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The Naked Diplomat: Understanding Power and Politics in the Digital Age
Who will be in power in the 21st century? Governments? Big business? Internet titans? And how do we influence the future?
Digital technology is changing power at a faster rate than any time in history. Distrust and inequality are fuelling political and economic uncertainty. The scaffolding built around the global order is fragile, and the checks and balances created over centuries to protect liberty are being tested, maybe to destruction. Tom Fletcher, the youngest senior British ambassador for two hundred years, considers how we – as governments, businesses, individuals – can survive and thrive in the twenty first century. And how we can ensure that technology can make it easier of citizens truly to take back control.
Digital technology is changing power at a faster rate than any time in history. Distrust and inequality are fuelling political and economic uncertainty. The scaffolding built around the global order is fragile, and the checks and balances created over centuries to protect liberty are being tested, maybe to destruction. Tom Fletcher, the youngest senior British ambassador for two hundred years, considers how we – as governments, businesses, individuals – can survive and thrive in the twenty first century. And how we can ensure that technology can make it easier of citizens truly to take back control.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 2, 2016
183 people are currently reading
1634 people want to read
About the author
Tom Fletcher
4 books32 followersTom Fletcher CMG is a Visiting Professor of International Relations at New York University, and Senior Advisor to the Director General at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy. He was British Ambassador to Lebanon (2011-15), and the Downing Street foreign policy adviser to three Prime Ministers, (2007-11). He is an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University, and the Global Strategy Director for the Global Business Coalition for Education, which seeks to harness private sector efforts to get 59 million children into school. He blogs as the Naked Diplomat, and chairs the International Advisory Council of the Creative Industries Federation, promoting Britain's most dynamic and magnetic sector overseas. Tom has recently led a review of British diplomacy for the UK Foreign Office, and is currently working on a report on the future of the United Nations for the next UN Secretary General. Tom is married to Dr Louise Fletcher, a psychologist, and they have two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
January 30, 2019
Lots of interesting material here, but it’s a bit shapeless and sometimes comes across as though Fletcher just wanted to throw in every thought he’s ever had about diplomacy. There’s 100 pages on the history and development of diplomacy, starting with Neanderthals (no, really). Then he moves on to the modern age and his own career. The most valuable sections deal directly with his own experiences as ambassador to Beirut, and these offer valuable, practical examples of how to use innovative methods to sell the UK as a brand, using “soft power”.
He's very much a digital evangelist, an idealist who believes that social media will save the world. OK, he’s not that naïve, but almost. The worst chapter describes his vision of an embassy in the year 2025, which is basically just a room full of iPads...
I think I’d have preferred a more straightforward account of his experiences, as some of the ideas about how diplomacy needs to evolve in today’s connected world are a little vague and half-formed.
He's very much a digital evangelist, an idealist who believes that social media will save the world. OK, he’s not that naïve, but almost. The worst chapter describes his vision of an embassy in the year 2025, which is basically just a room full of iPads...
I think I’d have preferred a more straightforward account of his experiences, as some of the ideas about how diplomacy needs to evolve in today’s connected world are a little vague and half-formed.
June 26, 2021
'The Naked Diplomat' tries to be many things: a quote compendium, a love letter to Lebanon, a PG-13 rated anthology of diplomatic mishaps, a guide to pragmatic use of social media, but perhaps most of all it's a call to action for us all to be diplomats.
The book is at times marvellous: great quotes, wonderful descriptions of Lebanon and its complexity, hilarious and shocking stories from inside the political machine, and a great demonstration of Twitter used effectively. But mostly, it strays into vague statements and generalities. Fletcher's book could do with being shorter and more focused, it's interesting as a memorandum, but don't come into it expecting useful, condensed wisdom.
On a separate note: I started reading Fletcher's book because he has undoubtedly had a titan-like effect on British government, being the Private Secretary to three Prime Ministers, in constant contact with them. As the paraphrased adage goes, the most important person in the King's court is not any of his ministers, but the tea boy, for he has the King's ear. His impact on - and thank goodness, utter good-will and care for - British lives is evident.
The book is at times marvellous: great quotes, wonderful descriptions of Lebanon and its complexity, hilarious and shocking stories from inside the political machine, and a great demonstration of Twitter used effectively. But mostly, it strays into vague statements and generalities. Fletcher's book could do with being shorter and more focused, it's interesting as a memorandum, but don't come into it expecting useful, condensed wisdom.
On a separate note: I started reading Fletcher's book because he has undoubtedly had a titan-like effect on British government, being the Private Secretary to three Prime Ministers, in constant contact with them. As the paraphrased adage goes, the most important person in the King's court is not any of his ministers, but the tea boy, for he has the King's ear. His impact on - and thank goodness, utter good-will and care for - British lives is evident.
October 19, 2022
Are diplomats still relevant in this digital age? Tom Fletcher managed to instil some hope but also confuse me. Sometimes I find myself questioning the relevance of various statements and communique issued over the years by foreign ministries and international organisations which convey their official positions. But who would read statements or long communique with repeated points year by year? It’s now easier than ever to find information online. Instead of trying to read the news or relying on diplomatic telegram, diplomats (also everyone else) could easily find information through social media. It has become a standard practice for government officials or companies to have social media handles. A statement posted through Twitter under 140 characters could have a more immediate effect and instigate discussions rather than a long communique that takes weeks to negotiate. In the same vein, Fletcher introduces Diplomacy 4.0 which relies more on the power of network (and the internet, as a direct consequence of it) that triumphs in some aspects against the power of hierarchy.
Ending his civil service in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now, FCDO) as the British Ambassador to Lebanon in 2015, Mr Fletcher made an unforgettable exit (termed “Flexit” by him, not to be confused with “Brexit”). He wrote an open letter addressed to Lebanon, titled “So… Yalla, Bye”, which characterises his ambassadorial life in Beirut in eight stages: ‘Seduction. Frustration. Exhilaration. Exhaustion. Disaffection. Infatuation. Addiction. Resignation’. A “Flexit” to revive the tradition of sending a valedictory for an outgoing ambassador, only this time, the “Flexit” invited many social media commentators (427 comments in total on the FCDO blog). But still, Mr Fletcher is not without concerns about the way digital technology affecting us. He says, ‘We all feel better connected but less well informed. For the first time, our problem is too much information, not too little. Being more in touch has reduced our ability to reach out and touch people.’
