This week was special. I got to listen to a host of international celebrities, Benazir Bhutto, Richard Branson, John Edwards and Bill Clinton, all in a single day. The venue was the flamboyant Emirates Palace Hotel (EmiratesPalace.com) in Abu Dhabi and the event was the Abu Dhabi Summit.

The subject of the convention was 'Leadership challenges in a globalised economy'. The speakers narrated their own experiences and how events in their time helped shape their leadership skills and styles.

Specially noteworthy was Benazir's touching speech on how she rose from a shy girl born in a remote village in a Pakistan, grew up to study in Harvard and Oxford Universities, got into mainstream politics, became the Prime Minister twice over, was jailed for 6 long years much in solitary confinement and now lives without her husband in exile in UAE. What was evident was that here was a woman who believed in herself and the power of women to become high achievers.

Richard Branson's success was attributed to being passionate about the business that one was pursuing and the importance to live ones dreams. While he made it all look so simple, one would be naïve to assume that there was no sweat equity involved in growing his business. His contribution in helping AIDS victims in Africa stood out amongst all his other conquests, business and social!

John Edwards spoke of how he was helping people in his State of Carolina, move up from a level of abysmal poverty (daily wage of US$ 2) to a level of middle class through entrepreneurship programs. A small capital provided to a handful of aspiring individuals helped create several businesses and jobs for communities.

And then followed the much awaited Bill Clinton. He urged the oil producing nations to reinvest their wealth in developing alternate sources of energy. Oil related wealth would not last for long, he asserted. Our progeny will judge us by our actions to protect their environment. Profound as he sounded these words reverberated throughout the auditorium.

What came as no surprise to me was the fact that his hour long speech mentioned just one word six times, and no prizes for guessing this one. Yes it was, INTERNET. More funds were collected by both parties in the last US elections through the internet than through any other channel. More money was collected online for Katrina affected people than through any other means. SARS epidemic in China was controlled through an awareness campaign initiated through the web. The World Wide Web made the countries interdependent on each other now more than any other time in our history, he concluded.

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