Ambassador Series: Doing What You Love
July 6, 2021
This blog post was written by Daniel Douglas. Daniel is an intern coordinator with the Alhambra U.S. Chamber.
The Ambassador Speaker Series is an interactive, online Q&A held by Alhambra-US Chamber each month. On June 26, 2021, the former US Ambassador to Finland under President Obama, Charles C. Adams, discussed his personal and professional experiences during and after his position. He currently works with various social activist boards as an international arbitration expert and board member. Through the Ambassador Series, Alhambra-US Chamber hopes to advance its mission of providing education and strengthening professional development around the world, and we hope to see you at our next Q&A!
Adams’ interest in politics originated with his father, who served as a US Foreign Service Officer in several countries including Canada, Western Africa, Europe, and Nepal. He stated that he wanted to honor his parents in his career, and so he received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1973. Having moved around with his father, Adams became familiar with a variety of languages; he is fluent in French, German, and Swahili, and picked up some Finnish as well. He worked hard to build the skills needed to understand others and apply those skills into his career. These skills would lead to a rewarding and fascinating life.
Before becoming a US Ambassador, Adams worked as a managing partner in several Genevan law firms. In 2008, Adams transitioned to working in the National Finance Committee for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential campaign. He also served in this role in 2012, where he traveled to Europe with actor George Clooney to fundraise for the 2012 Obama campaign. His efforts were starting to pay off, but soon they would take him to a place he may never have imagined before.
After the second election of President Obama, the President asked Adams to become the new ambassador to Finland. After a long selection process, and some debate in the Senate, it took the new ambassador a mere 30 seconds to get confirmed for the position. By the next day, Adams was on a flight to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and met with the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö. Adams served until January 20, 2017, when President Donald Trump selected a new ambassador.
The ambassador learned valuable skills from his years as the son of a Foreign Service Officer, an international law arbitrator, and an ambassador. But his skills were not only beneficial to the people he worked with, they also opened doors for him to meet people who were radically different from him. He realized how indispensable and exciting multiculturalism is during the age of globalization, and spoke on how traveling, remaining open-minded, and immersing oneself in another culture is vital for gaining practical experience. He also emphasized that the one thing needed more than ever in international relations is empathy for others. The time he spent around the world taught him that if you work in a job you love, it will not feel like a job at all.
One experience that particularly impacted the ambassador’s outlook was visiting a sauna with a group of Finns. He was reluctant to participate at first, since they had a tradition that involved running nude into a freezing cold body of water and then immediately back to the sauna. However, the experience allowed Adams to build bonds with the people he shared it with, and realized again the importance of being open-minded and empathetic. Not to mention that in such a position as his, it would not have been diplomatic to decline participating in the sauna. In other words, the pressure of his position forced him into an exciting new experience. Ambassador Adams had this kind of experience time after time while in Finland: he ate bear and deer meat, flew a fighter jet, and had to memorize a speech in Finnish before he knew the language. His career has been full of twists that have pushed him beyond his previous worldviews, but the excitement drove him forward through the challenges.
Ambassador Adams started his career working through undergraduate and law textbooks, and ended up eating strange meats and stepping onto a podium unsure if his listeners would even understand him. Yet despite the hard work and uncertainty inherent to diplomacy, he has developed a love for understanding and connecting with others because the experiences he had among other people and cultures were so enjoyable. He wants people to find careers they love, and his own career shows that putting yourself out there is the best way to find one.
The Alhambra US Chamber greatly appreciates the insight that Ambassador Adams brought to this Q&A! Keep an eye out for our next installment in the Ambassador Series. Make sure to register here and follow our social media:
Instagram: @alhambra_us
Facebook: @alhambrauschamber
Twitter: @alhambraUSC
LinkedIn: Alhambra US Chamber
YouTube: Alhambra US Chamber