Mr Fletcher’s book is an attempt to show the power of the network, as opposed to the hierarchy that relies on official stylings such as “Your Excellency” or “CMG” that he considers getting in the way between diplomats and the public they serve. He argues that the Internet brings non-state actors into the conversations. People have equal access to information (at least, in most areas served by the Internet). Information is no longer a monopoly of certain elites. Now an influencer could post tweets on Twitter about issues they care about and form public opinions rather than relying on relevant government institutions to act in policing unfavourable situations.
The Naked Diplomat is not your typical textbook on diplomacy. It’s opinionated, yet an informed suggestion on the way forward for Diplomacy 4.0. Diplomats (and perhaps also in that regard, civil servants in other governmental institutions) need to understand the changing nature of engaging their public. People are more informed, information could be shared in real-time even when it’s still happening. In full agreement with Niall Ferguson’s opinion in The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook, it shows how the Internet is the Gutenberg printing press of our time. It has been affecting the way we think and perceive the world. Gutenberg’s invention managed to help Martin Luther unleash the Reformation of European Christendom across the German-speaking parts of Europe in the 16th century. We’re still in the process of witnessing where the Internet will bring us. Even our interactions with books have changed in the past few decades (see, for example, the existence of Bookstagrammers and Booktubers, and various reviews we post on Goodreads over the past years).
Ending his civil service in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now, FCDO) as the British Ambassador to Lebanon in 2015, Mr Fletcher made an unforgettable exit (termed “Flexit” by him, not to be confused with “Brexit”). He wrote an open letter addressed to Lebanon, titled “So… Yalla, Bye”, which characterises his ambassadorial life in Beirut in eight stages: ‘Seduction. Frustration. Exhilaration. Exhaustion. Disaffection. Infatuation. Addiction. Resignation’. A “Flexit” to revive the tradition of sending a valedictory for an outgoing ambassador, only this time, the “Flexit” invited many social media commentators (427 comments in total on the FCDO blog). But still, Mr Fletcher is not without concerns about the way digital technology affecting us. He says, ‘We all feel better connected but less well informed. For the first time, our problem is too much information, not too little. Being more in touch has reduced our ability to reach out and touch people.’
Mr Fletcher’s book is an attempt to show the power of the network, as opposed to the hierarchy that relies on official stylings such as “Your Excellency” or “CMG” that he considers getting in the way between diplomats and the public they serve. He argues that the Internet brings non-state actors into the conversations. People have equal access to information (at least, in most areas served by the Internet). Information is no longer a monopoly of certain elites. Now an influencer could post tweets on Twitter about issues they care about and form public opinions rather than relying on relevant government institutions to act in policing unfavourable situations.
The Naked Diplomat is not your typical textbook on diplomacy. It’s opinionated, yet an informed suggestion on the way forward for Diplomacy 4.0. Diplomats (and perhaps also in that regard, civil servants in other governmental institutions) need to understand the changing nature of engaging their public. People are more informed, information could be shared in real-time even when it’s still happening. In full agreement with Niall Ferguson’s opinion in The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook, it shows how the Internet is the Gutenberg printing press of our time. It has been affecting the way we think and perceive the world. Gutenberg’s invention managed to help Martin Luther unleash the Reformation of European Christendom across the German-speaking parts of Europe in the 16th century. We’re still in the process of witnessing where the Internet will bring us. Even our interactions with books have changed in the past few decades (see, for example, the existence of Bookstagrammers and Booktubers, and various reviews we post on Goodreads over the past years).
April 12, 2020
★★★★★ (5/5)
A selection of my favourite passages from the book
• And on the issue of their charm depended A land laid waste with all its young men slain, Its women weeping, and its towns in terror. W. H. Auden, ‘The Embassy’
• Making peace is easier when you have shown you can make war.
• Few jobs can be as exciting, and such a privilege. They give you an extraordinary insight into moments of history, and the characters who shape them.
• Diplomacy is action not reportage, so diplomats will need to show that they can use these new tools to change the world, not just describe how it looks.
• Diplomacy is hard when you are competing with players with greater pioneering zeal, when your nation loses its creative edge or hunger for innovation. Diplomacy is hard when a lack of resources or confidence leads to an introspective national mindset rather than a drive to find new ideas, markets and sources of renewal. When your agenda is set by demagogues and tabloids.
• Diplomats help states to surrender the bits of their authority that need to be surrendered if we are to transition to a system that has more chance of survival. That is never going to be popular, but it is as important a task as ever. Diplomats lubricate the interaction of power, ideas and change to make it as peaceful as possible.
• Alphabetical orderings can often be the most diplomatic solution. At these moments, British diplomats tend to favour the use of ‘United Kingdom’ over ‘Great Britain’. It gets the leader closer to their American counterpart, and safely clear of the difficult group of countries whose names begin with ‘I’.
• Much of it stands the test of the time, including his advice that ambassadors need to combine the theatre of their public role with the discretion and often secrecy of their private negotiations.
• when the French demanded that American diplomats pay huge bribes in order to see their foreign minister. The Americans rejected this preposterous offer, and have been making European statesmen pay ever since.
• Talleyrand opined that ‘only a fool mocks etiquette, it simplifies life’.
• Ironically, leaders can now talk more easily to each other, but they lack opportunities for real discussion.
• The immediacy of social media does not lend itself to the measured nature of international diplomacy… The issues with which ambassadors have to deal are better dealt with penseroso rather than allegro.
• The examples of diplomatic digital disasters– inadvertent insults to former opponents, misguided attempts at humour in serious situations, disgruntled hosts– will not seem so dramatic in a few years. There is no other way to pursue digital diplomacy effectively except through loosening the reins of control.
