1 of 1 copy available
In her roles as chief of protocol for President Barack Obama and social secretary to President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Capricia Penavic Marshall not only bore witness to history, but she also facilitated it. From curating rooms to have an intended impact to knowing which cultural gestures earned trust, her detailed measures were superpower influences that laid the groundwork for successful diplomacy between leaders and tilted the advantage, always, in her team's favor. Sharing unvarnished anecdotes of harrowing near misses and exhilarating triumphs, Marshall offers the master class in soft power.
Praise for Protocol
"A trusted friend and a trusted colleague. I can't imagine anyone who has been a greater public servant." —Hillary Clinton
"Working with Capricia during the Obama administration was nothing short of wonderful! Her guiding hand and innovative methods laid the foundation for our successful diplomacy on the world stage." —Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to Barack Obama and author of Finding My Voice
"Fascinating. . . . An informative and often charming primer on a little-known—but vital—government post." —Kirkus Reviews
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 11, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780062844477
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780062844477
- File size: 1603 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 1, 2020
A memoir from the U.S. chief of protocol from 2009 to 2013. Protocol, notes Marshall, who also served as social secretary for the Clintons for eight years, is a strategic tactic in diplomacy that can be just that element that seals the deal, "the structure that houses the dignitaries as they have the crucial conversations." As the daughter of two immigrants--a Mexican mother and a Croatian father--raised in Cleveland, the author professes a passion for ways to "bridge cultural divides and influence the outcome of [clients'] engagements." Unsurprisingly given her career, Marshall's first book is sharply organized. She begins with some of the highlights from her high-level work--e.g., in 2012, when Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met for the first time as presidents at the G20 economic summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. There, Marshall had to execute a "high-wire act" to help ensure her president's most advantageous outcome: room, d�cor, seating arrangement, table setting, food, and interpreter. The scene worked perfectly then, though a year later, when the same two leaders met for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, it was a "cold, unproductive reunion" and a logistical disaster: massive open tent, weak lighting, no food, and chair placement that offered "only a three-quarter view of the other's face." The author demonstrates the importance of the "twin engines of protocol: bridging and persuading," and her many behind-the-scenes anecdotes are both instructive and entertaining. The meticulous care that goes into table setting, food presentation, and appropriate gifts all convey one's identity and eagerness to negotiate. Within the rules of etiquette, the author writes, "lies a hidden world of communication and leverage" as well as "intention and feeling." Marshall's story is fascinating, but especially illuminating are the concluding chapters, "Negotiating While Female" and "What Would Capricia Do?: A Handbook of Protocol and Etiquette." An informative and often charming primer on a little-known--but vital--government post.COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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