Download - South East European University

Philip T. Reeker
In early 2001, Macedonia was on the brink of all-out civil war. Yet ten years
later, largely thanks to the Ohrid Framework Agreement, Macedonia can
celebrate itself as a stable, diverse, multi-cultural, interethnic, and inter-religious
country. And as partners in its creation, the United States and our European allies
continue to have a vital interest in the success of the Agreement as crucial to the
long-term peace and prosperity of Macedonia, and indeed the wider Balkan
region. And beyond our own interests in stability and peace, we truly care.
The signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement would not have been
possible without certain individuals having the courage and vision to step up to
bring this conflict to its end. It was Boris Trajkovski’s leadership, for instance,
that took his country from civil conflict to peace.
I cannot imagine a peaceful end to the 2001 conflict without his efforts. Nor
can I imagine a Macedonia today at peace, stable, and moving towards Euro-
Atlantic integration without Ali Ahmeti transforming the NLA into a constructive
and peaceful political party; or without international leaders such as Ambassador
James Pardew and his EU colleague François Léotard facilitating the peace
agreement.
Today, as Macedonia forms a new government following the well-conducted
elections of June 5, that kind of courage and vision is essential to move Macedonia
beyond the 10th Anniversary of the Ohrid Framework Agreement towards a
peaceful and prosperous future. On June 5, the people of Macedonia elected
leaders to do just that – to lead.
In this complicated age, leadership is a critically important theme and one on
which I am regularly asked to speak. I often refer to what I learned about
leadership from former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell. At the time of
the 2001 conflict, he was serving as Secretary of State and I was serving as his
Spokesman at the State Department.
The General came to diplomacy as a military man, and he quickly earned the
same loyalty and respect from the diplomats of the State Department as he had
from the soldiers at the Defense Department. I was impressed not just with how
he led, but also how he talked about leadership. Secretary Powell spoke of how we
all needed to hold our managers and bosses accountable as leaders. He had a list
of tenets for leadership which came to be known as “Powell’s Rules.”
One of the first rules is that, in leadership: you cannot make everyone happy.
In fact, at times leaders must take decisions that are broadly unpopular. Focusing
too much on getting everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you will avoid the
tough decisions and you will avoid confronting the issues and people who need to
be confronted. Indeed, leaders must take responsibility. Colin Powell and the U.S.
government recognized that Boris Trajkovski was taking responsibility to preserve
peace, and we responded to Macedonia’s request on June 14, 2001, for help to end
the conflict.
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