Page 31 - Harvard Business Review, November-December 2018
P. 31

GOVERNMENT
     Life’s Work: An Interview with


     John Kerry





     by Alison Beard

     FROM THE NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2018 ISSUE







































     DAVID DEE DELGADO/NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX




                  fter a peripatetic childhood and a stint as a naval officer in Vietnam, Kerry came home

                  to Massachusetts and dedicated his life to public service: as a war protester, a district

     Aattorney, a lieutenant governor, and a U.S. senator, a seat he held for 28 years. He
     narrowly lost the 2004 U.S. presidential election but went on to lead the State Department from

     2013 to 2017.




     HBR: What did your time in the Navy teach you about teamwork?

     Kerry: It was the military training from start to finish that taught me management skills,


     leadership, accountability, hierarchy—all things that are critical to any kind of effective
     organization and team. We were trained at length together. Each person had a job and knew what
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