[April 25, 2014] Everyone knows that I live in New York City. Great place to be for many reasons. I am certainly no “city slicker” due to my military career, but with that bias I found the recent visit to NYC by Texas Governor Rick Perry to be an interesting contrast of two different subcultures and senior leadership styles.
The New York Observer reports1 that Gov Perry was in the city to recruit businesses to Texas and made a strong pitch on why Texas provides a better place-to-be (largely based on lower taxes and fewer regulations). The Texas governor was also present to reissue a challenge to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to debate their two states’ differing approaches to economic policy.
Many found Gov Perry’s message enticing – although they say publically they don’t agree with his politics. Of course, no one gave their name or their company’s name. As a side note, this should be disturbing to leaders when people don’t give their name on something like this because it means they are afraid of some form of retribution; in this case retribution from the state of New York.
The Lone Star State Governor’s mission here and leadership style (aggressive, charismatic, conservative-oriented, “government is the problem”) is in contrast to that of the Empire State Governor’s style (introspective, mistake-avoidance, detail-oriented, “government is the solution”). Gov Cuomo declined the invitation to discuss economic policy.
Which is the better, more effective senior leader – Gov Cuomo or Gov Perry?
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[1] http://observer.com/2014/04/perry-pitches-texas-to-new-york-businesses-hits-cuomo-on-ads/