Rudolph W Giuliani

Rudolph Giuliani is one of the most respected exponents of leadership on the planet. The former Mayor of New York City describes his habits and philosophy in his book Leadership, which is part autobiography, part leadership manual, and part an account of the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. It makes for required reading for those studying leadership styles.

• During Rudy Giuliani’s two terms as Mayor, New York’s crime rate was cut overall by 57%.
• Shootings fell by 75%, the murder rate was cut by two thirds, and 90,000 guns were taken off the street.
• Unemployment was reduced by nearly half.
• Over 330,000 people gained a place on work experience programs.
• His time in charge also included a huge literacy program, the restoration of school playing fields, a major new health insurance scheme, and a 65% increase in adoptions.
• All this was achieved with an $8billion reduction in the overall tax bill.

Reading Leadership, it is easy to understand why Giuliani was such an inspiring leader.

Giuliani aimed always to align system to the purpose, organizing everything around results. He held daily morning meetings with the heads of all his departments, giving all major areas of responsibility a seat at the table, where information and ideas could be exchanged and decisions taken together. Communication between the departments improved instantly, and just as importantly, all department heads knew they had regular access to the Mayor. But he encouraged many more people to come to him with ideas and solutions. ‘Those who work for me should feel free to come directly to me … [and] tell me what they’re thinking,’ he explains.

He rotated the venues for these meetings between the different boroughs of New York, rather than always in Manhattan, so that he and his department heads would understand that their role was to serve each equally.

His desk bore a sign with the words I’m Responsible and Giuliani would take responsibility for his people’s mistakes, encouraging openness and loyalty at the same time. This permeated through to his department leaders, encouraging a culture of responsibility rather than politicking and blame. ‘A big part of leadership is consistency,’ he explains, ‘letting those who work for you and others you lead know that you’ll be there for them through good times and bad.’

He had a very supportive but very demanding style of man management – one supported by this editor as the best way of getting the most out of people. And he backs it up with being a people person: Giuliani comes across clearly as a great communicator and his warmth and compassion in the aftermath of 9/11 was clear to see.

His communication style, developed as Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the US Department of Justice, is also instructive. As a lawyer he believed in mastering the material, organizing it, they throwing away the text and just talking. This freed him up to speak with passion and belief, rather than the more stilted style of most people who read prepared texts.

He held daily press briefings, in which he would hold up particular examples of heroism or good practice in the city, but rather than being led by the need for good PR, he developed the habit of doing things before announcing them – a practice this editor endorses as it places action and achievement, not just words and promises, at the heart of leadership. This, combined with the habit of ‘under promise, over deliver’, created a reputation for high achievement.

But Rudolph Giuliani also displayed the habit of disclosing mistakes immediately. This showed that he was being honest with the electorate, lancing the potential boil of secrecy being uncovered, and demonstrating that he was focused on the positive action of putting things right.

Voted Time Magazine’s 2001 Person of the Year, Rudy Giuliani clearly shows the courage to take on opposition or vested interests, such as when he determined to merge the three different police forces of the city – the NYPD, the Transit police for the subways, and the Housing Police - into one force, cutting bureaucracy and improving the protection of the city.

Another leadership quality demonstrated is the integrity to take decisions even when they go against his own interests, such as supporting gun control as a Republican, or rejecting a huge donation to the Twin Towers disaster fund from a donor who sought to use it in connection with a political statement about America’s Middle East policy.

‘Sometimes [the development of beliefs is] inconvenient, even painful,’ he comments. ‘They may lead you away from long-held positions and might even cost you friends. But a real leader, one who leads from a true heart and honest mind, won’t deny an emerging belief simply because it makes him uncomfortable.’A key to developing challenging positions was his decision to surround himself with strong leaders in his administration, people who would speak their mind even, or especially, if it contradicted the opinions he himself held.

Wouldn’t you want to work for a leader like this?

Leadership by Rudolph W Giuliani, is published by TimeWarner paperbacks, copyright of the author.