interesting profile of michael bloomberg: 'Bloomberg Lives by Statistics and Gives Aides a Free Hand'

article by JIM RUTENBERG here.

Mr. Bloomberg's close circle of advisers got an early indication of what the next four years would hold one December evening in 2001 when they to took him on a secret, late-night tour of his new work environment at City Hall.

Wandering through the cavernous Board of Estimate chamber on the building's second floor, Mr. Bloomberg said he would make his office there, forsaking an ornate private enclave that was the inner sanctum for previous mayors and their closest aides. The mayor-elect said he would create a huge workspace that would be just like the open-air trading room in which he worked at Salomon Brothers and later recreated at his private company, Bloomberg L.P.

He would put his desk in the middle of the room and seat his top deputies and staff members around him, he said. Dozens of other aides would sit at cubicles placed side by side, ensuring the access of lower-ranking managers to the mayor's inner circle and bringing with it more accountability.

The aides recoiled, telling him that to put his office there would be to break with 190 years of history.

"This is the mayor's side of the building, right?" he said, according to Kevin Sheekey, his chief political strategist, who recalled the conversation during a recent interview. "I'm the mayor, right?" In short, a Wall Street sensibility had arrived at City Hall.

...

During the interview at City Hall, Mr. Bloomberg said the office setup had been critical to his management style. "It promotes cooperation," he said. "When people aren't happy, you see it. When people aren't getting along, you see it. People also want to feel included, and everybody wants - I keep saying this - recognition and respect."

Just as Mr. Bloomberg's bullpen has eliminated privacy for his staff, it has also eliminated privacy for him. He is there for all to see, sometimes shoeless, barking orders from his chair, asking a deputy mayor for information or asking his assistant to place a call to his mother or two daughters.

And he is on public display for his occasional fits of temper, as when he snaps over an open refrigerator door or a dirty fish tank in the bullpen, according to one staff member who has had an up-close seat for outbursts. This person, who agreed to speak candidly on condition of anonymity to avoid the mayor's ire, said Mr. Bloomberg was more a cranky uncle than an abusive father in such moments, which, this person added, have grown less frequent as his comfort level in the job has risen.