Rudy Giuliani | Able Leadership

There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.

Frederico Fellini

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf

Throw away those books and cassettes on inspirational leadership. Send those consultants packing. Know your job, set a good example for the people under you and put results over politics. That’s all the charisma you’ll really need to succeed.

Dyan Machan

Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.

Dag Hammarskjold

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.

Confucius

Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus

Your success in life isn’t based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business.

Mark Sanborn

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.

Kahlil Gibran

The art of communication is the language of leadership.

James Humes

Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.

Frederick B. Wilcox

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

The true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

David Brinkley

There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.

William Bennett

There is a rule in sailing where the more maneuverable ship should give way to the less maneuverable craft. I think this is sometimes a good rule to follow in human relations as well.

Dr. Joyce Brothers

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Emerson

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings.

Helen Keller

One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.

G.K. Chesterton

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.

Henry Ford

Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all, because you’ll be forever in the control of things you can’t give up.

Andy Law, Creative Company

We are what we pretend to be.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Mother Night

The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success.

Dennis Waitley

Rudy Giuliani was the 107th Mayor of New York City. Widely hailed for his Calm and Effective Leadership in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 he was named Time Magazines Person of the year for 2001, and was given an honorary knighthood of the British Empire by Elizabeth II in 2002. Controversial at times, he was one of the most successful mayors of New York City. In eight years he reduced crime by 57 percent, reduced taxes by $2.3 billion, and created a record 450,000 new private sector jobs. Mr. Giuliani was the kickoff speaker at the recent World Business Forum in New York City. At this forum he spoke about several characteristics of the successful leader, including the key principles of preparation, accountability and strong self-definition.

There are many things today’s leader can learn from the likes of Mr. Giuliani. One need only focus on his summary of his six principals of leadership to find many tools we coud each emphasize in our day to day lives. A useful way to understand these principals is to reflect on each one, and how they fit or do not fit in you current leadership role.

Rudy Giuliani’s Six principals of Leadership

In order to be a leader you must know what you believe in. You lead through ideas. This is what leadership is about. Leadership is about having beliefs and ideas. The opposite of this is leading based on public opinion. This leads to shifting values. Without a solid base of principals you have nothing to go back to when times get challenging
To be a Leader you must be an optimist. People will follow others who have hope, dreams and solutions to problems. The power of offering a solution cannot be value neutral, but with optimism you have to be sure what the goal is.
To be a leader you must have courage. To have optimism and pursue challenges involves risk. If you don’t know how to take a risk you can’t get through life. Life is risky. As a leader you cannot let fear stop you
Relentless Preparation. Relentless preparation is the key to dealing with risk and reducing it as much as possible. Risk cannot be eliminated, but it can be prepared for and reduced. The objective of this preparation is to drive the tactical tasks towards second nature. When the attacks on 9/11 occurred, it was something the city of New York never could have planned for. However there was a plan fro dealing with blackouts, and there was a plan for dealing with widespread fire, and still another plan for evacuating the city. Each of these had been prepared for. The challenge then became how to adapt prior plans to cover the unforeseen contingencies.
To be a leader you must know the value of Teamwork. Your success as a leader is based on the work of everyone around you. Leadership is about teaching and motivating. Surround yourself with people that make up for your weaknesses. This makes your organization better than you. Joe Torre is the manager of the New York Yankees, he’s won four world championships, Joe has never gotten a run, pitched a game, or stolen a base, so how does he do it? He does it through being a teacher and a motivator. Leadership is about teaching and Motivating. If you begin to believe it is all about you, ask yourself the following question: what are my weaknesses, what don’t I do well? If the answer is nothing, go ask your wife. Try to balance yourself with people better than you. No matter what you run there will be things you are weak at,Surround with yourself with people who are strong where you are weak. Always ask yourself what are my weaknesses, and how do I balance myself with the strengths of others around me?
Communication. Get ideas out of your mind and heart and into the eyes of other people. This is the big tool that allows you to bring people along with you. To lead you must communicate. You must communicate your beliefs, your optimism, your courage, you must communicate about preparation, and you must communicate with and support your team.

Never forget you are leading an organization of people, in order to be a strong leader you must care about and love people. You must be there when things go wrong to support people. it’s more important to go to a funeral than a wedding, because people need you more at a funeral. I realized I had to be there when things go wrong. To take the responsibility for it. I’ll get credit for things that go right, and I’ll get blamed when things go wrong. So why run away from it, be there, help people. If something goes wrong in the business be there. If things go wrong in their personal lives, be there. You are running an organization of human beings, and you have to lead from the front, not the back. If you’re the leader you have to be out there.