• The history of diplomacy suggests that diplomats have always been most effective when they have understood, channelled and represented real power.
• There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomatist. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages: of a judicious suggestion here, of an opportune civility there, of a wise concession at one point and far-sighted persistence at another, of sleepless tact, immovable calmness, and patience that no folly, no provocation, no blunder can shake. Lord Salisbury, 1862
• The British Foreign Office now sends ambassadors who have been away too long on recalibration tours of the UK, where they are encouraged to study populations of the regions that they might not know, so as to represent them more credibly.
• The poet Robert Frost suggested that ‘A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.’ Maybe that helps. But the diplomatic archives give us plenty of other clues as to the attributes that a diplomat really needs. The consistent themes are courage, curiosity, tact and the ability to eat anything.
• Many diplomats had as a result concluded that the best they could manage through ‘prudence and love of peace is the postponement of the evil day’. A pretty sobering mission statement.
• He identifies as the essential diplomatic attributes an open and serious spirit, small ego, sangfroid and equal humour, and the ability to remain calm under pressure.
• There is no doubt that detachment and tact matter. As Isaac Newton put it, ‘Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.’
• Sir Leslie Fielding rightly says that ‘plain dealing is best. Deviousness always backfires. Charm not coercion; good manners, not ill; persuasion not deception.’
• Foreign ministries will need to establish staff placements at technology companies rather than businesses or NGOs.
• The carefully drafted minute that looks brilliant and witty in the prime minister’s red box will seem reckless to a parliamentary committee armed with hindsight and media outrage.
• So how do nation states harness their magnetic power in the Digital Age? In my experience, it comes down to three ideas: having a strong national story; knowing how to tell it; and knowing how and when to mix the tools at your disposal.5
• As a result, the policy debate often became sidetracked by the need to focus on ‘deliverables’– announcements designed, more in hope than expectation, to prevent the media from writing negative alternatives. We had to think more about the visuals of any meeting with foreign leaders
• The objective of a diplomatic meeting should not be to leave everyone feeling warm, but to pursue the national interest.
• The rough running order for descriptions of a diplomatic encounter is: excellent, productive, constructive, practical, warm, good, businesslike, cordial, full and frank, candid and difficult. In a separate category is a ‘summons’.
• My concern is that empty rhetoric and purposeless platitudes make politics even less connected to those it needs to engage. Leave that vacuum and it is filled with demagogues and extremists.
• For the toughest peacemaking, you have to identify both a common vision and the leaders who have the courage to work towards it.
• We made the mistake of assuming that they negotiated like us. We anticipated that a greater part of their initial position consisted of elements that could more easily be given up (‘negotiating fat’) than was actually the case.
• Sir John Ure suggests that ‘the best diplomatic victories are those when everyone goes away thinking they have won. Diplomacy is the art of building ladders for other people to climb down.’
• In reality, the sweet spot for the negotiation is at the moment leaders engage. Only then do the real interests emerge. If a negotiator does not leave a nugget that only their leader can deliver, they have not done their job.
• Lebanon is a prisoner of history and geography. The losers, splitters and persecuted of the twentieth century sought refuge in its mountains, not anticipating the need to coexist with at least eighteen cults even more niche than their own.
• External interventions in Lebanon– in recent memory Israeli, Syrian, American, French, British, Iranian, even Italian– tend to follow a set pattern: seduction, toxification, terror, and ignominious departure. Lebanon is easy to swallow, but hard to digest.
• But you can’t be defined by your followers. We need to reach out, without falling into the trap of courting popularity. We’re not comedians, journalists or politicians, and we should not pretend to be.
• The best diplomacy is action not reportage, purpose not platitudes. So tweets should be about changing the world, not just describing how it looks.
• It used to be said that the best diplomats are either boffin, boy scout or assassin. No longer. The 2020 envoy is a lobbyist, leader, communicator, pioneer, entrepreneur, activist, campaigner, advocate. She has learnt from the best in those fields, and has worked in several of them. She does crossover. She competes for space, attention, relevance and influence. She builds game-changing coalitions and alliances across business, civil society, borders.
• We also know from history that they fall, normally when they become overstretched, lazy or corroded from within, when demagogues run amok, when they start to see the world as a source of anxiety not opportunity, or when hungrier power rivals emerge. A world where one country dominates cannot last long. Challengers always rise up to snap at the heels of the top dog of the age. Power ebbs and flows.
• As power becomes less like a hierarchy and more like a spider web, new actors will fill some of the vacuum.
• An optimist is a pessimist armed with facts.
• Austerity has a tendency to make countries look inward, yet historical precedent suggests that times of political and economic challenge are those when it is most important to look outward.
• Behind the ‘Excellencies’ and the protocol, diplomacy is not a mysterious cult. It doesn’t require years of training like medicine or law. Anyone can do it, and many people do so through small acts of resistance against apathy, division, corruption and fatalism.
• The greatest danger is in fact the loss of the curiosity to learn from each other, the loss of the desire to live together.
• ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’ (Speech, ‘Citizenship in a Republic’, 23 April 1910.)
• You gave me extraordinary friends, and you took some away. I loved your hopeless causes and hopeful hearts, shared your tearful depths and your breathless heights. There are eight stages of life as an ambassador here. Seduction. Frustration. Exhilaration. Exhaustion. Disaffection. Infatuation. Addiction. Resignation. I knew them all, often simultaneously. I wouldn’t have swapped it for anywhere in the world.
A selection of my favourite passages from the book
• And on the issue of their charm depended A land laid waste with all its young men slain, Its women weeping, and its towns in terror. W. H. Auden, ‘The Embassy’
• Making peace is easier when you have shown you can make war.
• Few jobs can be as exciting, and such a privilege. They give you an extraordinary insight into moments of history, and the characters who shape them.
• Diplomacy is action not reportage, so diplomats will need to show that they can use these new tools to change the world, not just describe how it looks.
