Public Leadership
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” is a famous quote from Peter Drucker (Psychology Today, 2002-2013).
According to Rushaw, author of Leading Public Organization: An Interactive Approach, defines leadership “as an interactive relationship involving power and influence to secure goals and achieve satisfactory reward” (p. 14). A key objective of public leadership is to influence the behaviors of the followers by the leaders to aid in achieving goals. The nature of influence determines the form of power in public leadership, that refers to the ability of a leader to influence others. There are three main sources of power at the expense of the leader to enhance organizational productivity and efficiency; they are legitimate, referent, and expert forms of power. It is as important in knowing and understanding the difference between the private and public sector organizations as it is to know and understand the privacy laws. The privacy laws varies depending on the legislation that an organization is governed under.
Leadership in Public Sector
According to Rusaw (2001), “the nature of public leaderships is defined by the constitutional basis of his or her work. Public service is chartered by legislation, meaning that the content, scope, and relationship of work is related not to enterprise, but to the authority of law” (p. 2). A public sector organization is an organization owned and operated by the local, state, and federal government. Good governance in general is equally important in leadership within the public sector (Rusaw, 2001). In the public sector, many departments provide an array of public services. Some examples of public sector departments are the Social Security Administration, Child Protective Services and Department of Transportation. The departments have programs that are administered by the government and use public funds, such as tax dollars to fund its programs. Because most public services are offered to the public at no charge and are considered not-for-profit, the program s establish policies and eligibility requirements to determine the qualifications. Public leaders, such as governors and legislatures are responsible for setting the policies and qualifications.
Four Themes In the book, Leading Public Organizations: An Interactive Approach, Rusaw highlights four themes observed by public leaders and his or her performance.
1. “Public leadership is based on a form of representational governance. Public leaders require openness to debate, toleration of ambiguously defined laws and regulations, and a willingness to incorporate democratic values and processes in making decisions” (Rusaw, 2001, pp. 2-3). Public leaders take his or her hints from the legislation. In the course of action, public leaders act more like servants to the legislation or government than decision makers (Rusaw, 2001).
2. “Public leadership is based on participation and consensus. Public leaders make decisions on behalf of others in accordance with what they believe will benefit the majority” (Rusaw, 2001, p. 3). For public leader to achieve a precise opinion of the needs, desires, and expectations of the stakeholder, the public leader will need to collect information from the stakeholders, have agendas, goal settings, and achieve results. An individual in a public leadership role will encourage outside participation from constituent to achieve success (Rusaw, 2001).
3. “Public leadership is based on the concept of ultimate resource accountability to the people. Public leaders are not accountable to a governing board or trustees, as in the private sector. Rather, both their authority to act and the means to do so stem from the legal–representational form of governance” (Rusaw, 2001, p. 3).
4. “Public leadership is based on the values of administrative effectiveness and efficiency (Rusaw, 2001, p. 3). Because public leaders are also considered servants to the government and the legislation, using resources wisely is necessary (Rusaw, 2001).
A good example of public leadership in the public sector is Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Even though Senator McCain voices his opinions on education and helping Arizona communities that experience disaster, he is also the voice of the United States Veterans around the Arizona area. As a Naval officer himself, he has a understanding how the United States military works (United States Senate, n.d.).
Leadership in Private Sector Businesses and institutions not regulated by the local, state, and federal government are organizations in the private sector. Most organizations in a private sector work for profit or have a financial gain plan. Organizations in the private sector can also work for organizations in the public sector, however; the public sector organizations use funds or grants to operate, the financial gain can be a risk. Let us take health care for example. Healthcare can be found in the public and private sectors, and most will agree that the quality of service is different when it is concerning certain services and the private sector can be more efficient to the patients than the public sector. When a public sector organization asks a private sector organization in the healthcare to provide services, it is crucial that the services is not affected, as most private sector organizations are a for-profit organization. Most government agencies will pay private sectors to delivery some of its services, and it is very important that the “leader” of the public sector ensure that the quality of services is not reduced. With this great leadership in the private sector is critical. There is significant difference in leadership in the public and private sector concerning the perception that top-level leadership is effective, the development of the next generation of leaders are also motivated, and the people feel more involved in decision-making process. In the private sector there are leaders who are prepared to take risk, a risk that the public sector does not have.
There is a difference between leadership in the public and private sectors, however; there is a similarity in the social and environmental aspects as well as the attitudes of employees. The difference in leadership in the public and private sectors are the ideas from the leaders at top level positions, as there is more risk taking, motivation approaches, and the process of decision making versus shared and complex leadership, especial how the different styles deal with crisis.

References:
Psychology Today. (2002-2013). All about Leadership. Retrieved from Psych Basics: Leadership: http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/leadership
Rusaw, A. C. (2001). Leading Public Organizations: An Interactive Approach. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
United States Senate. (n.d.). U.S. Senator John McCain Biography. Retrieved from U.S. Senator John McCain Arizona: http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorMcCain.Biography