Mayor Eric Adams: The CEO of NYC

Welcome to Office Hours, where we sit down with the world's most important chief executives and answer your most pressing questions about leadership, career, and life. I'm Mike Steib and I am honored today to welcome Mayor Eric Adams, a former New York City Police Captain, state Senator, Borough president, and now the one hundred and tenth mayor of the Great City of New York. Mayor Adams, Mike, how's it going as someone who's raised two kids and three companies

Thank you very much. Good to be on with you.

Mister Mayor. The format here is a lot like real life office hours. Our listeners have questions for the boss, and we answer them. We had a ton of interesting questions for you, and Tim and I have edited it out the ones that should have been three to one one calls, and we've really focused down on the lessons that you've taken from your time in public service that our listeners can apply to their day to day work and career growth. So sound good?

Are you ready? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Okay, great, We've.

Got a first a question from David and Queens.

Question for you, mister Merrick, you run the most complex city in the world. Can you talk about how you plan your day and organize your team just stay on top of everything.

Thanks big fan.

Well, you know, actually, David just about answer to the question. There's a bird that was hidden in his question. Organize. It's all about organizing yourself and complexity is really based on disorder. If you put things in an orderly manner or fashion that is trained for your brain, because what's an orderly wait for me may not be an orderly wait for someone else. So, as a former computer program started out my professional career programming with fourtrand assembly and cobold.

I believe in.

Flow charts, I believe instructure. I believe in using spreadsheets and grass and it allows me to really manage this extremely complex city. The city is not hard, it's value and so and matter yourself as I do. To be a fighter pilot, you fly that instrument that plane based on your instrument panels. I have created a bunch of instrument panels. You cannot fly this plane called NYC if

Now, a lot of our listeners may not fully appreciate this, but you have a team of over three hundred thousand people. You've got an annual budget of over one hundred billion dollars. We sit down here with chief executives. It's hard to find a chief executive who has a bigger or more complex organization than the one that you manage. People know you as the politician, but really you lead as the chief executive.

CEO Yes, NYC, I'm the CEO of NYC, And you know, I'm glad you stated that, because that's the proper analysis.

We must look at this.

I spoke with a group of business owners at JP Morgan this morning, and you look at their budgets and the number of people that they manage.

It comes nowhere near what I have to do every day.

But not only are they making widgets, that's different from me. I'm making widgets and I have to deal with when the building collapse. I have to deal with when someone is shot. I have to deal with when it's a train derailment. And so it's one thing to run your corporation based on how many widgets you produce. I have to run a corporation based on how many lives I say and how I respond quickly. You know, I'm in the pocket like a quarterback. I must look at the

I got to trust my.

Teams around me, stay in the pocket and stay focused downstream.

Now, was there for someone who's earlier in their career and doesn't have an organization the size of yours to support them and that they have to support. Is there like one trick or tool you recommend. Does it trick out your calendar or use posted notes or use Excel? What's the best way to organize yourself if you run a small team or you're an individual contributor?

Got to do it in real time. I'm a big Google doc guy. You know this way you can monitor things in real time and be able to communicate. But I'm a strong believer you have to work harder than your teammates. You have to give one hundred and twenty percent if you expect your tea team members to give you one hundred percent. So you should be up there earliest. You should be the last one to you know, turn off the likes at night.

And then you must be emotionally intelligent.

A lot of people like to be academically smart and professionally gifted, but emotional intelligence, I think is one of the most important tools you could have. Understand how your teammates are feeling, and understand how you are feeling so that you can be the best that you can be, so you can bring out the best in them.

I love it.

One of the things I've always found helpful, and my teammates know this. The calendar for me is the operating system. Whenever people tell me like I don't have time to you know, I miss my workout every day, I'm like, well, do you miss your eleven o'clock meeting and they said no, I'm like, it's in your calendar. If you really want to work out, get in your calendar, put it in at six thirty, and show up on time. It's not once you commit right and once you put it in the.

Books, and that's so important.

You know what else, Mike, what we must understand our brains are hardwired to do nothing.

It's a very interesting relationship our brain has.

