As part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series, former mayor of New York City and political activist, Rudy Giuliani, spoke to a small group of Rockhurst students and faculty in a unique Q&A style discussion.

Giuliani has a history of leadership. During his second term as the mayor of New York City, Giuliani’s leadership was put to the test: he was mayor during the horrendous 9/11 attacks. An influential figure, he was named Time Magazine’s person of the year in 2001, and had a brief run in the presidential election of 2008. As an attorney, Giuliani worked on the Mafia Commission Trial, indicting 11 organized crime figures. More recently, Giuliani has been extremely active in the political happenings surrounding the 2016 election.

In just under an hour, Giuliani answered student’s questions directly, openly and honestly. Here are just 10 of the things I learned from Dr. Giuliani in that hour:

1. Leadership is learned, you are not born with it.

Giuliani explained that leadership is a subject. Just as math or science, leadership is taught, learned and developed. However, as Giuliani said with a laugh, “You can learn it, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be any good at it."

2. There are six qualities/values that you must have in order to be a leader.

1. You must have strong beliefs.

In order to be a leader you need to know where you are going.

2. You must be an optimist.

Leaders believe that they will succeed.

3. You must have courage.

And you must be willing to fail.

4. You must relentlessly prepare.

Understand your work and tasks completely.

5. You must use teamwork.

Teamwork is surrounding yourself with great people who have the strengths that you lack.

6. You must be a great communicator.

Communication is everything.

3. “You are never the smartest person in the room on everything."

Giuliani explained the importance of realizing that you are never going to be the most knowledgeable person in every subject. It is important to let others show their strengths and knowledge, and surround yourself with people who have strengths that may be your weaknesses.

4. The biggest problem in America today is a lack of hope.

“When asked if this country will be better in three years than it is today, many Americans are answering no,” Giuliani said. The greatest problem is not poverty. It is not a wage gap or a health care dispute. Giuliani said that the greatest problem in America is that the people are showing an extreme lack of hope in the future of the country.

5. The most important question we can ask is, “Do you believe this country is getting better or worse?”

“Democracy is a self-correcting form of government,” Giuliani said. If people answer that they believe the country is getting worse, then we have a serious problem.

6. We have everything in life as Americans.

“America is an exceptional country with exceptional gifts that we need to make use of,” Giuliani said. Giuliani offered an analogy relating human depression to the depression many Americans are currently feeling about the state of the country. He explained that it is normal to be depressed under sad circumstances in life. His example was the death of a loved one. However, it is not normal to be depressed for no reason at all. Americans are beyond lucky to be born into such a great nation and expressing depressing views and attitudes about the status of that great nation is not normal.

7. As a leader you aren’t going to make everyone happy.

Being a leader means making decisions and people will always disagree with the decisions that you make. As far as making those tough decisions, Giuliani said that it is important to remember, “Someone’s going to hate you, so you might as well like yourself."

8. In times of chaos, even if you aren’t calm, pretend like you are.

Giuliani explained how he endured the horror and chaos surrounding the attacks of 9/11. He said that during uncertainty a leader must remain calm.

9. Practice, practice, practice.

It is important to prepare for every possible situation. “There is a reason football teams practice two-minute drills,” Giuliani said. Practice involves asking questions such as:

What are the worst things that could happen? When they do happen, how will I handle them?

Whether it is a job interview or an emergency protocol, practice is the key to success.

10. Be the most enthusiastic person.

Giuliani ended the Q&A session by explaining that he always hired the candidate that wanted the job the most. Show enthusiasm, be passionate and make it clear what you want.