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LAPD chief Bratton focuses on tipping point leadership.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bill Bratton has earned himself a reputation. He was in charge of both the Boston and New York City Police Department when they went through their significant crime-fighting turnaround. In New York, serious felonies were down 33 percent during his term. Bratton oversaw reforms in bureaucracy and policing in New York, producing exceptional results where crime rates plunged and quality of life improved. By the time he left New York, the murder rate had fallen to 984 a year, down from a high of 2,262 in 1990.

When researching information for the Harvard Business Review, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne plotted Bratton’s progress from 1977 and concluded that Bratton’s successes were textbook examples of tipping point leadership.

In May 2008, London mayor Boris Johnson enlisted Bratton’s help to clean up the streets of London. Bratton has advised on how a zero tolerance of graffiti, fare-dodging and other minor crimes can prevent more serious offending.

Bratton published his successes in Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic (Random House, 1998).

By Joanne Grey©

See our September newsletter for a book review on “The Tipping Point”.