Where Leaders Lead, The Rest Will Follow

By Jason Bowns

Public administrators are today’s leaders. They head our government institutions, hospitals, schools, public safety services and nonprofit groups. It’s awe-inspiring to imagine the omnipresent role of public administration in our daily lives; from picking up the mail, to stopping at a red light, to paying taxes.

National Park Service

Yet, there is a glaring problem in a world where news stories disproportionately depict what is going wrong in public administration and much less of what is going right. Consider some recent headlines.

There’s the latest indictment of former Connecticut Governor John Rowland. How about the California city manager, Robert Rizzo, who embezzled millions from the municipality he was entrusted to lead and is now going to prison for 12 years?

In the California State Senate, there’s the recent indictment of Leland Yee on gun and corruption charges.

Let’s not forget about Pennsylvania State Senator LeAnna Washington, recently…