India and the US are poised at a historic juncture in bilateral relations, said Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York, while delivering a keynote speech on ‘Principles of Leadership’ on the second day of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. He said the Indian and American governments have displayed unique leadership qualities in guiding their respective countries through the July 2005 Agreement that has important implications for the international nuclear order.

Giuliani, who has also authored a book entitled Leadership, said leaders are made, not born. He went on to enumerate six basic qualities that leaders must develop, illustrating them with examples from his experience as the Mayor of New York at the time of the 9/11 attacks and with other examples from American and world history.

Rudolph Giuliani	Photo: Ajay Agarwal

Leaders, according to Giuliani, must possess the ability to set goals; must have the courage to take risks and stand by their convictions; must be optimistic and success-oriented; must invest in relentless preparation to meet any eventuality; must be able to work in a team by balancing strengths against weaknesses; and must have the ability to communicate effectively. He cited Ronald Reagan and Dr Martin Luther King Jr as two examples of superlative leaders who had complete faith in their cause and had the commitment to put in every effort to achieve their respective goals.

However, Giuliani added, to be a leader one must love people. This quality, he said, is what the leaders of India and the US have in common. Both countries share common traditions and convictions like democracy, rule of law and the need to help people come out of poverty.

Giuliani also answered questions from the audience, particularly pertaining to the war in Iraq and its effect on the recent mid-term elections in the US. Answering a question about how the US leadership has failed to stop the situation in Iraq from deteriorating, Giuliani said he believes that the goal of the Iraq war — having a responsible government that would not be reliant on outside powers — is correct, although the execution of US plans has been harder than had been expected. He argued that sometimes painful actions have to be taken to ensure positive results in the long term, and added that it was no mean achievement that Iraq had reached the stage where the Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds could sit on one table to negotiate.