ISSUE 104 My First Work, 帮修改者，必回改之：）

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104 To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.

An official could be either a person who takes office in government or who holds a position in a cooperation. With a “public”, the official will have more chance to show up in the public through various paths, such as TV, Internet, radio or other forms than other kind of officials. Their speeches, gestures, appearance all represent the organizations they are providing service to. As in such a subtle position, a public official should have what kind of characteristics to be considered as an effective leader? Is highest ethical standard necessary in these features?

The standard to judge whether a public official is an effective leader differs in the eyes of beholder. Objectively, in general, an effective leader is, at least, able to fulfill the duty of his/her job. For example, a physician who has received professional training is able to properly perform his/her skills, both mental and physical, to make diagnosis of the condition of a patient and administer drugs to relieve or eradicate his/her disease. Of course, a doctor has professional ethical standard, as they swear to obey it when awarded certificate to be a doctor. However, it is too extreme to say if without having a highest ethical standard, one cannot considered to be an effective leader.

When things go to extreme, they will be counterproductive. Ethical standard is established to circumscribe the behavior, to discriminate what is right and what is wrong. As long as we fulfill a degree of ethical standard to which other people or the public in the society will not condemn the behavior, this extent of ethical standard, for my opinion, is appropriate. A highest ethical standard would probably encumber a leader to be effective, because she/he would have to consider too much about the standard. Imagine that if a judge let his/her ethical standard to take over the ration when gauging the conviction of a person, it would surely produce subjectivity and bias. If a leader cannot even fulfill the basic duty of his/her job, she/he could also not to be considered competent or effective, just as it is in this case.

Yet if a public official could find an equilibrium between his/her job and ethical standard, he/she would probably be an ideal leader. With less shackle in the mind, one can more smoothly and rationally carry out certain decision and at the same time maintain a healthy public image. Thus, as we can unequivocally find that it is not necessarily to have a highest ethical, as long as a public official could maintain a certain degree of moral criterion, and at the same time exactly being competent for his job, he/she can be considered an effective leader.