Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Highly Recommended!
In Leadership, former NYC Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (with writer Ken Kurson) gives you the inside look at how he applied basic leadership principles to being Mayor, Associate Attorney General and U.S. Attorney. Giuliani reveals how he and his key team applied these principles in the face of the Sept. 11 World Trade Tower collapse, and focuses on exercising leadership all the time. The principles may sound familiar - prioritize, prepare, take responsibility, hold everyone accountable, recruit great people, reflect and then decide, under-promise and over-deliver, develop and employ strong beliefs, be loyal and purposeful - yet the thrill comes from learning how Giuliani straightforwardly applied these principles to accomplish Herculean tasks. We from getAbstract recommend this breezy, engaging book to business leaders, governmental managers and politics junkies.
Rating: - great examples, great ideas
Rudy Giuliani has always been a man I admired. When he stood up to the crime bosses I was impressed. As he was finishing off his second term as New York City Mayor he was already known for making incredible crime reductions and for cleaning up 42nd Street. Imagine ESPN Zone and the Disney Store where all the adult XXX stores use to be! Anyone who could accomplish this when everyone else was saying that it was impossible, is certainly worth listening to when he discusses leadership qualities. Rudy wrote what is basically part II of the book as he prepared to leave office. Then came 9-11. He wisely chose to add chapter 1 on the events of 9-11 and the immediate aftermath. The final chapter describes how the recovery was achieved over the last days of his adminstration.Basically Giuliani was always interested in being a leader. He read a lot about and learned a lot from his mentors. Many of the ideas in this book I had already learned from reading and taking courses in leadership, e.g. empower and make everyone accountable, be open and honest and communicate clearly, let your positions be known but allow for open and honest debate, and consider all reasonable options but make a decision and stick with it. What the book added for me was the details of Rudy's experience from his father and grandfather teaching him as a child how to stand up to bullies, to the synergism of Torre and Steinbrenner, to the teachings of Judge MacMahon and to the example of Ronald Reagan standing up to the air traffic controller. Not only does Rudy clearly relate these experiences but he also takes examples from his years in the district attorney's office and as Mayor of New York where he applied the lessons he learned. Standing up to Arafat when he crashed in on an engagement was an example of Rudy standing up to a bully when Clinton would not. Still his achievements as Mayor and the leadership he showed during the 9-11 disaster were remarkable. What was so special about Giuliani compared to other Mayors? One thing was his unconventional way of treating the government of a city like the running of a corporation. He used the organizational and economic principles of business in running New York City. He followed what Jack Welch was doing with six sigma at GE and through his Compstat program successfully used statistical methods for improving police effectiveness. This is very similar to the success that is common in many six sigma projects. It was fascinating to hear the types of information they chose to collect and the dramatic results that occurred when the measures were reviewed in meetings. I even found myself recognizing Reagan and other Republicans whose vision and leadership I generally discounted in the past. Rudy is not arrogant or a braggard. He is simply trying to describe the key ideas that led to his success. This is great food for thought for all of us.
Rating: - I LOVE GUILIANI!
I LOVE GUILIANI, THIS GUY DOESN'T PULL ANY PUNCHES!!!
LEADERSHIP is a straight forward no-nonsense book where Guiliani really lets those wacko terrorist have a peace of his mind. He doesn't tippy toe around or walk on politically correct eggshells here. In one part of the book Giuliani wrote that he asked President Bush three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks if he could personally kill bin Laden if U.S. forces captured the al-Qaida leader.``I am sure he thought I was just speaking rhetorically,'' Giuliani wrote. ``But I was serious. Bin Laden had attacked my city, and as its mayor I had the strong feeling that I was the most appropriate person to do it.'' <--That is the kind of tough talk we get in this book. Great read. And when Guiliani runs for President, I'll be in the lines to vote. I like his take charge, confident, style of writing. It reminds me alot of Michael Naselli's book, "The Little Guide To Happiness". That book had the same go get em positive quality. Except instead of leading others, it was about leading yourself. Regardles, whether it's leading yourself, or other, these books are excellent choices.
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