Leadership
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When discussing any triumphant or flourishing organization or institution, the main attribute which will always surface when examining the true fabric of what allows a particular organization or institution to excel, will always be leadership.
Leadership is portrayed at its pinnacle in William Brattons Turnaround, Rudolph Giulianis book Leadership, Oren Hararis book The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, and David Lipskys book Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point. In each of these works, the author does an exceptional job of depicting the various traits and characteristics necessary for being a powerful and effective leader.
William Bratton, born and raised in Boston, was appointed as New York Citys new police commissioner by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on December 2, 1993. William Bratton was a leader who spent his whole life turning around low-performing, dysfun-ctional police departments. It was his specialty and it soon became his trademark. Bill Bratton hit the ground running as the commissioner of police by implementing several policies and visions that he had, that many believed would be unfathomable in policing. His goals were revolutionary and unprecedented and would not be possible to achieve if not for his incredible leadership ability. His ability as an effective leader allowed him to select intelligent, experienced, and quality individuals who shared identical beliefs and visions as he did. Any leader would agree that anything is possible through optimism, intelligent planning, and preparation, but nothing is possible if your chosen “executives” lack the leaders confidence to operate freely and carry out the organizations ultimate goals. Bratton was a believer in Theodore Roosevelts ideology that “the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self- restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Bratton was a master motivator. His optimism rubbed off on everyone around him and this reflected their performance. He had a belief that “leadership is the ability to enthuse and encourage the people in your organization so highly that, whatever idea is put into action, they embrace it so fully they forget the genesis and assume it was their own” (Bratton pg.155). This was Brattons basic concept and he put it to work for him almost immediately in the New York City Police Department.
Bratton realized the task at hand and that it would not be easy. He knew he was given the number one police job in the country as the commissioner of the NYPD, and he was ready. He knew that nothing would be possible without the support of his police officers. Morale was one of the big reasons that the NYPD was so run down upon Brattons arrival. He set out to the 103rd precinct in Queens to let them know that things are about to change. Bratton carefully selected this precinct as the one he would utilize in making his initial presence felt. Morale was exceptionally low in this precinct due to the murder of Officer Ed Byrne. In February of 1988 Officer Byrne was sitting in his patrol car guarding the home of a man who had informed on a drug dealer when he was shot to death by drug dealers. That was a vicious indicator of the life and times of police officers during that era, and Bratton knew it. As Brattons first “official act” as police commissioner, he stood in front of the 103 and began: “I said when I took this job that we would take this city back for the good people that live here, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, house by house. But Im going to need your help in doing that. Im going to need all of you in the game. I want my cops to be cops. I want them to be assertive. I dont want them walking by or looking the other way when they see something. No matter what the old rules were, I expect you to see something and take proper police action. I expect you to be honest. I expect you to uphold the oath that you took on the first day. If you get into problems doing your job, and you are doing it right, Ill back you up. If youre wrong, Ill get you retrained and back to work. If you are dirty or brutal, Ill see to it that you are arrested, you are fired, and you are put in jail.” Bratton made it a point that things were going to change, and they were going to change fast because the “old way” would not be tolerated anymore. Bratton wanted to bring three things to the department: “Pride, Commitment, and Respect.” And he let his cops know it. He proceeded to tell the 103 that he wants them to be “proud of your city, your department, and of yourselves. Proud that you are cops in the greatest police department in the world.” Bratton continued to motivate every individual involved in his mission from the top brass, all the way down to the everyday police officers.
Bratton was a leader in every sense of the word. From the way he would motivate, to the way he would select effective top “executives”. Bratton has a mentality that appears to be innate. He has the fire and willingness to take risks and conquer any challenge that comes his way as long as it would help his cause. He does not slow down for anyone and appears to speed up when resistance appears. He had a knack of facilitating great minds to think creatively and with no limits. While interviewing Mike Julian for a job to become one of the members of his command staff, Bratton told Julian “thats the kind of attitude I want. I want people who are not only going to think differently, but who will be willing to go through walls to do it” (Bratton pg.203). Bratton looks for innate leadership characteristics in everybody he works with, and if he can find even a spark of what is necessary to excel, he has the ability to feed it so it becomes a roaring flame.
Bratton had a special appreciation for presiding over promotion ceremonies. Studying Bratton, its evident that its mainly because he knew what it meant for the cops who were being promoted and how it made them feel. As Bratton was on his way out as the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, he presided over his last promotion ceremony at which time he addressed the troops for the last time along with his command staff at his side: “There are several things that I always seek out in leaders. I seek out, first, a love of tradition. I seek out a love of city, I seek out a love of department, and I seek out those who love cops. Because if you dont, you cannot lead them, you cannot inspire them; you cannot when necessary, discipline them. Each and every one of the people on this stage has a very different personality. Every one of them. But they work together as a team because