Stop talking and listen

               What I learned from the "Last Three Feet" is that for some reason listening is still a novelty. The authors want us to remember to get to know our audience and accept them. This means that after pinning down age, race, economic standing, sex, etc. first sit down with them and have a conversation. This in turn means a give and take on both sides. After that, accept them. Accept them, agree that you might disagree, but find a way to come together on a point. The best Public Diplomacy is when both sides have a genuine stake in the outcome of a policy initiative. Also, when you sit back and let your “other”, your public, make the decisions and drive the conversation the best public diplomacy plans work.

                The public diplomacy example that struck me the most was in Turkey. They took kids that may or may not have had previous knowledge of film work, cameras, or even English and allowed them to participate in voicing their opinions through the art of film while America backed them. Exchanges occurred, and setting them up with a huge web of film festivals allowed students, the youth of Turkey, to be heard. These kids will grow up thinking that the U.S is great because they gave them a voice when they may have not had one otherwise. The brilliance was in how hands off the implementers were; they guided and taught the skill, not the message the kids wanted to deliver. Sometimes that is the best public diplomacy. They listened, not listening to respond, but listening to actually understand.

- Dominique Lopes