• Diplomacy is hard when you are competing with players with greater pioneering zeal, when your nation loses its creative edge or hunger for innovation. Diplomacy is hard when a lack of resources or confidence leads to an introspective national mindset rather than a drive to find new ideas, markets and sources of renewal. When your agenda is set by demagogues and tabloids.
• Diplomats help states to surrender the bits of their authority that need to be surrendered if we are to transition to a system that has more chance of survival. That is never going to be popular, but it is as important a task as ever. Diplomats lubricate the interaction of power, ideas and change to make it as peaceful as possible.
• Alphabetical orderings can often be the most diplomatic solution. At these moments, British diplomats tend to favour the use of ‘United Kingdom’ over ‘Great Britain’. It gets the leader closer to their American counterpart, and safely clear of the difficult group of countries whose names begin with ‘I’.
• Much of it stands the test of the time, including his advice that ambassadors need to combine the theatre of their public role with the discretion and often secrecy of their private negotiations.
• when the French demanded that American diplomats pay huge bribes in order to see their foreign minister. The Americans rejected this preposterous offer, and have been making European statesmen pay ever since.
• Talleyrand opined that ‘only a fool mocks etiquette, it simplifies life’.
• Ironically, leaders can now talk more easily to each other, but they lack opportunities for real discussion.
• The immediacy of social media does not lend itself to the measured nature of international diplomacy… The issues with which ambassadors have to deal are better dealt with penseroso rather than allegro.
• The examples of diplomatic digital disasters– inadvertent insults to former opponents, misguided attempts at humour in serious situations, disgruntled hosts– will not seem so dramatic in a few years. There is no other way to pursue digital diplomacy effectively except through loosening the reins of control.
• The history of diplomacy suggests that diplomats have always been most effective when they have understood, channelled and represented real power.
• There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomatist. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages: of a judicious suggestion here, of an opportune civility there, of a wise concession at one point and far-sighted persistence at another, of sleepless tact, immovable calmness, and patience that no folly, no provocation, no blunder can shake. Lord Salisbury, 1862
• The British Foreign Office now sends ambassadors who have been away too long on recalibration tours of the UK, where they are encouraged to study populations of the regions that they might not know, so as to represent them more credibly.
• The poet Robert Frost suggested that ‘A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.’ Maybe that helps. But the diplomatic archives give us plenty of other clues as to the attributes that a diplomat really needs. The consistent themes are courage, curiosity, tact and the ability to eat anything.
• Many diplomats had as a result concluded that the best they could manage through ‘prudence and love of peace is the postponement of the evil day’. A pretty sobering mission statement.
• He identifies as the essential diplomatic attributes an open and serious spirit, small ego, sangfroid and equal humour, and the ability to remain calm under pressure.
• There is no doubt that detachment and tact matter. As Isaac Newton put it, ‘Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.’
• Sir Leslie Fielding rightly says that ‘plain dealing is best. Deviousness always backfires. Charm not coercion; good manners, not ill; persuasion not deception.’
• Foreign ministries will need to establish staff placements at technology companies rather than businesses or NGOs.
• The carefully drafted minute that looks brilliant and witty in the prime minister’s red box will seem reckless to a parliamentary committee armed with hindsight and media outrage.
• So how do nation states harness their magnetic power in the Digital Age? In my experience, it comes down to three ideas: having a strong national story; knowing how to tell it; and knowing how and when to mix the tools at your disposal.5
• As a result, the policy debate often became sidetracked by the need to focus on ‘deliverables’– announcements designed, more in hope than expectation, to prevent the media from writing negative alternatives. We had to think more about the visuals of any meeting with foreign leaders
• The objective of a diplomatic meeting should not be to leave everyone feeling warm, but to pursue the national interest.
• The rough running order for descriptions of a diplomatic encounter is: excellent, productive, constructive, practical, warm, good, businesslike, cordial, full and frank, candid and difficult. In a separate category is a ‘summons’.
• My concern is that empty rhetoric and purposeless platitudes make politics even less connected to those it needs to engage. Leave that vacuum and it is filled with demagogues and extremists.
• For the toughest peacemaking, you have to identify both a common vision and the leaders who have the courage to work towards it.
• We made the mistake of assuming that they negotiated like us. We anticipated that a greater part of their initial position consisted of elements that could more easily be given up (‘negotiating fat’) than was actually the case.
• Sir John Ure suggests that ‘the best diplomatic victories are those when everyone goes away thinking they have won. Diplomacy is the art of building ladders for other people to climb down.’
• In reality, the sweet spot for the negotiation is at the moment leaders engage. Only then do the real interests emerge. If a negotiator does not leave a nugget that only their leader can deliver, they have not done their job.
• Lebanon is a prisoner of history and geography. The losers, splitters and persecuted of the twentieth century sought refuge in its mountains, not anticipating the need to coexist with at least eighteen cults even more niche than their own.
• External interventions in Lebanon– in recent memory Israeli, Syrian, American, French, British, Iranian, even Italian– tend to follow a set pattern: seduction, toxification, terror, and ignominious departure. Lebanon is easy to swallow, but hard to digest.
• But you can’t be defined by your followers. We need to reach out, without falling into the trap of courting popularity. We’re not comedians, journalists or politicians, and we should not pretend to be.
• The best diplomacy is action not reportage, purpose not platitudes. So tweets should be about changing the world, not just describing how it looks.
• It used to be said that the best diplomats are either boffin, boy scout or assassin. No longer. The 2020 envoy is a lobbyist, leader, communicator, pioneer, entrepreneur, activist, campaigner, advocate. She has learnt from the best in those fields, and has worked in several of them. She does crossover. She competes for space, attention, relevance and influence. She builds game-changing coalitions and alliances across business, civil society, borders.
• We also know from history that they fall, normally when they become overstretched, lazy or corroded from within, when demagogues run amok, when they start to see the world as a source of anxiety not opportunity, or when hungrier power rivals emerge. A world where one country dominates cannot last long. Challengers always rise up to snap at the heels of the top dog of the age. Power ebbs and flows.
• As power becomes less like a hierarchy and more like a spider web, new actors will fill some of the vacuum.
