The Future of Digital Diplomacy: An Interview With Alec Ross

Alec Ross, the State Department's first senior advisor for innovation, is leaving after nearly four years of spearheading the department's lunge into the twenty-first century

After leaving the State Department, he'll take time to write a book and perhaps a screenplay, found a company to advise investors, corporations and government leaders on the "implication of macro-factors emerging at the intersection of geopolitics, markets and network technologies," mentor up-and-coming talent and work with fast-growing startups to help them understand foreign markets.

In a conversation with Mashable, Ross reflected upon helping to build what he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton call "twenty-first century statecraft" and shared some advice for his successors.