By Jon Gambrell
Enquirer contributor

Giuliani

OXFORD - Leadership in tough times requires teamwork, preparation, strong beliefs and courage, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told a crowd of nearly 8,000 at Miami University's Millet Hall Monday night.

Giuliani, a former U.S. district attorney and New York's mayor for nearly 10 years, spoke on "Leadership in Difficult Times" as part of the business school's Jack R. Anderson Distinguished Lecture Series.

Citing his experiences in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and talking about personal heroes such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, Giuliani said: "Courage is not the absence of fear; rather it is the management of fear."

Giuliani praised President Bush, saying Bush had assembled a team that served well in responding to the attacks.

Governors "don't have the foreign policy or military, they don't have the best experience in that," he said. "So, because of that, he (President Bush) overcompensated his team with a tremendous number of people with experience in that. The level of experience was astounding, but the most astounding part of that was that he recognized that he needed that in December 2000 and January of 2001, because he sure needed it on Sept. 11, 2001. The country did and that's the sign of a great leader."

Security was tight for the event, with d Miami University police and Giuliani's own security on guard and a private security company checking bags at the door.

E-mail jgambrell@fuse.net