Bloomberg: The CEO Mayor

[calteacherguy]

How New York's Mike Bloomberg is creating a new model for public service that places pragmatism before politics
by Tom Lowry
Business Week, 6/14/07

The American businessman-politician has a long and storied history. From Alexander Hamilton (industrialist) to Herbert Hoover (mining consultant) to New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (CEO, Goldman, Sachs (GS)), wealthy and connected executives have, for better or worse, tried to bring corner-office management to the public arena. With the arrival of George W. Bush, MBA, we began to hear a lot about the so-called CEO President who was supposed to muster a greater degree of executive decisiveness and accountability. But four years of war and the Katrina debacle have blunted that talk.

Which brings us to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. This forthright and prosaic 65-year-old billionaire just may have the right combination of managerial, risk-taking, and political skills to create a new model for public service—possibly even at the national level should Bloomberg run for President.

Applying lessons from an early career on Wall Street and from two decades building his eponymous financial-information and media empire, the mayor is using technology, marketing, data analysis, and results-driven incentives to manage what is often seen as an unmanageable city of 8 million.

Bloomberg sees New York City as a corporation, its citizens as customers, its sanitation workers, police officers, clerks, and deputy commissioners as talent. He is the chief executive. Call him a technocrat all you want; he's O.K. with that. "I hear a disparaging tone, like there's something wrong with accountability and results," he says. "What was I hired for?"

Yes, Bloomberg has endured setbacks. His failed attempt to build a football stadium in Manhattan gobbled up time and energy for much of his first term. And while his takeover of city schools five years ago from the state has led to dramatically improved test scores, there is a long way to go before the mayor can declare victory. Plus, some of his ideas—including his suggestion to pay kids for good grades—grate on educators.

Yet his checklist-obsessed operating style has resonated with New York's famously cynical citizenry—70% approval ratings attest to that—and well beyond Gotham. "People see that this can be done in a place like New York, effectively managing something so large and complex," says Time Warner CEO Richard D. Parsons, a Bloomberg friend and someone mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate himself. "And they think, 'Hey, this can be done elsewhere.'"

more...http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2007/db20070614_393071.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

My question is: If Bloomberg runs, will that affect the criteria you use to select our nominee because of the way it might change the dynamics of the race? I haven't thought through all the ramifications, I'm just curious to hear what people think.

[democrat2thecore]

1. Mayor Mike

Mike Bloomberg is the best Mayor of the City since Fiorello LaGuardia. I don't know why this worries me so, because I think a Democratic victory is a MUST in 2008. But, Bloomberg fascinates me as a can-do kind of guy.

[calteacherguy]

3. And what have Clinton, Obama, or Edwards done and run efficiently?

What is their "can do" leadership experience managing such a large enterprise?

We've got two "America's mayors" to condtend with. Yeah, we ought to be concerned.

[aquart]

6. So you think a nation is a business?

It sucks when Dems fall for Republican rightwing rhetoric.

[calteacherguy]

7. I did not say I think that, but there are a lot of inefficiencies in government.

If Bloomberg can run as someone who has help make government work better and more efficiently, that will make him an attractive candidate to many...and an interesting alternative to those cynical of both political parties.

[aquart]

8. What about YOU?

Il Duce made the trains run on time. I'm absolutely sure Bloomberg could, too.

Is efficiency your entire standard?

[calteacherguy]

9. I think some parts of government would be more efficient if they were run like a business

However, take the example of public schools. Many people think schools should be run like a business and that is completely wrong. You can't run a school like a business. That's what's wrong with the whole voucher idea, merit pay, and the current obsession with standardized test scores.

[aquart]

5. It worries you because he could PREVENT a Dem victory in 2008.

Isn't that nice of him?

[Renew Deal]

2. I would have to look at the issues and candidates.

My vote would not be automatic. BTW, I am from NY.

[davidwparker]

4. Still looking for Gore to run, but it gives me an alternative to Hillary

if she becomes the Democratic nominee.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Oh, don't say that. That's what will kill us.

[davidwparker]

12. Sorry, but I've had enough of the Clintons. If all goes well, someone else

will be the nominee. I will vote for any Democrat currently running except for Hillary.

[xchrom]

11. bloomberg isn't going to have much of a problem

with sending more american jobs to asia and the subcontinent.

he isn't going to have much of a problem with ''free trade''.

he is going to have a problem with single payer -- or nationalized health care.

it's not that difficult to be an effective muscular politician -- just be one.