Leadership in the public and third sectors

The role of the public sector, typically comprising government and public enterprises, is to ‘focus on regulatory implementation of legislation and service delivery to citizens’. The quote highlights a fundamental issue associated with the leadership of elected public officials. The global commitment to developing public sector leaders continues to gather pace. In 2019 the first cohort of public sector leaders were welcomed into the United Kingdom’s new National Leadership Centre. Leaders in the public sector need to be fully aware of and understand the political environment in which they operate and should be developed to work with ambiguity and complex structures. Leadership involves letting some people know that what they want is not always what is in the best interests of the whole community. The sharing of these micro-stories provides insight into the experiences of leadership in large local government organisations.