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Book Review

  

Leadership

Hyperion Miramax Books —2002 (407 pages in hardback)

Author Rudolph W. Giuliani

With Ken Kurson

ISBN 0-7868-6841-4

 

Rudolph Giuliani is the controversial former mayor of New York City. His image was transformed at the terrorist attack in New York on September 11, 2001. Much of this book was written before this historical event as he prepared to leave office as mayor. After the attack Giuliani added chapter one and the final chapter (sixteen) to discuss the events of 9/11 and how he directed the recovery during the final four months of his administration.

 

Leadership is primarily a biography about the life and various experiences of Giuliani and how they prepared him to lead. He draws on his experiences as a U.S attorney, corporate lawyer and mayor to discuss the values and leadership principles he espouses. For example, Giuliani vividly describes the aggressive management style he used to deal with many problems in New York City from petty crime to cleaning up 42nd street, a notorious smut boulevard. The mayor achieved this by insisting that city government be treated and organized like a business organization. Giuliani mentions how he used the six sigma approach used by GE’s Jack Welch to improve city services.

 

This is not a book that simply lists one leadership trait after another; it is more of a biography with some notable gaps in the author’s life. Though he does not discuss his personal life in great detail, this is a book that will give you a deep insight into Rudolph Giuliani as a manager. It is peppered with his real life examples to illustrate the values he believes in and lives by. He uses various examples to show how and where he learned these leadership principles, and how he has used them in different situations of his life. One of the more interesting parts of Leadership is Giuliani’s recollection of the people he has met in public life from various Mafia Dons, to a confrontation with Yasser Arafat.

 

The heart of Leadership is part II, the section reputedly written before the 9/11 event. Each of its thirteen chapters highlights a principle and numerous examples to teach and discuss a leadership quality. Some of these are… prepare relentlessly, underpromise and overdeliver, stand up to bullies and organize around a purpose. If you have read other books on the subject of leadership, you will not find much that is new in this book. However, if you would like to read about how leadership is applied successfully in the real world to solve complex and difficult problems, there may not be a better book on the market!

 

 

 

 

weLEAD rating – highly recommended

 

 

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