Our brain has the capacity to do everything, but it's hardwired to do nothing.

The brain wants you to put everything in automatic.

Mold so that you could run run away from the lions and tigers and bess because that's what the primary focus we've had. So when we start to say that I'm going to the gym automatically, the brain is going to say, no, you don't want to go to the gym. You have to start out understanding that the brains want you to do as little as possible so that you can have everything you need to run away from the lions and tigers and baths.

The lions and tigers and beads now.

Are the everything that is going on around us, and we need to understand that. I lean into the fact that I pushed through the nodes so I can get to the yess. Yeah, you know one of the first famous sayings I heard. In order to live the life you want to live, you have to do the things you didn't want to do.

We'll end on that. That's beautiful. Let me go next to Julia, who's in Austin. I hope she's not in New Yorker who moved to Austin, But we got Julia in Austin.

At the start of your campaign, the other candidates were leaning hard into defunding the police and zero tolerance COVID policies. You campaigned on a very different set of principles and it worked. How did you know at the time that your plan was going to resonate with voters?

And mister Mayer, I love this question, you know, because Michael Porter says strategy is about deliberately choosing to be different. Would you would you define your campaign that way? Or how you How might you respond to that question?

Well, I don't.

I don't know why people consider them the difference. I'm just a ballhead entering where and you know, enjoy the nightlife mayor, so I don't find I think every man in the country is bullhead and wear airing and go out and support their nightlife industry. So I don't think I'm different. That's a great question.

The secret to my source was that I understood that the decision was going to be made by people on social security and not social media.

I say that over and over again when you stay.

In contact with the people who are every day people, heartbreaking, blue collar workers. And when I say blue collar, heartbroking, I'm not only talking about the person who's the auto mechanic. I'm talking about the person who is a finance person or an accounting It's about just working hard. And I was listening to those hardworking people, and I knew that public safety midt everything. So when others were saying defund the police, I was saying, give it the police to support.

And I believe that, and everyday New york Is believed that as well. Well.

It really felt like at one point or the campaigns in New York or there were a lot of candidates who were selling something that just a lot of a lot of the voters weren't buying. And I think that's why your message resonated so well. And you know, for people who work on the corporate side, it's it's a lesson You've got to you've got to listen. I think you listened to your constituents obviously.

It's gone a long way, and you have to say among them.

You know, you can't be a good shepherd if you don't smell like a sheep. If you know, if you're never among the sheep, how were you going to fully understand of what they are feeling? As far too many electeds, official and political leaders and corporate leaders like, how often does the CEO actually go out to their fast food chain to see if people are saying good morning?

How could I help you?

How often does a person go out to this store or this shop or their or their place where the actual product is being distributed. How often do they go to the tax firm if they are a tax service, to see how is that person treated. If you don't inspect what you expect, your product will always be suspect.

Head into that and I and our listeners, No, I'm in New Yorker. I've been in New Yorker for over twenty years, and I can vouch for the sauce on this. I've I've been out having a good time, and Mayor Adams, I've seen you out having a good time too. It really makes it makes it feel real. It makes it feel real like when your mayor is consuming the city the way the rest of us do.

Because this is a twenty four hour, seven day a

That's not the city.

The city's a twenty four hour city, and I want them to see their mayors out there with them as they run the city and keep it alive and thriving.

That's such great advice. This next question is it's a pivot, but it's I think this is one you can be really helpful with. From Tony and Princess Bay.

I am allows your public speaker like really lousy. You both make it look easy to get in front of people and talk. Can you get those suggestions somebody who wants to get better at it. Thanks, great question. First of all, I'm allowing the public speaker. Also, I'm socially awkward. I don't feel comfortable in front of the crowds.

So what do I do. I come prepared by the time I stand up to give a speech.

I said it over and over in my head, and I made it my life story. And if anyone who has followed me, then notice that my speeches are based on my personal journey.

And when you're saying.

Your personal journey, you don't always have to write anything down because it's your story. It has already been written down in your memory and in your heart.

And anyone that really listened closely.

When I talk about homelessness, I'm talking about living on the verge of homelessness and living from relative to relative without a permanent bed. When I talk about learning disabilities, I talk about my dyslexia.

