President Bill Clinton was the leader of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was a very visible public figure who did not escape public scrutiny. One could describe him as a servant leader. He is one who easily connects with the people who he works with, and these people are motivated and inspired to the job on hand and finish it with flying colors. In the 2000 Camp David Summit, he brought together the leaders of the two longest-feuding nations – Ehud Barak of Israel and Yasser Arafat of Palestine. Israel and Palestine have a history of feuding for as long as history itself, and he really did his best and gave it all in order to bring the two leaders to a peace settlement. He did not take into account his own personal interests, but rather brought the two leaders together to thresh out their differences and find a solution that would bring long lasting peace to the region (US Department of State, 2000). Unfortunately, the objective of coming up with a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine was not achieved during this summit. Despite this, President Bill Clinton was viewed by the public as a man who wanted to work for peace and who exerted much effort for peace between the two feuding nations. He could be said to be a servant leader as he had the best interests of others in mind rather than his own. He was also able to communicate his message of the need for peace in the region clearly to the two people concerned, and he tried his best to bring the two to an agreement. For this, he also could be said to be a transformational leader (DuBois, et al, 2015).
When handling conflicts, Clinton pursued his goals relentlessly. After the failure of Israel and Palestine to reach an accord in 2000, he still worked relentlessly to attempt to bring the agreement to a close, even if he knew that his term of office was drawing to a close. Any other leader would not have cared if agreements were made or not, but President Clinton wanted to see the entire process through to success. Perhaps Clinton was too accommodating of both leaders, such that he was not able to “police” or “discipline” the proceedings of the summit such that he could convince the two leaders to agree on a peace covenant. There are also experts who posit that the process indeed was to be a lengthy one, taking into account years of history as well. Nevertheless, Clinton really exerted all the effort that he could during this summit. What ought to have been done is to negotiate through a series of discussions, rather than just to bring the leaders to a single meeting. Leadership is also all about being patient, working cautiously towards achieving goals.
References
DuBois, M., Hanlon, J., Koch, J., Nyatuga, B. and Kerr, N. 2015. Leadership Styles of Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High Performance Teams. Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance and Marketing, 7(1): 30-46.
US Department of State. 2000. Trilateral Statement on the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David. Retrieved 24 February 2016 from: http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/nea/rls/22698.htm
