Learning to Lead: Giuliani at His Best
Copyright Jack Mixner. 714 449 1040. www.mixnerstrategy.com
Rudy Giuliani lost the NY mayoral election in 1989 by 40,000 votes of almost two million cast. When he decided to run again in 1993, he realized that he'd better prepare far in advance, to "be ready for anything (Giuliani, 55)."
The first step? He learned everything about the workings of NYC government. Reading came first, then meetings with authors, professors and elected officials.
The campaign hired Richard Schwartz to put together a formal process based upon a series of seminars. Starting with the concept of a dozen or so lectures, the process extended out to fifty lectures over a year and a half.
A bunch of things came from the process (Giuliani, 56, 57):
- The lecturers got to know Giuliani and his camp better, obviously.
- People pitched in, realizing that even though the pay-off was uncertain, everyone would probably gain.
- Housing. Taxation. Welfare. Homelessness. They talked about everything. Many of the topics became programs in the eventual administration.
The final pay-off? NY has a seemingly ridiculously short transition period between administrations. All the pre-work stoked the hand-off and resulted in faster results.
One other key point: during the process Giuliani secretly nominated a transition advisor to lay out a new government, including who to nominate for which positions. That helped Giuliani hit the ground running after his long and tiring campaign. Transition was seamless. Preparation was the key (Giuliani, 59).
Reference
Giuliani, Rudolph W. Leadership. Miramax Books Hyperion. 2002.