This book works well in the workplace, for church or community leaders, for parents. It's a fascinating look at how Guilliani transformed NYC from frighteningly gritty to Disneyworld. He recounts his actions on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 (fascinating as well), and as his musings on leadership as learned through hands-on experience.

Good book, great examples, bit too much cop-worship, but they're a powerful union in NYC. He didn't spend overmuch time on 9/11, although of course he had to include it, but instead emphasized the structure and relationships he had built up beforehand that helped him and his team through it.

I used this book to teach with many years ago and it was very well written. Unfortunately and sadly, he's lost his mind and most of what he writes about herein he has abandoned.

Read this book about 18 years ago.

A good, easy to read and accessible book detailing one of the most famous New York mayors Rudy Giuliani. Now Giuliani is so linked to Donald Trump for better or worse we can see from this book some of the traits that might have pushed him in this path. A distrust of the media. A desire to stand out and speak out for those who are bullies (one can see why he might consider the media bullying Trump...)

With all due respect to him, he does often come across as a thoughtful, thorough and emotional person. His words regarding the September 11 terrorist attacks on his beloved New York and its aftermath I found deeply moving and well described and written. I do not know if I can believe everything he writes about his successes, I do not know New York politics and history enough to judge. In any case, glad to have read this book. His reaction to Yasser Arafat left a bad taste in my mouth however, just my personal feeling, you be the judge of that.

Great story of a tough leader in the midst of the catastrophe of NYC. Recommended to Indonesian who thirst a figure of strong, accountable leader. This true story should amaze us how this gentleman played his role in 8 years to reduce the criminal 67%. Salute to Rudi!

Forget the present day political hyperbole and Former NYC Mayor Giuliani’s role in the current administration—this book is a must-read manual for all leaders who want to improve their organization. The book starts and ends with Mayor Giuliani’s account of 9/11 and the leadership demands of those first critical days, a crisis “America’s Mayor” has prepared for in one way or another throughout his entire life. While the 9/11 narrative is fascinating, the real meat of the book describes how Giuliani took a city on the brink of total failure and ridden with serious crime to a city where you can safely visit and walk the streets with small children in tow. The former mayor describes the “Broken Windows Theory” and how holding individuals accountable for petty crimes translates into decreases in serious crimes such as murder and rape. Through the use of a data system called Compstat, criminals and crimes were tracked, improving police methods and lowering overall crime throughout the five boroughs of the city. Giuliani’s approach to incremental improvements and diligent tracking of metrics can be useful for any leader looking to continually improve their organization.

The book Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani gives readers lessons regarding what it means to be a leader. Giuliani tells his readers how important it is to be a man of your word. He tells them how to honor their commitments, how important it is to honor your oaths.

All of these things are important. He also tells readers how the leader has to walk the walk and lead by example. In short, not to ask anyone to do something you cannot do yourself. That is the mark of a great leader.

However, according to his own words in the book Leadership, Giuliani is not capable of practicing what he preaches. Instead, it is a matter of do what I say, not what I do.

When one gets married, he makes certain promises. He swears an oath before God, family, and friends. There is a reason witnesses are required to sign the marriage license.

Giuliani tells how his girlfriend was there for him several times. He extols her virtues. There is no virtue in cheating on one’s wife. There is no virtue in one who would help a married man cheat on his wife.

Leadership is not really about how to be a leader, but more about how not to be a leader. We give Leadership no stars. How can someone be an example of leadership when he lives a life that is completely opposite of what he says makes a great leader?

We recommend that you avoid this book at all costs.




We bought this book at a Friends of the Library sale. We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

I am always on the hunt for great business books as a teacher preparing students for college and career readiness in one of my courses that builds young critical thinkers. Rudy Giuliani’s book taught me two things: 1) Prepare for all scenarios, no matter how unlikely—yes, they had a plan already in place for planes crashing into buildings; 2) Create a playbook so every point person is accountable. This was a fast read with excellent information about how to communicate even when normal channels have been shut down. No cell towers. No taxis. How do you connect and prepare? So good I want to re-read.

This book is incredible for anyone interested in management or leadership. Not only does Giuliani talk about 9/11 but he also has a strong belief on what it takes to be a leader and gives examples in his everyday life. I would recommend this book for anyone who manages a team/group OR for anyone who is interested in a good and quality read. Giuliani may not have gotten far in the election race of 2009 but after reading this book it is obvious that if he had been elected he would have ran the country very well.

I love this book because Giuliani backs up his principles with a lot of hard concrete facts. You may not agree with his politics, and he may have skewed some statistics that occured during his term to make him look good (I don't know the context of New York during the 1990s-2000s), but you have to admit this book contains good writing and is well written. Giuliani writes like he's talking to you and only you, so I really appreciate the colloquial language he uses. This book inspires me to follow some of his principles.

Nothing all THAT new under the sun. We've all known what we need to do, and what we should do, and somehow didn't do. This is a good reminder of that.

It's got enough meat that it's earned a semipermanent spot on my shelf and I'll be returning to it many times. In some cases Rudy pulls punches and gets it wrong (endorsing Cuomo), but in many cases he doesn't pull any punches. Dinkins didn't get it. The UN stinks. Arafat was a hypocrite crook. Koch threw people under the bus (which Rudy did too at times). The "Republicans are mean and awful" mantra is nothing but slander and bias. Mean and awful is what New York was BEFORE he got in, which should be telling you something.

I'm left wanting that he didn't quite make it to the next echelon and didn't fully explain it, but it's no foregone conclusion in American politics. Right or wrong, generally "Hizzoner" is a terminal position. Even so, there's plenty to learn from here.