and skiing/rock climbing. You know kind of like my old life in
San Francisco. The one I loved. But the appeal of that life,
while substantial, ultimately fell short to the appeal of the potential
challenges and successes of the unknown and the new.
- Related to that
point is another reason that I came to really appreciate this
opportunity. Going through this long, long process that has taken
14 months from the initial test in Nairobi to today, I have had this nagging
feeling that the Foreign Service was a departure from what I had been doing and
building to date in my career. That is not necessarily true, but then I
flipped that around and realized that in fact the departure from my norm was a
feature not a bug. Trying new things is what keeps me vital and for this,
there will certainly be a bunch of new things to learn. I will stretch,
fail, grow all at once and hope to be doing that the rest of my life.
- Next, it
is a profound honor to be selected as a representative of what a good friend
described as 'what is good about America' and not a position that I take
lightly. We have the fortune of coming from a great country, a leader in
the world and one that provides inspiration to literally billions of
people. Is everything perfect? Of course not. But, we as a
nation provide so much good to the world and it is a privilege that I will be a
representative of this country that has given me so much. I also hope
that my work will improve the lives of the places where I serve, from the
wealthy, say Monaco, to developing, take Malawi, countries.
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| America |
- Finally, family
and friends are the backbone of our life and one downside of this choice is
that it will certainly take us away from many milestones in the lives of people
we love. That is a reality of the role. Technology does ease that
pain point quite a bit and I am confident we can manage and see people plenty
either in the U.S. or through visits to us in the field. There is also a
concern that Mu and I might have to be separate for postings for a variety of
reasons. We will try our best to avoid that, but again it is a
reality.
In sum, in our
view the positives far outweigh the negatives and we are on our way. DC
bound for May 5th, not sure where the first post will take us while
embracing the new lifestyle on which we embark. It has been a whirlwind
making the decision and then starting to plan for our new path. A
wonderful whirlwind.
There are many
adventures to come and we hope to share them with you in person and in this
space. Much love.
m+w
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