Have you heard about Carly Fiorina recently? Me neither .Somehow, I heard that her succeeder, Mark Hurd decided to buy EDS last week to make HP one of the big players in IT services next to IBM . For those who does not Carly Fiorona , she was the CEO of Hewlett Packard Co. from 1999 until she was ousted in 2005 and for the record I have nothing against her of being a woman CEO (once quoted as the most influential woman in IT) , it just that being a typical engineer, I always admired companies who is led by someone with an engineering background –in short things about Carly never interest me much unlike stories of the nerds at Google or even Steve .

But recently upon reading a book that I newly bought, I came across an interesting part of her speech [about Islam] which was given just ~ two weeks after September 11,2001.

Quoted :

There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.

It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.

One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.

And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.

Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.

When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.

While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.

And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.

In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.

With that, I’d like to open up the conversation and see what we, collectively, believe about the role of leadership.

Darn! And I thought who this woman really is? While the West was busy condemning Islam in the midst of September 11, 2001 — she couragedly stand by her principle did otherwise. Too late to know her? I hope not!

I found a video on her talking about ethics , something that I think most of the top management up there less interested than getting “the results” . As she said “Values are the only one that lead you when no one’s watching and when you think that anyone will ever found out. Values matter!

Carly rocks — gotta find her book!