Five primary characteristics of leadership in public administration include: managing by doing the right things rather than just doing things right; directing others' work through both formal and informal authority; being accountable to the public while following many rules and checks on authority; and promoting principles of fairness. An Aesop's fable about a crab mother criticizing her son's sideways walking illustrates the point that leaders should lead by example, not just words.

1. Leadership in Public AdministrationBeverly A. Nicholson, MBA, MPAThomas Nelson Community College Hampton, VA1

2. Without using reference materials, students will be able to define (list) five primary characteristics of leadership as they relate to public administrationObjective2

3. Definitions of Leadership Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. DruckerLeadership is the art of getting someone else to do what you want done because he wants to do it.Dwight Eisenhower3

4. The exercise of authority, whether formal or informal, in directing and coordinating the work of others (Schafritz, 2004, p. 175)Leadership Defined in Public Administration4

5. Controls that limit risk-takingAccountability to the publicFollows lots of rulesChecks and balances on authorityFocuses on principles of fairnessReference: Cropf, 20085Public Leadership

6. 6SummaryIncludes demands from many stakeholdersRequires accountabilityPromotes equity

7. A mother crab criticized her son for walking sideways, whereupon the son asked his mother to show him how to walk straight. Of course the mother crab was unable to walk any straighter than her son, and soon apologized for criticizing what she herself was guilty of too.Moral: lead by example not by wordsAesop’s Fable: The Crab and His Mother 7Crab (Rowley, Creative Commons, 2009)

8. Cropf, R. A. (2008). American public administration: public service for the twenty-first century. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.[Photograph of Peter Rowley]. (October 5, 2009). Creative Commons, flickr from Yahoo, Thailand, Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/haemengine/3982256034/?reg=1&src=sharev3Shafrtiz, J. M. (2004). The dictionary of public policy and administration. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.References8