Whether you like Rudy Giuliani or not, the changes made to New York City during his terms as mayor were good for the city. He was a Republican mayor in a Democratic city and state, but he left the city running smoothly and passed along his methods of accountability, including COMPSTAT, gladly to his Democratic successor, Michael Bloomberg.

Don't be reluctant to read this book because it is written by a Republican. Giuliani worked with Democrats to achieve results for his city. He was glad to pass on the improvements to a Democrat whom he believed the city needed because NYC needed a businessman to operate it. Bloomberg qualified, in Giuliani's opinion.

Don't be reluctant to read this book because it is written by a Catholic. He insisted on everyone in his team being treated with respect regardless of their religious beliefs.

Don't be reluctant to read this book because he became involved in an unfortunate divorce. Despite the failures of his personal life, he still loved and served the city.

You might not like Giuliani but this book is not about him. It is about extremely effective leadership methods that transformed a city in which people had stopped believing. It is about recognizing the bad management that had caused people and businesses to desert the city and about making changes to reverse this exodus. It is about reducing crime, increasing hospital efficiency, improving services, etc. while decreasing budgets.

It is about communication between the public, his employees and administrators and himself. It is about accountability. It is about honesty. It is about treating others with dignity. It is about selecting good people and letting them do what they are skilled at doing (and not being afraid to remove those who are not able to do the job). It is about determining priorities, making decisions and following through. It is about loyalty, independence, strength, purpose, and fighting for what is right even if you know the inevitable result will be lawsuits. It is about standing strong and never giving up.

It is about transferring your vision to your team and to the public so that they are all a part of the process and of the success. It is about giving all of them credit for the results.

It is not a book that makes Giuliani a hero. Yes, he uses examples from his own life and experience to demonstrate the principles of leadership that brought success. How else can he explain his leadership principles?

But he gives credit to those who exemplified leadership to him. He was mentored and he is now mentoring through this book. He is repaying the world for how it has blessed him.

In each chapter, he discusses one leadership principle and uses examples from his entire life, not just from the 9 11 disaster. You could read only the chapters of interest to you and still benefit from them.

Even if you do not like Giuliani (as I notice in many reviews), please do not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Even if you do not like his political beliefs, you can still use his leadership principles to make the changes you believe in.

I am a Canadian and obviously neither Republican or Democrat. But I watched the improvements in NYC because of Giuliani. I saw how his methods especially COMPSTAT were copied by many major US cities. I want someone who uses these leadership principles in our Canadian cities.

Do I agree with everything Giuliani did? No, but I am glad that I read this book. I found the content inspiring.

A terrific insight into the mind of one of the greatest leaders of the century. Giuliani clearly lays out that the leadership that he provided in 9/11 didn't just happen, it was predicated on years of putting great systems in place. Awesome book. A must read.

Surround yourself with great people. Winston Churchill..., Once said," courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it's the quality which guarantees all others."

It was hard to be objective when so much of what we see of the author now makes him look “challenged” at best. There are some good leadership recommendations throughout, but none that you don’t find elsewhere. I’m skeptical of his perspective on much of the stories but they are good relatable examples of leadership in action.

Good book. It’s about the former mayor of New York City and the events around 9/11.

Available from Darren Schindler in paperback

I'm a Rudy fan and a huge leadership person- so I really liked this book. It does become repetitive at times, so prepare yourself. I don't think this book really introduces any new leadership ideas and definitely isn't rocket science, but it's nice to have things you know are true reinforced in such a positive way.

I’m currently researching the clean-up of New York City, particularly in the areas of crime and police corruption, which both Whitman Knapp and Rudolph Giuliani are credited for. Due to my interest, a friend of mine suggested I read Giuliani’s “Leadership”, since he explains CompStat and other methods of crime reduction implemented during his years in office.

“Leadership” is a mix between a memoir and a book on management advice; each chapter features principles of leadership and Giuliani relates how these principles have helped him during his mayoralty. For instance, Giuliani references a “broken window theory” (which he has applied to many issues) in which larger crimes are prevented by targeting even the smallest problem. His most notable use of this was in the removal of squeegee men, mainly because they were intimidating tourists, in which it turned out that a significant amount of them had warrants for violent crimes. An interesting side note: Giuliani used his experience with law (he used to be a prosecutor) to nab squeegee men through a law against jaywalking.

While some of the principles he stresses have been said a million times, Giuliani uses his own experiences to prove their value. For example, when Giuliani advocates the development of strong beliefs, he explains how his study of philosophy made him respect legal systems and his involvement in debating honed his strength and commitment to communicating his beliefs.

Overall, I think Giuliani has some solid advice to offer. His ability to compartmentalise his actions and his desire to boost the morale of New Yorkers, especially after the September 11 Attacks, are examples of his dedication to his role and obligations as a leader. In one part of the book, Giuliani describes seeing John Gotti and his associates sitting at a table by the curb of a street. Apparently Gotti had been shot earlier in the week and was trying to prove that he was fearless. Courage is exactly what Giuliani pushes for when describing good leadership; having the ability to stick to your commitments and to do your best for those who support you, even when under attack.

I read this because I wanted to understand how Giuliani did such a great job during 9/11. Leadership styles differ, but in such a crisis a leader is tested to the limit. Giuliani appeared to me (from a few thousand miles away) to do a great job in providing focus for galvanising the reactions from a stunned population and providing a figure people could rally to. No-one says that leaders are not ego-driven, but Giuliani takes it to an extreme I have rarely seen. The number of times 'I' or 'me' is used illustrates a personality that is almost dangerous outside that moment in time when it was what was needed.

Except the first chapter about 911, it’s a horrible read. Every chapter he basically used all these example to say how great he is. I thought of giving it up but I pushed it through to the finish line. It was painful.

Strong, constructive advice on micromanagement, risk management and how to be effective in times of crisis.

A solid collection of ideas, tips and advice for any aspiring leader, made tangible through Rudy Giuliani's own anecdotes gleaned from his legal career and terms as NYC's mayor. Dense, well thought-out and very insightful, this is a very solid book about leadership. It is slightly partisan, but that doesn't get in the way of the fantastic information you learn.