Book Review 'Leadership' by Rudolph Giuliani
Book Review
Leadership
By Rudolph W. Giuliani
The influence of 9/11 on this book.
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani give in his book, appropriately called “Leadership”, his personal view on the important factors that should encompass leadership. In sixteen chapters he shares the views he learnt over the length of his career in combination with striking examples of his own professional and personal life. When he started to work on his book in the spring of 2001, also his last year of his term as mayor of New York, he did not know that his leadership qualities would be put to the test on last time in September of that year. When on September 11th 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, mayor Giuliani was in the middle of it all. Not only figuratively, being the mayor of the City, but also literally. He found himself near the sight when the planes hit the tower, and had to run for his life when the first tower collapsed. The events that happened that day and in the days after 9/11, made mayor Giuliani decide to add his experiences during this period to his book. He added two additional chapters, one at the beginning and one at the end. The chapters describe how he experienced the events that happened that day and how the city recovered in the weeks following 9/11. These chapters, like the rest of the book, have a narrative style to them. They show what kind of decisions Giuliani had to make as a leader, but also what he experienced and felt as a person. Although these two chapters do not give the reader any real lessons in leadership, it definitely adds value to the rest of the book. It presents one of the most extreme situations a leader can find himself in and how to deal with such a situation. It complements the other chapters by acting as an example, on top of the examples given already, to help explain the views Rudolph Giuliani has on leadership. As such, these chapters are of no direct relevance for the purpose of this
Leadership
By Rudolph W. Giuliani
The influence of 9/11 on this book.
Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani give in his book, appropriately called “Leadership”, his personal view on the important factors that should encompass leadership. In sixteen chapters he shares the views he learnt over the length of his career in combination with striking examples of his own professional and personal life. When he started to work on his book in the spring of 2001, also his last year of his term as mayor of New York, he did not know that his leadership qualities would be put to the test on last time in September of that year. When on September 11th 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, mayor Giuliani was in the middle of it all. Not only figuratively, being the mayor of the City, but also literally. He found himself near the sight when the planes hit the tower, and had to run for his life when the first tower collapsed. The events that happened that day and in the days after 9/11, made mayor Giuliani decide to add his experiences during this period to his book. He added two additional chapters, one at the beginning and one at the end. The chapters describe how he experienced the events that happened that day and how the city recovered in the weeks following 9/11. These chapters, like the rest of the book, have a narrative style to them. They show what kind of decisions Giuliani had to make as a leader, but also what he experienced and felt as a person. Although these two chapters do not give the reader any real lessons in leadership, it definitely adds value to the rest of the book. It presents one of the most extreme situations a leader can find himself in and how to deal with such a situation. It complements the other chapters by acting as an example, on top of the examples given already, to help explain the views Rudolph Giuliani has on leadership. As such, these chapters are of no direct relevance for the purpose of this
References: Giuliani, R.G. (First Edition). Leadership. New York, Talk Miramax Books: Hyperion. Northouse, P.G. (Latest edition). Leadership. Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Yukl.