De Blasio as Manager: Delegating, Yet Keeping a Tight Leash; New York Times, 10/31/13

Michael M. Grynbaum and Kate Taylor, New York Times; De Blasio as Manager: Delegating, Yet Keeping a Tight Leash: "They have staked out positions on taxes and charter schools, pedestrian plazas and a ban on large sugary drinks. But the Democratic and Republican candidates to succeed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have rarely expounded on the biggest day-to-day challenge that awaits them in City Hall: managing a bureaucracy of 300,000 workers. The New York Times asked Bill de Blasio, the Democratic nominee, and Joseph J. Lhota, the Republican nominee, to explain their approaches to being a boss: making tough choices, recruiting a savvy staff and coping with the crises that inevitably confront the leader of the nation’s largest municipality. Mr. de Blasio spoke with the Times at Bar Toto in Park Slope, Brooklyn. An interview with Mr. Lhota was published in print on Thursday. This interview has been condensed and edited. "How would your management style be different from Mayor Bloomberg? Well, I absolutely oppose the 30,000-feet approach. What do you mean by that? It’s the cursory nature of it. To truly manage that place effectively and the agencies, you have to be, in my opinion, hands-on enough. I think Michael Bloomberg was too cold. To choose the good commissioner, then let them do their thing to the point of distraction, unfortunately led to some of the mistakes in crisis, like the snowstorm or Sandy. I think it led to some commissioners that alienated communities unnecessarily. I think it led to some bad policy decisions... Is there a mayoral model you admire? I think the Giuliani hyper-micromanagement model proved to be very disruptive to agencies and to their leaders. The La Guardia model is where I look in all things, which is a hands-on, very connected-to-the-grass-roots, very present, very communicative with the people. Choosing top-flight people, but also keeping some reins on them, and being able and willing to intervene as needed, I think that’s the right balance... Do you have a favorite management theorist? No."