That's not hard to or to try to figure out the speech about.

When I talk about the mistakes I made in life, I expose myself to the criticism because I give those real life scenarios. So my advice to him is be authentic and no matter what you do, built in your narrative and your story, and you'll see that you don't have to write everything down.

Mister bean, would you prepare? You don't memorize a speech?

Right you?

Sort of?

Do you like? Sort of do the highlights or the bullet points for yourself and run through it in your head, because I don't think I've ever seen your reading a piece of it.

No, I do exactly that you know, no matter what topic is. And I have to be blessed. I lived the full life. There have been good days and bad days, but each one of them have been learning days and.

The fullness of that life.

It has given me an opportunity to speak with people from personal experiences. And so even a young person that's starting out, if he or she is talking about how do you have a good comeback? Talk about that broken heart, Talk about that first love you had that broke your heart.

Talk about the.

Dog that you lost that you know, ran away from home. Talk about losing your first job. Talk about the nervousness of getting your first job and how you felt and how you dropped the ball.

You'll be surprised. I don't care if you're thirteen.

There's a whole lot of life stories, stories inside even a thirteen. You just identify them and incorporate, incorporate them into any conversation you have.

I think that that advice to be to be personal and authentic goes a long way. I'd also say to Tony, the Mayors has done it so many times. It's done it so many times, and you've had this added advantage, which is offen in front of the camera, so you get to see how it went. I might suggest Tony or anyone who's trying to become a better public speaker, set up your iPhone, give your speech in front of the phone, and turn around and watch it, make some

Yes, and be and critique yourself, you know, be honest and critique yourself. And perfection is not a humanistic characteristic So if you find yourself perfect, then is obvious you're not looking at the real you.

Yeah, that's right. We got a quick commercial. Don't go anywhere, Okay, I've got the next questions from Sanjay and Park Sloop.

New York is the most diversity in the world, yet Mayor Adams is only the second mayor who's a person of color, and we still have yet to have a woman as mayor. What do you both see as the systemic issues causing this? And what should people and employers in the city do to lift up more diverse leaders?

So important, and diversity is our most secret, impotent weapon. And you learn so much from diverse environment. It's almost a Shakespearean tragedy. When someone only knows individuals who look like them, talk like them, eat the same food, do the same things. You're just never growing. Growth is leaning into healthy discomfort. And what I believe we need to do is each time we take a step, we should bring others with us. And so what does that look like?

It's just normal, mayor something I've also, you know, in our city, tech and finance are two of the biggest industries, and those are industries that have a tendency to lack diversity, especially in the leadership ranks. And one of the things I've noticed that at work is if there's a company where everybody looks alike, they have a tendency to be recruiting from the same schools. They have a tendency to be going after the same MBAs. They have referral programs.

Well, said Mike, I could not have said bet. You know.

I was talking to a group of corporate leaders and they would talk about recruitment, and I stated that everyone is not on LinkedIn. You know, sometimes you have to go off the beaten path to find a talent that is not on that path. You know how much talent we have in Nitsche public housing in this city, young people who know how to put their those to the

All right, next question is Lauren in Manhattan.

I've been in corporate leadership for a number of years and thinking ahead to the next chapter of my life, I feel like more women with my leadership experience should be in politics. But frankly, I have no idea where to start after thirty years in the private sector.

What do I do next?

That's a great question, that is an authentic question. Next thing to do is if you have not I'm going to just excuse me if I'm taking things for granted. But the first thing to do is to sit down and get a real civic book, read through all the levels of government, and then make notes in the margin like I do, of who's your congressperson, who's your US Senator, who's your state senator, who's your assembly person, your council person,

There's a lot of compromise, and from.

There you can then make up your mind which you like to run for office. And by working on someone's campaign, you could understand the challenges of running for office, raising money, having someone who's broken and in pain of yell.

At you or call you names.

You need to really get the fullness of what being the elected official is like and not the believe glamor of it.

