First Things First Chapter 1 Summary

Samantha Woolard

Book Synopsis

Spring 2018

Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani

Leadership was written by former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. In his book he discusses basic leadership principles and how they were applicable as Mayor of New York City during one of the darkest times in U.S. history, 9/11. During his two-terms as Mayor his leadership skills were put to the test trying to manage a large city with high crime rates and ultimately challenged by the terrorist attacks in 2001. Through adversity and chaos, he was able to demonstrate what it meant to truly be a leader and ultimately wrote a book to teach others that leadership “does not simply happen, it can be taught learned and developed” (p.xii). Giuliani shares the

Have beliefs and communicate them. See things for yourself. Set an example. Stand up to Bullies. Deal with the first things first. Loyalty is the vital virtue. Prepare relentlessly. Underpromise and overdeliver. Don’t assume a damn thing

First thing first you must be able to “take control early” (p.37) whether it be first thing in the morning, with a staff meeting or early in your leadership status. He states that early on you should start with a victory as a leader, but it should be a “clear and decisive” victory and it does not matter how big or small this success is as long as it can easily be understood and “yield an unambiguous solution” (p.40). In order to succeed as a leader, you must “prepare relentlessly” (p.51). According to Giuliani the way to prepare properly is to “never assum[e] a damn thing,” (p.52) do your own research, visualize your success, and “instill preparedness in others” as “creating reason for those who work for you to establish their own culture of preparedness is part of being a good leader” (p.65). When you enforce others to research and learn about the issues of the workplace it holds team members accountable for their