Nagin Good Example of Effective Management?

In the life of a manager one faces many hurdles and numerous pressures. One such hurdle is how to handle the unexpected or a crisis situation. In our study of crisis situations we have chosen to review the leadership exhibited by Mayor Giuliani after 9/11 to that of Mayor Nagin of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

Mayor Giuliani in his early career worked his way up through our nations legal system. Eventually in 1983 he was appointed as U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York. Later during 1993 he ran for the position of mayor for New York City. At this time New York faced mounting crime, unemployment, and piling trash in its streets. The citizens had coined the city “unmanageable”… moral was low. Giuliani after winning the election started with something small and noticeable to let the people know he meant business. He needed to get the ball rolling so he aimed at ridding the city of “squeegee men”; who were panhandlers that held up traffic and harassed drivers. This we feel is an important attribute of Giuliani who once said, “Aim to solve a problem small enough that it's easily understood and yields an unambiguous solution” (Giuliani 12). By doing something attainable he set a goal that could be readily accomplished and as such invoked confidence in the public. As Giuliani later noted, “When we solved the problem quickly and decisively, we changed perceptions about what the city's leaders could accomplish” (Giuliani 12). An important aspect was the speed and thoroughness of his actions on the squeegee men. If he had been slow to act or only diluted the problem then people would feel he as though he had a strong mouth but weak hands.

Giuliani