The Leader

New York City's mayor Rudy Giuliani: "Courage is about managing fear."

By William Beaman
From Reader's Digest
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Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani takes a stroll in Times Square in the winter of 2005.
Photographed by Ben Baker
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani takes a stroll in Times Square in the winter of 2005.
Image
I miss being involved in the most important things that are going on. When some crisis happens, you feel that's what you've been trained for, what you know how to do.

"The Calmest Person in the Room"

The image haunts him to this day: Two people, high overhead, leap hand-in-hand to their death from one of the blazing towers of the World Trade Center.

On that September morning five years ago, a memory of his father came to Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In it, the Brooklyn plumber and bartender was telling his only child, "In a crisis, you have to become the calmest person in the room."

Giuliani became more than that. His suit coated with ash from the wreckage, he stood defiant, vowing that New Yorkers would show the world the meaning of courage. He soothed victims' families, attended funerals of police and firefighters, rallied his fellow citizens on radio and television.

He'd overcome hardships before, including a bitter, public end to his marriage, and a battle with prostate cancer. Alongside the terrifying challenges of 9/11, they're the kind of events that could shatter anyone's public and personal life. But Giuliani's resolve to triumph is stronger than ever, and now he is about to find out if his legacy of leadership endures.

After the coming midterm elections, he will decide whether to seek the Republican nomination for President in 2008, or whether to carry on with the lucrative business ventures he took up post-9/11. Having spent years in public service -- as a U.S. Attorney in New York, an Associate Attorney General during the Reagan Administration, and two terms as mayor of the Big Apple -- Giuliani, 62, is finally cashing in. Chair and CEO of Giuliani Partners LLC, he's making millions as a security and crisis management consultant. He's also a law partner with Bracewell & Giuliani, and gives speeches that reportedly earn him $100,000 a pop. Still, he insists that his current work is about the challenge rather than the money. "Learning more about business, finance, how to straighten out organizations -- that's very exciting to me," he says.

But when he talks about public service, his intensity ratchets up. "I miss being involved in the most important things that are going on. When some crisis happens, you feel that's what you've been trained for, what you know how to do."

Iraq. Iran. North Korea. Al Qaeda, global warming, health care, debt. If challenges are what Giuliani's looking for, he'd have plenty to tackle as President of the United States.

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