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 its
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 citys leaders could accomplish (Giuliani 12). An