The
central principle of leadership is that a leader has to be certain of his or
her beliefs, and stick to them no matter what, according to former New York
City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Speaking
at the Power of Executing Greatness conference organised by the UK’s Intitute
of Leadership and Management, Giuliani laid out the principles he believed were
fundamental to leadership. He said if ideas and beliefs dominated what people
thought then others would follow them.
The
former mayor said that leaders had to be optimists, as nobody followed a
pessimist, and that leaders had to have courage to succeed.
"If
you are afraid of something it is probably because there is an opportunity in
front of you," he said. "Feel the fear – it will help you succeed,
just don’t let it immobilise you."
He
said relentless preparation and teamwork would mean that when something
unanticipated happened, other plans could be tailored to solve the problem.
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Finally,
he told delegates that communication was the key and the phrase that typified a
failing organisation was ‘We don’t know what’s expected of us’.
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