Help needed in rephrasing sentence

"Now as Foreign Minister, he cautioned his subordinates against knee-jerk reactions in international affairs, [an arena demanding disposition very different from the regimented party life]."

I need some help in rephrasing the last, bracketed sentence in an elegant way. What I want to say in it is that the kind of personal temperament that diplomatic life rewards is very different from the kind of personal temperament that the regimented Communist party life tends to encourage. As the sentence now stands, I am not sure if it is grammatically correct. I find it very tedious if I render it this way: "an arena demanding disposition very different from the kind of disposition the regimented party life demanded."

Thanks.

Joe