Citadel Business InFormation

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley's skill at leadership is a blend stems from a knowledge and understanding of history, and an unbridled focus on making the right decisions using a bit of gut reaction and lot of study.

Mayor Riley, who is serving his unprecedented eighth term, elaborated on his understanding of leadership and his many successes as mayor of the city of Charleston during the first installment of the Fall 2006 Leadership Forum presented by The Citadel School of Business Administration and underwritten by South Carolina Bank and Trust.

Mayor Riley addressed a large group of MBA students and professors in Grimsley Hall, speaking for 30 minutes about leadership and dedicating 15 minutes to questions from the audience.

His talk was built upon two aspects of leadership: Leadership within and leadership without, described, respectively, as inherent skills embodied in a leader, and how this leadership must play out to constituents. 

"You have to earn it every day, you have to work for it every day," Mayor Riley said of leadership, acknowledging that a true leader must be "honest, fair, truthful and just."

"You need to recognize achievements," he said. "And when things don't go right, you need to take the blame."

On the topic of the city of Charleston, Mayor Riley said that his primary goal has been to give the people what they want. When he was first elected in 1975, the city was racially divided, and he took it upon himself to be a "bridge builder" between white and black residents. 

"I knew the city couldn't get to where it wanted to go if it didn't take care of that problem first," he said. 

He hired Reuben Greenberg as chief of police, which continued his success in the battle against racism.  

"I knew that in their (residents) hearts, they wanted a deep southern city that had confronted these issues," he said. 

Subsequent efforts were made to refurbish the Charleston Place Hotel, which led to the renewal of King Street and eventually the entire downtown area. 

Mayor Riley also elaborated on the successful evacuation of the city during Hurricane Hugo, which struck on September 21, 1989; he said he aimed to use the impending disaster as an opportunity to serve the people. 

"Mayor Joe Riley is, without question, one of the finest mayor's the country has ever known," said Dr. Earl Walker, Dean of The Citadel School of Business Administration. "Formerly as a business dean in Kansas City, I heard about his reputation from afar. He has exceeded my already high expectations by leagues."

Next year, The Citadel School of Business Administration will induct Mayor Riley into the Business Hall of Fame and will award him the Leader of Principle award. 

"When he agreed to receive this award, he also agreed to speak at one of our Leadership Forums," said Dean Walker. "His seminar was very insightful about the challenges government leaders face in leading and creating ethical environments." 

This was the first of four leadership forums this fall. The series also includes talks by Dr. Susan M. Phillips, Dean of the School of Business and Public Management of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and former governor of the Federal Reserve System; Bluford Putnam, President of Bayesian Edge and a well-known academic; and Jim Huling, President and CEO of MATRIX Resources.