Stephan Helgesen learned to exercise judgment at an early age. As a child in rural southern Wisconsin, he grew up around farm animals.

"Believe me, if you've been on the wrong side of the cow early in the morning, you need diplomacy," he said, smiling. "Diplomacy can be learned."

He has lived that diplomacy for more than 50 years.

The experience he gained as part of the foreign service is invaluable in his current volunteer position as president of the Albuquerque Council of International Visitors.

Through the State Department program, emerging leaders from countries around the world come to America for three or four weeks. They learn about commerce, cultural affairs, government and nongovernment entities.

"They are dealing with multiethnic issues with tribes of people in their own countries," Helgesen said, and want to learn how to integrate their societies.

Visiting American Indian reservations and pueblos is an often-requested trip to see how those tribal governments run.

Before moving to New Mexico, Helgesen didn't wait for the need to come to him. He headed straight for it.

A business career that began in 1966 took him into public relations, marketing, advertising and publishing.

He then delved into diplomacy, becoming a foreign service officer for the Department of Commerce in 1984.

The government sent him to the Netherlands, Trinidad, Denmark, Germany and Singapore during the next 20 years taking his expertise to other countries.

"Issues around the world are inextricably linked (in) business, culture, economics, politics," Helgesen said.

Money isn't the only - or even the best - way to get results when faced with challenges.

"Throw enough people at issues and you're bound to come up with solutions," he said. "We have to start valuing human capital more than we do."

That human capital covers all countries and cultures. He knows.

He's lived in several countries and visited others while serving under 13 different ambassadors. He speaks five languages fluently and understands two others.

Can we ever come together as a world community?

"I have to be optimistic about it. Yes, we have shortcomings. That cannot be our principle focus," he said. "There are a number of good people working on tough issues who simply won't give up on them."

Everyone, he said, can contribute something to their community.

"We get glimpses of greatness in every human being," he said. "Not necessarily when we want it, when we need it, but we have to be looking for it. When you're looking for it, you can more readily see it."

If you talk to him for more than a few minutes, you begin to see more than a diplomat and optimist. You see empathy and commitment. You see the world through his eyes for what it could be.