I do want you to know though, in the private sector they call us names too. That's an experience that's been shared. One thing I'd love to your perspective on this, mister Maryland. I've also I remember when I was in high school, we met our congress person and it was like I just met Tom Brady. I was like, I can't believe we met a congress person. And then I grew up and I got a job, and I gave money to a couple of congress people, and now they

So so true?

And candidates really respect those who who volunteer helped them out. They're volunteering in their community, who contribute to campaigns because you're saying you support the ideas.

And it's very expensive to run for office.

I had to raise millions of dollars to run for office, and you know, you have no idea where those dollars are coming from. But people believe in your vision and your mission, and they, you know, they step up and assist you in accomplishing that.

And one would ask, well, what does that money go. It goes to mailing TV times, It pays for staffers, it pays for literature.

Sure, it's a very expensive endeavor to run for office.

It helps you get the helps you get the message out. I think you're going to like this next question. It's okay. DeAndre in New York City says Hi.

Mike, I've heard your talks on stress management and resilience.

Mayor Adams must have the most stressful job out of anyone.

Can you guys talk about how you deal with the pressure? And that's that is an amazing question.

And think about this for a moment, Mike, where is that tor probably the most important skill all of us are going to have to acquire?

Where does you?

And I would probably do research, we do a ted talk, we may sit in a seminar somewhere, But.

What is the average person? What is the average.

American get the information they need to deal with what we all know we're.

Going to face, and that's the stress of life.

That is why I believe it should be taught in our educational institutions.

We are going to introduce breathing.

Exercises to our children, meditation, mindfulness because our children are going to have to undergo so many changes in their lifetime.

They're not like me twenty two years in a police department. They're lucky. They're gonna say twenty two days.

You know, my son after the third day, he said, Dad, I'm looking for my next job. You know, change is going to be a constant in their life. So we need to give them the tools they need not only to be academically smart, but emotionally intelligent. We need to teach them how to eat right, how to sleep right, how to deal.

With the inner tools that they need.

We focus so much on external tools, but it's time for us to look inward and give people the internal the internal tools that they need instead of the external tools. We think it should be done in schools, we think it should be done in professional environments, and we think it should be done.

In our colleges and other places.

Everyone should incorporate mental tools to help them to deal with the stress that they're facing in life.

And I know it's something that my employees and I hear this from a lot of other CEOs since COVID. It just feels like there's some other challenge every other week as a professional. And there was a phase where everyone was like, I'm burned out and they were saying to their employer, what are you going to do about the fact that I'm burned out? And I'm finding now that employees are turning that back around in the saying to themselves this, I think this is a professional survival skill.

What are you like? What are the few things.

That you recommend for staying sharp and maintaining that right those right attitudes.

If I could just give people one item that I would say, the most important thing is food.

Food. I saw my day with a green smoothie.

After I exercise and meditate and say, my friends, I do a green smoothie. It's a great way to start today. Some spinach, kale, bakchoi, blueberries. You know I start today right. If you start to day putting the right food in your body, you will have a good day and the level of energy you need to get through your day. Your body's like a machine. You would not put water in your BMW, so you should not put bad food in your body.

It's really terrific advice, mister mayor Romas at a time, Is there anything you want to leave us with, anything you wish we had asked or any final words?

Was them? No? Not at all.

Great speaking with you and look forward to speaking with you some more. People enjoy you know your show that you're gonna kick off. They enjoy you as a person you have You have great energy, and I look forward to.

Your show expanding, growing and just have a lot of fun.

If I could tell people one thing, uh, you know, you don't climb to the top of the mountain and complain about the view.

Enjoy every moment of it. I wake up every.

Day and no matter how difficult the day is, I said, you know, damn it, I'm the mayor of New York City.

I don't have the right to complain about anything.

Wonderful, mister Mark, thank you for your service and thank you for coming here today. This has been really special.

Thank you. Take care of.

Friends. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Mayor Eric Adams as much as I did. You know, as I reflect on it, I have to take away that may Or may not have come through direct from all of your questions today, but Mayor Adams really loves the people he serves in the city, and then he seems to love being mayor. Did you get that sense like he really gets energy from being out there pressing the flesh and being a politician and running the city that he