Keep it simple and focused amid the daily challenges of leading New York City.
Zohran Mamdani is about to find out what I learned the hard way: No one can be truly prepared for the tsunami-like dynamics of the transition from regular human to leader of a city of 8.5 million people. So let me speak from experience as a two-term mayor of New York City and offer a little guidance (or at least some solace) to Zohran and his team as they begin their extraordinary journey in governance.
There are four areas that can make or break the first year of a mayoralty: Team, Simplicity, Speed, and Authenticity.
Let me break them down.
Team: When I started having focused conversations with Zohran earlier this year, I was struck by how deeply and thoughtfully he absorbed advice. He was consistently big-picture-oriented and historically grounded when it came to understanding the role of a mayor. And as I watched his outreach to people with experience and insight, regardless of ideological differences, I gained confidence that he would not make the mistake of just hiring from his inner circle.
It’s easy and comfortable to surround yourself with longtime loyalists. But the better strategy is to keep a core of trusted true believers available while seeking highly experienced talent for other roles. This is the best way to serve the people of New York City, while also fighting off the “hostile encirclement” that the status quo forces in business, politics, and media will utilize to try to strangle Mamdani’s vision and success.
Simplicity: There is no place as fast and dynamic as New York City Hall. Every day is a battle to preserve a proactive agenda against the never-ending attacks, crises, and incessant incoming fire. In this context, complexity is a profound danger. Anything that needlessly slows the agenda can be fatal to the overall equation of constantly building on successes and developing political capital.
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Thankfully, no candidate in recent memory has kept their vision as simple and focused as Zohran Mamdani has. The key, especially at the start, is to retain that impulse amid the crashing waves of daily challenges involved in leading our city.
I unoriginally (but, I do believe, effectively) used the first 100 days of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency as my exemplar, which helped my team and me score major early victories with Pre-K for All, paid sick days, and fair contracts for municipal workers. This bought us time to keep moving on the rest of our plan. We didn’t try to do too much at first. That opened the door to do much more.
Unfortunately, we didn’t always get it right. On the smaller but morally vital issue of banning the inhumane practice of using horse carriages to ply the busy streets of Midtown Manhattan as tourist transport, we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We engaged in an unnecessarily elaborate attempt at legislative perfection and lost the window for the quick, bold action that could have prevailed.
Speed: Successful mayors recognize the power of striking while the iron is hot. That’s especially true when it comes to advancing progressive policy: I have often reflected that my administration could not have achieved Pre-K for All and the beginning of 3-K for All if we had waited even one more year. Because we jumped at our first good opportunity, more than 500,000 New York kids have already benefited from this initiative.
It’s also true in moments of crisis. The rule of thumb is simple: If you think something might be a major problem, act like it already is.
At one point in my administration, we had a blizzard with literally the highest snowfall recorded in the city since the Civil War. My team and I were intensely focused in the days before it struck, made quick moves, and communicated accordingly with the public. As a result, NYC rebounded with surprising speed. Yet a few years later, what appeared to be a negligible snowstorm suddenly intensified and led to a massive pileup on the George Washington Bridge, paralyzing traffic in a big swath of the city for half a day. Our failure to immediately adjust prolonged the crisis.
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Expecting chaos and preparing to forcefully adjust when things spin out of control are both necessary ingredients for Zohran to achieve his bigger agenda.
Authenticity: Zohran ran as his true self, and New Yorkers loved it. An authentic Zohran is the only version that can succeed in governance. He is blessed with a winning personality and extraordinary communication skills. Now he must recognize that only he can defeat himself by pulling his punches.
I learned early on a central lesson about my beloved New Yorkers: Don’t bullshit them. They admire bluntness, strength, and confidence, because that is the energy of this place. If you blink, they stop believing you.
As an extraordinary and hopeful era commences in the nation’s greatest metropolis, it has chosen the right leader for the moment. Our new mayor has a unique talent for inspiring New Yorkers. He proved that with a transformational election campaign. Now he must employ that talent to renew the quintessential New York spirit of building what the world has never seen before.
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