• An optimist is a pessimist armed with facts.
• Austerity has a tendency to make countries look inward, yet historical precedent suggests that times of political and economic challenge are those when it is most important to look outward.
• Behind the ‘Excellencies’ and the protocol, diplomacy is not a mysterious cult. It doesn’t require years of training like medicine or law. Anyone can do it, and many people do so through small acts of resistance against apathy, division, corruption and fatalism.
• The greatest danger is in fact the loss of the curiosity to learn from each other, the loss of the desire to live together.
• ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’ (Speech, ‘Citizenship in a Republic’, 23 April 1910.)
• You gave me extraordinary friends, and you took some away. I loved your hopeless causes and hopeful hearts, shared your tearful depths and your breathless heights. There are eight stages of life as an ambassador here. Seduction. Frustration. Exhilaration. Exhaustion. Disaffection. Infatuation. Addiction. Resignation. I knew them all, often simultaneously. I wouldn’t have swapped it for anywhere in the world.
November 14, 2023
Good book and easy to read, but does not contain outstanding perspective, and despite being accessible and light, the writing is not exceptional. The book seems indecisive on whether it is a collection of reflections from biographic experiences or an essay modern diplomacy. Mixing both make the structure seem erratic.
This book provides a good overall impression on recent transformation that occurred in modern diplomacy ( in 2016), notably the acceleration of telecommunication and social media. The impact of those two factors on diplomacy are prominent themes in this book. Tom Fletcher provide a brief history of diplomacy, to put in contrast the impact of modern changes on diplomacy. He then demonstrate about the impact of new technology, communications and social media on diplomacy : changes in the secrecy of meeting, in the role of embassies abroad in a age of abundance of communications and more. In the end, the author build a case for diplomats and for the role of diplomacy to surf the wave of social media. He argued for public diplomacy, experimentation from embassies with messaging and engagement, and to not limit ourselves to generic and formal statement from government representative. This involve also a different way to take position on conflicts or thorny topics. Finally, he argued that every member of society can see itself as a diplomat under some aspect, and to leverage this lens to build a better world and engage.
The most interesting part are the experience of the author related to diplomacy and social media, and the experience of the author as diplomat in Lebanon for the UK. The author have an optimistic view that social media plays a heavy and positive role for society, improving transparency and democracy, giving a bigger voice to the people. However, recent development since the publication of the book in 2016 ( fake news, foreign disinformation…) might put some doubts on this assumptions.
The writing sometime seem to be distracted, and stay at the surface. The book doesn’t totally assume what it is : initially a book about diplomacy, but then it changes to a brief biographical work with reflections on personal experience in Lebanon, and a few others. I believe that the author could have gone more in details about. At the expense of the length of the book, I believe that it would have been interesting to read about more examples and analysis to support the main ideas of the book
This book provides a good overall impression on recent transformation that occurred in modern diplomacy ( in 2016), notably the acceleration of telecommunication and social media. The impact of those two factors on diplomacy are prominent themes in this book. Tom Fletcher provide a brief history of diplomacy, to put in contrast the impact of modern changes on diplomacy. He then demonstrate about the impact of new technology, communications and social media on diplomacy : changes in the secrecy of meeting, in the role of embassies abroad in a age of abundance of communications and more. In the end, the author build a case for diplomats and for the role of diplomacy to surf the wave of social media. He argued for public diplomacy, experimentation from embassies with messaging and engagement, and to not limit ourselves to generic and formal statement from government representative. This involve also a different way to take position on conflicts or thorny topics. Finally, he argued that every member of society can see itself as a diplomat under some aspect, and to leverage this lens to build a better world and engage.
The most interesting part are the experience of the author related to diplomacy and social media, and the experience of the author as diplomat in Lebanon for the UK. The author have an optimistic view that social media plays a heavy and positive role for society, improving transparency and democracy, giving a bigger voice to the people. However, recent development since the publication of the book in 2016 ( fake news, foreign disinformation…) might put some doubts on this assumptions.
The writing sometime seem to be distracted, and stay at the surface. The book doesn’t totally assume what it is : initially a book about diplomacy, but then it changes to a brief biographical work with reflections on personal experience in Lebanon, and a few others. I believe that the author could have gone more in details about. At the expense of the length of the book, I believe that it would have been interesting to read about more examples and analysis to support the main ideas of the book
October 26, 2019
Great book by British diplomat Tom Fletcher on how to use new technologies and social media in order to safeguard the power and relevance of diplomacy for a better world.
Fletcher’s writing and work in Lebanon is very inspiring: I feel pushed to participate and fully use the potential of social media to interact and raise issues the way he did. But it is also very delicate: Ministries of Foreign Affairs are very closed entities, putting severe restrictions on interactions of diplomats with media and the outside world, carefully preparing every communication in order to avoid controversy…
I especially like how Fletcher stresses the importance of diplomacy to advance peace and coexistence as ultimate goal.
Fletcher’s writing and work in Lebanon is very inspiring: I feel pushed to participate and fully use the potential of social media to interact and raise issues the way he did. But it is also very delicate: Ministries of Foreign Affairs are very closed entities, putting severe restrictions on interactions of diplomats with media and the outside world, carefully preparing every communication in order to avoid controversy…
I especially like how Fletcher stresses the importance of diplomacy to advance peace and coexistence as ultimate goal.
March 24, 2018
One of the best books I have ever read on Diplomacy. Tom Fletcher vision on the impact of digital world on diplomacy in the future. The book is discussing if diplomats will be threatened by the existence of social media and how they should interact with the new technologies that appear everyday. We are all born as diplomats, it is an innate trait within us through the evolutionary process. I hugely recommend this book for people who would like to know how technology and social media will be affecting diplomacy in the future. It is funny and well-written book and into the point.
July 25, 2019
Interesting read. I think it could have been more valuable if focused on the present and future, with an overview of other countries practices regarding digital diplomacy.
The chapters directly dealing with Fletcher as Ambassador of his country to Lebanon are in my point of view the best.
