Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has shared his leadership philosophy at a seminar for members of the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Mr Giuliani, who came to personify the resilient character of New York after the attack on the World Trade Centre, appeared at the event via a satellite link up.

Mr Giuliani told delegates that if leaders' ideas and beliefs dominate what they think, then others would follow, but warned that no one would follow a pessimist.

He stressed the importance of preparation as a means of avoiding problems, even if something unanticipated occurs.

As an example of this need for preparation he cited the World Trade Centre attrack, where there was no crisis scenario for an airborne terrorist attack before the event.

However, the fact that emergency measures were in place to deal with both an air crash and an explosion in a building, meant rescue services could respond in the shortest possible time.

On the panel with Mr Giuliani were leadership experts Ken Blanchard, Marcus Buckingham, Stephen Covey and Gary Bradt.

Like Mr Giuliani they emphasised the teamwork aspect of leadership and told delegates to focus on the positive, praising people and rewarding what is good, rather than punishing what is wrong.