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October 3, 2007
Mayor Mike’s Manifesto
Michael Bloomberg is an American political phenomenon, a billionaire who has successfully transitioned from entrepreneur to public service as Mayor of New York City. He is rumored to be a candidate for President of the United States. He has made a virtue of his lack of artifice and his impatience for results. He speaks plainly, using facts as his basis of communication, instead of lofty visions or soaring platitudes. He has learned to include in his repertoire stories of real people, such as Sal the sole man who came to New York City as an immigrant from Italy and repairs shoes a few blocks from City Hall, whose son has become a successful car dealer and grandson is now a baseball star at Princeton. He has recruited brilliantly from the private sector, giving real authority to his subordinates to make change in a city where every move is second-guessed by stakeholders large and small.
Mayor Bloomberg, aka Mayor Mike, made a few important points that are as relevant to business as to government yesterday in his Keynote Address at the Economist’s Conference on The Future of New York City as the World’s Business Hub.
1) A Mayor (or any leader) cannot be short term focused nor obsessed with photo opportunities. One has to be as excited about completing a new water tunnel for the City as about glamorous new buildings in Lower Manhattan. Infrastructure upgrades cannot wait; his Administration put more money into the water tunnel project than the five previous mayors combined.
2) New York City is in a competitive battle with London, Paris, Tokyo and now new centers such as Dubai, Shanghai and Mumbai for corporate headquarters and for top talent. For skilled professionals, after economic opportunity, the quality of life matters most, including culture, environment, education, parks, safety, and cosmopolitan feel. Availability of information in digital format (such as our client LowerManhattan.info) is critical to these people.
3) One must instill a commitment to customer service in government. NY City has a test program called SCOUT which enables city employees to notice a pothole or detached sign, register it on line and in a transparent way for the community initiate a due date for repair. “If the public is not demanding good service, then government won’t bother. People have to scream and government has to be held accountable," the Mayor said.
4) Government fails to allocate resources properly because there is a tendency to devote more money to programs that are unsuccessful, in an attempt to turn the failures around. You must learn to redirect resources to initiatives that are going well.
5) You have to ride out initial criticism of bold program initiatives. The smoking ban in offices and restaurants tied to a ban on trans-fats in retail establishments has led to a life expectancy in New York City that is higher than the average in the USA for the first time since World War II. Now Paris is banning smoking in restaurants as of February (imagine that)!
6) New York City’s population is expected to grow by a million to 9 million in the next thirty to fifty years. At the same time, the US overall population is expected to grow from the present 300 million to 425 million, due to immigration and relatively high birth rates. This is unique among industrialized nations. The question is how to accommodate the new inhabitants without strangling the city. He suggested further investment in mass transit, immediate passage of congestion charging and even experimentation with a rental bicycle system akin to Paris.
7) Be explicit on trade-offs. Since the terrorist attack in the Tube system in London on 7/7/05, the police in that city have installed security cameras in every subway car and bus. The residents of that city recognize that personal freedoms may be abridged but are very supportive of this new technology because their personal safety is enhanced. Bloomberg spoke about the education reform in New York City where teachers have gotten 43% raises over the last five years but turnover has declined from 12,000 resigning annually (control of 80,000) to 5,000 per year.
None of this is to suggest that New York City should be seen as the de facto capital of the world nor that its present prosperity will last forever. What is clear is that PR focusing on candid, clear communications and relationship building has made a difference in this Administration, presenting the leader as a hard-working, pragmatic character who has applied management principles to the business of running a city. He has been able to make tough political choices, such as a real estate tax hike just after the Internet bubble burst and the 9/11 tragedy, because he convinced his constituents that there is a virtuous circle of maintaining quality in city services in order to maintain quality of life, thereby retaining corporations and the urban professional class. I would appreciate your views as always.
Posted by Edelman at October 3, 2007 6:15 PM |
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Comments
Very truth indeed. His experience as a succesfull bussinessman and entrepreneur in the past has given him a much broader point of view of what New York City needs for the future. Specially if NY wants to compete with other competitive cities around the world.
I just do think in my country, Spain, where many of our mayors, or even politicians who represents us, do not have any experience at all in managing of the private.
Michael Bloombergh, and this post you've write, gives me a bit of hope and enthusiasm. Thanks.
Posted by: Diego de Rivas at October 8, 2007 2:19 PM