The chapters directly dealing with Fletcher as Ambassador of his country to Lebanon are in my point of view the best.
July 15, 2024
A collection of extremely prescient essays written in anengaging and informative style. I especially liked his picturing of the future ambassador but also felt he did an effective job of covering counterpoints such as Neil Postman's work.
February 20, 2021
Interesting book which raises some genuine and useful challenge about how we conduct diplomacy in the 21st century. Good potted history too and insights from the heart of government. But this book occasionally strays into a stream of consciousness which buys its own hype, beating the reader about the head with the same points two or three times over. It could be 25% shorter and lose nothing from its substance.
August 11, 2024
A solid read, though it did just feel like a broad selection of thoughts on diplomacy in the modern age. Interesting but on the hunt for more this year
February 9, 2025
Enjoyed this for learning about how different the life of a diplomat is and insights into how to get things done, (thought it could have been a bit shorter).
May 16, 2020
"Too male and too pale!"
I only gave one star because it showed little true understanding into the rise of popularism. You will read the same arguments you get in the Guardian or the Times i.e. that big tech allows anyone to publish what they want online and people are swayed by fake news, and not enough minorities in the foreign office- It lacks nuance. Are we really that stupid? White working class males are the biggest under achievers in British schools and the most neglected. I am not surprised why the British are so disappointed in establishment figures like Tom Fletcher. Their ideas and policies drive popularism.
I only gave one star because it showed little true understanding into the rise of popularism. You will read the same arguments you get in the Guardian or the Times i.e. that big tech allows anyone to publish what they want online and people are swayed by fake news, and not enough minorities in the foreign office- It lacks nuance. Are we really that stupid? White working class males are the biggest under achievers in British schools and the most neglected. I am not surprised why the British are so disappointed in establishment figures like Tom Fletcher. Their ideas and policies drive popularism.
April 5, 2020
At first, I was expecting a lot of personal experiences to come up in this book. What I got instead was a compilation of platitudes. If you've read a lot of diplomacy/IR books before, this book offers nothing new. I hope the author just focused on his personal experiences and from their offer valuable insights. Also, there were quite a few grammatical and typo errors. Hoped the editor did a better job.
November 8, 2020
Tom Argues that the digital age brings with it more possibilities than challenges in diplomacy. He takes you on historical journey of diplomacy and compares with the present. His focus was more on Lebanon and Britain, exactly how much of that experience applies to the rest of the world remains unclear.
December 8, 2016
Shine on you crazy diamond!
Tom's overview of diplomacy as a profession really is much more than just that. It's a preamble to a manifesto for future global coexistence. A fantastic book which is relevant to all of us, not just those working formally in diplomacy.
Tom's overview of diplomacy as a profession really is much more than just that. It's a preamble to a manifesto for future global coexistence. A fantastic book which is relevant to all of us, not just those working formally in diplomacy.
October 26, 2024
I thought Tom Fletcher was in McFly so imagine my surprise when he’s also the British Ambassador to Lebanon. I’d hoped for more in the ‘memoir’ category, but I guess a lot of that is classified – the stories about life as a diplomat are the most interesting elements of this book, to me. The rest – there’s a lot of aphorisms, wry or otherwise – some of which stick (‘Diplomacy is constructing ladders for others to climb down’) and some of which feel a bit smug or preachy. And it has dated, oh, how it has dated, in only a decade.
Extolling the enormous success in Lebanon in 2015, much has changed now with their entrance into conflict. The book was published before Brexit and before the pandemic, and so many of the assertions now seem off the mark, and much of the hopefulness for the power of diplomacy has been lost. As for the hopes for the democratisation of diplomacy through access to social media… That hope galvanised by the Arab Spring is one that I sense has faded since the algorithms stymie helpful debate.
Also, lot of androcentrism (yes, I appreciate women have been repressed for centuries and wouldn’t have been sent as part of diplomatic envoys but women did actually achieve things and you could occasionally include them in lists of ‘geniuses’ or ‘influential figures’ of a time period) and patronising of women, and yes, all the dry nods to the long-suffering diplomat’s wife were tongue in cheek but you put your wife through the same things Tom did you not?? And the whole 'Ambassador of 2025' being a 'she' and having VR glasses etc etc - wow, mind blowing, by 2025 maybe even women could serve as His Maj's Envoy. How patronising did that feel, at the end of 2024....
AND all the references to Ferrero Rocher. It was hugely successful marketing campaign. Let it go.
Still, it’s a helpful introduction if you think diplomacy is still all about ambassador’s receptions. As someone who's met a few British Ambassadors and held receptions at their residences, it was interesting to appreciate the histories and challenges of such a posting. Tom Fletcher, you’re really spoiling us?
Extolling the enormous success in Lebanon in 2015, much has changed now with their entrance into conflict. The book was published before Brexit and before the pandemic, and so many of the assertions now seem off the mark, and much of the hopefulness for the power of diplomacy has been lost. As for the hopes for the democratisation of diplomacy through access to social media… That hope galvanised by the Arab Spring is one that I sense has faded since the algorithms stymie helpful debate.
Also, lot of androcentrism (yes, I appreciate women have been repressed for centuries and wouldn’t have been sent as part of diplomatic envoys but women did actually achieve things and you could occasionally include them in lists of ‘geniuses’ or ‘influential figures’ of a time period) and patronising of women, and yes, all the dry nods to the long-suffering diplomat’s wife were tongue in cheek but you put your wife through the same things Tom did you not?? And the whole 'Ambassador of 2025' being a 'she' and having VR glasses etc etc - wow, mind blowing, by 2025 maybe even women could serve as His Maj's Envoy. How patronising did that feel, at the end of 2024....
AND all the references to Ferrero Rocher. It was hugely successful marketing campaign. Let it go.
Still, it’s a helpful introduction if you think diplomacy is still all about ambassador’s receptions. As someone who's met a few British Ambassadors and held receptions at their residences, it was interesting to appreciate the histories and challenges of such a posting. Tom Fletcher, you’re really spoiling us?
