Rudy Giuliani share his principles of leadership to International Bowl Expo 2006 attendees

QubicaAMF sponsors the General Session appearance

Former New York City Mayor and international icon, Rudy Giuliani (click on the pictures to enlarge) was the main keynote speaker at International Bowl Expo 2006 which ended on Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Giuliani shared his principles of leadership with the IBE 2006 attendees during the General Session on Wednesday morning, June 28th at Las Vegas Hilton. Probably best known for his service as the Mayor of New York City from 1993 to 2001, Giuliani returned accountability to city government and improved the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Mayor Giuliani restored the work ethic, implementing the largest and most successful welfare-to-work initiative in the country cutting welfare rolls 60 percent while moving 640,000 individuals from dependency to the dignity of self-sufficiency. Under Rudy Giuliani's leadership, New York City became the best-known example of the resurgence of urban America. On September 11, 2001, America suffered the worst attack in its history when terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Thousands of New Yorkers were killed, including hundreds of members of the city's uniformed services, who rushed to the scene to lead the heroic rescue of tens of thousands of people. Having narrowly missed being crushed when the Towers fell, Mayor Giuliani immediately began leading the recovery of the city as it faced its darkest hour. Tirelessly working to restore the city and the morale of its residents, Mayor Giuliani was widely lauded for his steady hand during frightening times. For his efforts, he was named Person of the Year by Time magazine, knighted by the Queen of England, dubbed "Rudy the Rock" by French President Jacques Chirac, and former first lady Nancy Reagan presented him with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Freedom Award. Limited by New York City law to two terms as mayor, Rudy Giuliani founded Giuliani Partners in January, 2002, quickly establishing the professional services firm as a leader in fields including emergency preparedness, public safety, leadership during crises, corporate governance, and financial management. Drawing on his experience in turning a city described as ungovernable into a city that is now a worldwide example of good government and effective management, Giuliani was recognized in spring 2002 as Consultant of the Year by Consulting magazine. In addition to leading Giuliani Partners, Giuliani remains active in public life. His book, Leadership, was published in October 2002. It became an immediate bestseller, spending 25 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, including five weeks at Number 1. Giuliani's started his lesson in leadership with the question 'Are leaders born or made'. His answer is 'Leaders are made, but first they have got born.' This was the beginning of an educational and highly entertaining one-and-a-half-hour demonstration of rhetoric. Here is a very brief summary. Bowling proprietors must be leaders. Giuliani shared the six most important points of leadership with the International Bowl Expo 2006 General Session attendees. 1. Set goals - you must have a strong belief of a goal or direction. 2. To be a leader you have to be an optimist, you have to be a dreamer. 3. In order to be a leader you must have courage. Courage in regard to what you do with your fears. Courage is managing fears. Anything that you can do can fail. Turn your fears into something positive. 4. You have to understand that there are risks. Reduce the risks by preparing. Relentless preparing. 5. Teamwork. You have to understand the value of teamwork. It's not that I (the leader) have all the answers. Best advice: The first question you have to ask yourself is 'What are my weaknesses?' And how to balance my weaknesses with the strength of other people. Running an organization is about strength and weaknesses. You have to be a communicator. You have to understand, you don't know everything. 6. You have to care about people. You have to love people. Giuliani stated one of his sayings is "Wedding is voluntary, funeral is mandatory." That means being at funerals is more important for him than being at weddings. Funerals are where people need you. You have to be there when things are going wrong. Set up a network of friends. Giuliani underlined his lessons with some examples from his time as NY mayor following September 11. After his speech Giuliani answered a few questions from the audience before he gave a short press conference (pictured) for the members of the Bowling Writers Association of America. Dick Evans, our award winning columnist was the first to stand up and ask Giuliani: "Since you are an optimist and set goals, then on a scale from 1 to 10, what are the odds that you will run for President of the United States of America?" Giuliani wasn't surprised at all and replied according to point 2 "I am optimistic. I'm thinking very serious about it. Even as an optimist I can't tell you what the odds are. I have to decide it at the end of the year." International Bowl Expo is the premier industry event for owners and operators of bowling centers, billiard centers and pro shops worldwide. Who knows? Perhaps the International Bowl Expo 2006 attendees have got a lesson in leadership from the next President of the United States of America. We were there, what is your excuse?