CM: Two years ago, when we asked you at what rate we should expect Giuliani Partners to grow, you told us that you couldn't begin to register a guess, given that the firm was so new and your client offerings were largely untapped. How would you today characterize the firm's growth since its inception?
Giuliani: God has been very good to us since then, and we've developed way beyond what we thought was going to be our capacity.
CM: What offerings have emerged as primary drivers of the firm's growth?
Giuliani: There are two areas where we spend most of our time and have developed the greatest capacity. One of them is in consulting on crisis management and security problems; we have done that both for private companies and for government. An example of our work with government would be our work with Mexico City, where we gave them advice on how to reduce crime.
CM: Given the differences between Mexico City and New York City, it would seem that crime reduction best practices can only go so far. Ultimately, there would need to be quite a bit of fine-tuning.
Giuliani: Oh, sure, you start with a model that is flexible and can work like Comstat, the crime reduction system, did. Now, this is a model, but the data you are putting into it could be very different depending on the part of the world you're in. In Mexico City, we spent two or three months just studying the culture. We knew how the model worked in New York, but we had to figure out how to vary it to fit the structure in Mexico City.
CM: Can you give an example of how Comstat may have been fine-tuned for Mexico City?
Giuliani: Well, when you deal with the corruption issue in Mexico City, the way we dealt with that was to first advise them on Comstat, which allowed them to evaluate how individual police officers were doing their jobs. Are they making arrests? Are they reducing crime? You can produce an evaluation of each individual police officer. And then you reward the police officers who are doing a good job with incentive pay. So, in essence you can reduce the temptation of bribery and have both an enforcement mechanism against bribery and a reward mechanism. But before you can make that recommendation, you really have to learn the differences in their system and be sensitive to them.
CM: So, being sensitive to a client's environment and being able to adapt offerings …
Giuliani: Well, there is a bigger challenge, and it's one anybody seeking to do advisory work in any country should keep in mind — and that is the transformation you have to make when you are used to running things. When you're advising and trying to help people work within their structure, you have to understand that you are no longer in charge — you are advising — and that's a different role.
CM: It's about advice, not mandates.
Giuliani: Well, you give people the options, but they make the judgments, and we were very sensitive to that. This is something that has made working outside the United States easier, because it isn't "the American" coming in telling you what to do. At the time we were first engaged, this was a real concern of the Mexican newspapers. But instead, it turned out that "the American" who had success in this one particular area was here to share knowledge, and then the officials could pick and choose which of those options might best work. The ultimate responsibility and credit remains with the client. If you think of a hockey game, we get the assist but they get the goal.
CM: What have you been up to in the private sector?
Giuliani: An example with private companies would be the work we do with Entergy Corp., the nuclear power company, where we studied their security and crisis management plans and gave them advice on how to improve them. Then we helped implement that advice. In other words, we have worked with them to make sure that they are effectively putting the practices in play. Whether it's actual internal security, external security, or crisis management programs, they now integrate their response with local, county, and state police. So, that's an example of the work we're doing in the private sector. More recently, we've taken on an assignment for some of the major pharmaceutical companies to study the foreign importation of medicines and what vulnerabilities may exist as far as anything that could lead to the pollution of the drug supply system in the U.S. goes.
CM: You mentioned a second area …
Giuliani: We also have an investment side, and mostly here we look for businesses that are developing what we consider to be the best technology to deal with a problem. A recent example would be with a Canadian company called Vanguard Response Systems, which has developed a technology for bomb containment. Basically, they've developed a system for defusing bombs that involves a type of tent and putting foam inside the tent and using robots, where possible, to do it. So, it's a very intricate solution. We have a partnership with them to help develop that technology and to market it. We have a similar partnership with Sabre, where we formed a venture called Bio-ONE that today does anthrax remediation. We're doing the anthrax remediation in the AMI building in South Florida that was contaminated by anthrax way back in September 2001. We're now developing a method for the more efficient remediation of anthrax and other forms of biological attack, and we look for companies that have developed technologies that can help with the new security problems.
CM: People would tell us that it's inevitable that you will return to public service. Is there a succession plan in place?
Giuliani: No, not yet. It's not something that's really on the table right now. If that starts to happen or if we get further down the road, then I would have one, but I think that this sort of thing would have to naturally evolve, too, because the talent and experience our people are developing is tremendous.
CM: How has the firm grown in headcount?
Giuliani: Just in practical numbers we are roughly four times the size we were two years ago, and in terms of capacity what we expand to with subcontracts that we have and the partnerships that we have make us something like 12 times the size of what we were.
CM: Has the organization experienced the typical growth pains?
Giuliani: It's very exciting. It's like any other type of organization when it's growing. You are constantly assessing how many people you need so that you don't have more than what your contracts require, but at the same time you are ready to take on the ones that you have been asked to do. And this is where the association with Ernst & Young has been very valuable, because it gives us a huge group that we can call on if we get into something that's beyond where we are right now. We've grown to about 52 to 54 people, and when we last talked we were at 12. These are our permanent people. On any given assignment we can go over 100, but that would be contract employees and people who are working in the advanced security center and the people working in Bio-ONE.
CM: As you grow, have you considered working with outside investors?
Giuliani: We have an alliance with Bear Sterns whereby we have a fund to invest in the business system that we jointly select. So, we have access to capital when we need it. Right now we don't, but if we did at some point, I'm sure that we could figure out a way to get it.
Giuliani: How did jury duty go?
CM: It was interesting. Sorry for having to reschedule. I hadn't served in quite a while.
Giuliani: I did jury duty four years ago when I was the mayor. I was on a jury in a civil case. It was fascinating. In fact, I was the foreman.
CM: Somehow, I doubt there was much debate among your fellow jurors concerning who should be foreman.
Giuliani: Thanks. Let's talk again.
— Jack Sweeney
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.