April 3, 2023
This had its moments but even allowing for the necessary secrecy of a diplomat's work, I still felt it could have said a lot more.
It covered the past, present and future of diplomacy, and tried to explain what a diplomat does and what they should do. Even having read this, I'm still not entirely sure what authority or power they actually have, just that they'd like more of it. I also felt like a lot of the same points were being repeated, and towards the end he reproduced a goodbye letter than seemed to form the basis of most of what he had already said - and although there were a lot more words to the book, I didn't feel that all of it was necessarily more detailed.
Fletcher regularly stressed the importance of openness and honesty, and not trying to control all the messages and hide behind platitudes. But a lot of what he said was quite vague, as it was important for a social media presence to complement action, but I'm not sure what action that took in the most part. There was a lot of talk about networks and a digital future, but sometimes it had the tone of a fairly bland business manual rather than a guide to diplomacy. I learnt more about deals done by political heads of state than I did about diplomats, and the endless pithy quotes from famous people to back up his points I found annoying.
Overall I felt like I'd been on a diplomacy open day, with a lot of positive words about what should happen and some second-hand anecdotes illustrating what not to do, but never feeling that this was a true reflection of the day to day grind. I got a slightly better impression than I'd had before I read it, but not what I was hoping for, and I had really lost interest by the last third of the book which had a style similar to a political speech, a lot of three-pronged arguments and profound-sounding statements, but not enough substance.
It covered the past, present and future of diplomacy, and tried to explain what a diplomat does and what they should do. Even having read this, I'm still not entirely sure what authority or power they actually have, just that they'd like more of it. I also felt like a lot of the same points were being repeated, and towards the end he reproduced a goodbye letter than seemed to form the basis of most of what he had already said - and although there were a lot more words to the book, I didn't feel that all of it was necessarily more detailed.
Fletcher regularly stressed the importance of openness and honesty, and not trying to control all the messages and hide behind platitudes. But a lot of what he said was quite vague, as it was important for a social media presence to complement action, but I'm not sure what action that took in the most part. There was a lot of talk about networks and a digital future, but sometimes it had the tone of a fairly bland business manual rather than a guide to diplomacy. I learnt more about deals done by political heads of state than I did about diplomats, and the endless pithy quotes from famous people to back up his points I found annoying.
Overall I felt like I'd been on a diplomacy open day, with a lot of positive words about what should happen and some second-hand anecdotes illustrating what not to do, but never feeling that this was a true reflection of the day to day grind. I got a slightly better impression than I'd had before I read it, but not what I was hoping for, and I had really lost interest by the last third of the book which had a style similar to a political speech, a lot of three-pronged arguments and profound-sounding statements, but not enough substance.
July 23, 2025
I listened to the audiobook version of this book.
I have a casual interest in international relations. This book introduced to me one tool that we use to navigate the fascinating world of relations between countries and international organisations like UN - diplomacy.
The central thesis of this book is that the diplomacy must change to take advantage of the new ways people talk to each other. For example, most of the communication these days happens over internet over short texts so we must learn to express ourselves in that medium. Otherwise, we risk to be ignored; others would just working around us rather than with us.
This book also shows the different shades of events, how the "right" and "wrong" depends on the viewpoint, and how we need nuanced solutions to problems. Anyone who claims to have "one simple trick" to solve these problems is either lying or being delusional. This book has made me suspicious of simple solutions to human and society problems.
Finally, people themselves are very complicated and this book has given me some ideas on how to navigate situations involving people I know. It's important, and fun, to understand other's motivations. It makes life more enjoyable and you are richer because people different than you bring their own thoughts on things you are grappling with.
I have a casual interest in international relations. This book introduced to me one tool that we use to navigate the fascinating world of relations between countries and international organisations like UN - diplomacy.
The central thesis of this book is that the diplomacy must change to take advantage of the new ways people talk to each other. For example, most of the communication these days happens over internet over short texts so we must learn to express ourselves in that medium. Otherwise, we risk to be ignored; others would just working around us rather than with us.
This book also shows the different shades of events, how the "right" and "wrong" depends on the viewpoint, and how we need nuanced solutions to problems. Anyone who claims to have "one simple trick" to solve these problems is either lying or being delusional. This book has made me suspicious of simple solutions to human and society problems.
Finally, people themselves are very complicated and this book has given me some ideas on how to navigate situations involving people I know. It's important, and fun, to understand other's motivations. It makes life more enjoyable and you are richer because people different than you bring their own thoughts on things you are grappling with.
January 30, 2022
We are living through four major trends: the erosion of US hegemony and a shift to a period without a lead nation; the collapse, perhaps rapid, of the twentieth-century world order; the increased influence of non-state actors and new elites; and the technological empowerment of individuals. (...)
At a time when we have the tools to react globally, we are failing to use them. We face massive global transition at a time when there is a lack of global leadership, and a growing realisation that we are leaderless. No one has a plan. We have not begun to adapt our institutions to the new realities. (...)
These challenges are not just about the Internet, but about how information, and the power that goes with it, is distributed. Diplomats must help deliver the benefits of the digital century, while helping to ease its birth pangs. Statecraft does not get you far without states or craft. (...)
On the battle for Digital territory:
On one side will be those who believe in coexistence, the ability of humans from different races and religions to live together. On the other side will be those who don’t.
At a time when we have the tools to react globally, we are failing to use them. We face massive global transition at a time when there is a lack of global leadership, and a growing realisation that we are leaderless. No one has a plan. We have not begun to adapt our institutions to the new realities. (...)
These challenges are not just about the Internet, but about how information, and the power that goes with it, is distributed. Diplomats must help deliver the benefits of the digital century, while helping to ease its birth pangs. Statecraft does not get you far without states or craft. (...)
On the battle for Digital territory:
On one side will be those who believe in coexistence, the ability of humans from different races and religions to live together. On the other side will be those who don’t.
April 22, 2019
Let me start with what this book is not, it is not a 'kiss and tell' memoir recounting all Fletcher's advice to ministers over the years; it is not a dull, monotonous recollection of centuries of historical diplomacy; it is not, in short, what I expected.
