# DLA foreign policy advisor shares career advice

/ Published March 29, 2023
FORT BELVOIR, Va. , 
Sharing his personal insights and essential components of professional development, Defense Logistics Agency Foreign Policy Advisor Gregory Winstead spoke to more than 100 employees during a virtual DLA Energy Lunch and Learn March 14.

As a foreign policy advisor (referred to as POLAD), Winstead provides expertise and advice to senior, strategic level military and civilian leaders within DLA.

“I hope that the session generated useful ideas for those who are looking at various aspects of their professional development,” Winstead said. 

Winstead is a former DLA Energy direct delivery contract specialist who changed careers and joined the U.S. Department of State in 2000 as a career Foreign Service Officer and later became a member of the Senior Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, he held consular, economic, and political team leadership assignments in Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East and in Washington headquarters postings.

An experienced gifted linguist, Winstead speaks German, Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish, and studied Arabic and Uzbek.

“POLADs are on the frontline of communications and collaboration between the Department of State and the Department of Defense,” Winstead said. “We advise commanders facing a myriad of decisions with foreign policy implications.”

Winstead explained that diplomatic engagement strategy and career success rely on defining goals, building coalitions, and managing relationships.

“When you are sitting down at a table, you want to be engaging and manage the relationship with an end goal of win-win for common understanding,” Winstead said. “Many of these diplomatic engagement tactics mirror the same components of professional development; goals, operational knowledge, mission awareness, subject matter expertise, identifying options and constructive engagement.”

Constructive engagement tactics include building bridges and managing relationships for mutual benefit.

Another element of career success is to develop a tool kit, Winstead said.

A tool kit can contain checklists, presentations and talking points as well as practicing for murder boards. A murder board is a term that was originally coined by the U.S. military and refers to the practice of preparing people for oral exams. It is an essential tool to arm you with responses to all the tough questions that a customer or job panel can ask and help prepare you to be more effective in that interview, Winstead explained.

The purpose of talking points is to ensure that messages and a clear understanding are conveyed to the other party, a method useful no matter what the issue is at hand.

“Sometimes unexpected issues arise,” he said. “As a diplomat, research is critical to understand the people, background and views from across the table. It’s always important to have networks and lines of communication to know what is happening in a larger context.”

Another suggestion is to keep an ongoing record of accomplishments.

“This is quite helpful when you are working with your supervisor,” Winstead said. “It is important to review your record of accomplishments every two to three months to help motivate and achieve your goals.”

Winstead stressed having a prepared elevator pitch ready to go. An elevator pitch is a brief (think 30 seconds!) way of introducing yourself, getting across a key point or two, and making a connection with someone. It’s called an elevator pitch because it takes roughly the amount of time you’d spend riding an elevator with someone.

“Imagine getting into the elevator with Brig. Gen. Canlas. What would you want to say to him in the 20 to 30 seconds it takes to travel from the fourth floor to the first floor?” he said.

Logistics Management Specialist Kevin Epstein found Winstead’s presentation enlightening.

“I really enjoyed this Lunch and Learn session,” Epstein said. “Very informative presentation. Great examples.”

The next DLA Energy Lunch and Learn session will be held via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. The guest speaker will be Cynthia Clark, DoD Employee Assistance Program field consultant. The topic of discussion will be Communicating Effectively in the Workplace.   

*The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the U.S. Government.*