Sadat-Begin-Carter

It was 37 years ago this month when U.S. President Jimmy Carter convened an historic summit with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for the purpose of achieving a peace agreement between the two nations. The gathering, held at Camp David, lasted 13 days. As we know, the end result was the signing of a significant treaty between the two adversaries. The journey to that joyful ending was not pretty. From the first day to the last, there was much shouting, fuming, private meetings, and great exasperation among the principals and their teams. Collectively, they demonstrated that communication, particularly as it pertains to highly sensitive issues, is not pretty or easy.


Last year, a wonderful book on this summit was written by Lawrence Wright. Called "Thirteen Days in September," it captures the dynamic of these three leaders in their effort to achieve what many, including each of them at times, believed to be an unreachable goal. Often times, professional communicators, myself included, present the act of communication as being the bottom-line, key ingredient when it comes to individuals or publics coming together to reconcile a dispute or overcome differences they may have. No where is this better illustrated than in the great effort made at Camp David by Sadat, Begin and Carter over a nearly two-week period.      


To achieve the results they did, each man had to look behind their own views and objectives. They had to examine the issues at-hand from each other's perspective. This included not only properly assessing and understanding each other's histories, biases, and emotional and intellectual challenges and attitudes, but also weighing them against the current concerns facing each leader and their respective country. In doing so, without question, Sadat, Begin and Carter demonstrated great courage. Each had much to lose in terms of their own careers but also the well-being of their nations. By communicating effectively, they literally made the world a better place.