Rather, this is a masterful account of how diplomacy has changed since the days of Ug, Castlereagh and Churchill. Whilst in places it may seem pessimistic, it is merely honest and the overall tone of the book is hugely optimistic for what the future holds for our increasingly globalised society - provided we act now.
For the keen mandarins amongst us, every looking for the next titbit of insight into the World of Whitehall, worry not: there are plenty of anecdotes of Fletcher's own time in the FCO to keep us reading, but you will not need them - the main content and analysis is enthralling enough, and any anecdote Fletcher includes only adds to the analysis by contextualising the information!
A masterpiece by a modern day Castlereagh.
Rather, this is a masterful account of how diplomacy has changed since the days of Ug, Castlereagh and Churchill. Whilst in places it may seem pessimistic, it is merely honest and the overall tone of the book is hugely optimistic for what the future holds for our increasingly globalised society - provided we act now.
For the keen mandarins amongst us, every looking for the next titbit of insight into the World of Whitehall, worry not: there are plenty of anecdotes of Fletcher's own time in the FCO to keep us reading, but you will not need them - the main content and analysis is enthralling enough, and any anecdote Fletcher includes only adds to the analysis by contextualising the information!
A masterpiece by a modern day Castlereagh.
March 5, 2020
A highly recommended, brilliant read which urges every citizen to act upon crucial transnational issues. A diplomat's main job is to pursue national interest, whereas the 'Naked' diplomat, as Tom eloquently puts it, is a citizen diplomat who steers away from traditional diplomacy to better the world altogether. It's well-written, humorous and witty with important underlying messages.
It was both an honour and a privilege to have met Tom Fletcher in person.
An insightful context of International Relations, with a key theme of politics in the digital age. This book was written for everyone to read, not just public servants. I am especially in awe of his love and dedication to a better Lebanon, having served as the UK's ambassador in Beirut from 2011-2015 amidst the "Arab Spring".
A political super-hero who has excellent writing skills. Thank you for this book.
It was both an honour and a privilege to have met Tom Fletcher in person.
An insightful context of International Relations, with a key theme of politics in the digital age. This book was written for everyone to read, not just public servants. I am especially in awe of his love and dedication to a better Lebanon, having served as the UK's ambassador in Beirut from 2011-2015 amidst the "Arab Spring".
A political super-hero who has excellent writing skills. Thank you for this book.
February 10, 2024
this book took me forever to finish, not because of the difficulty of the concepts to grasp but due to the shaky writing and pacing. there's definitely interesting materials, but the content was super disorganized and the chapter breaks did not really help. fletcher also belabors certain points (like the 100 page introduction on the history of diplomacy, starting from the neandrathals lol) but brushes over others. the best parts of the book were his personal anecdotes of his time as a British ambassador, which would have honestly been a more interesting read. i also don't know whether points made in his book would stand today, given that this was published in 2016. learned something new still, can't be mad about that.
November 2, 2018
The title of the book is self-explinatory, Fletcher reflects on technology and the different aspects it’s affected policy and, most importantly, communication. I found it to be an enjoyable read and a very modern perspective on diplomacy and its role today. Fletcher’s comments on the art of diplomacy are often very tongue in cheek, his tone manages to be critical, yet reflectory and not irreverent. All in all, I’d recommend it to anyone who is curious about how statescraft could evolve in the Digital age.
December 23, 2024
While very brave, insightful and ambitious, Tom Fletcher talks a lot about a lot of things. Many stories about his time as a diplomat were inspiring, but did not contribute to the overall ideology he was trying to spread. I was missing the red string, like we say in Dutch. The technology aspect was less prominent as I had expected, however I do recognize this book was written 10 years ago.
He did however make some good predictions for 2025. Let’s see where this year takes us and if Fletcher is right after all.
He did however make some good predictions for 2025. Let’s see where this year takes us and if Fletcher is right after all.
March 23, 2018
His excellency brings Me closer to a point in which I acknowledge that he acknowledges his imperial baggage though carrying a superb diplomatic “case”!
Soft power compliments hard power and it is not a mere substitution for it: boots on the ground and ebooks in device....keeping peace!!
Yet, the book in hand is a handbook for future Diplomats, state-men and public servants.
p.s.: A question his excellency can think the answer for....why does UK have two embassies????
Soft power compliments hard power and it is not a mere substitution for it: boots on the ground and ebooks in device....keeping peace!!
Yet, the book in hand is a handbook for future Diplomats, state-men and public servants.
p.s.: A question his excellency can think the answer for....why does UK have two embassies????
May 30, 2024
Four stars because I expected a more intimate view of diplomacy, once the book is called “the naked diplomat”. I also did not expect to read so much on the impact of the internet and social media on politics and diplomacy. The book should have otherwise been called “the connected diplomat”. All in all, it was an enjoyable book and I learned many things from it. I especially enjoyed the last few chapters. Thank you, Tom Fletcher.
March 13, 2025
really easy, at times humorous and accessible read into digital diplomacy. at times it felt too surface level when there’s much more he could’ve gotten into
also mad reading this in 2025 and thinking about how digital diplomacy has changed so much since 2016: cambridge analytica scandal, global pandemic and global BLM/MeToo protests, and war on palestine - all of which have been public tests of digital diplomacy (and most failures)
also mad reading this in 2025 and thinking about how digital diplomacy has changed so much since 2016: cambridge analytica scandal, global pandemic and global BLM/MeToo protests, and war on palestine - all of which have been public tests of digital diplomacy (and most failures)
August 10, 2017
I loved this book. It gives some (false?) hope about Lebanon's future in some parts, which was very refreshing. Tom's love for this country is both confusing and amusing.
It's very well written and entertaining to read, and really clarifies the connection between tech, politics, and diplomacy. I suggest that anyone with the smallest interest in diplomacy and politics read this book.
It's very well written and entertaining to read, and really clarifies the connection between tech, politics, and diplomacy. I suggest that anyone with the smallest interest in diplomacy and politics read this book.
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