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

Leadership can be defined as the process of social influence in which a person is able to enlist the aid and support of  others in the accomplishment of a common  goal. An  effective  public leader plays a major role in ensuring the welfare of the people of a society. To be effective, it has been argued that   a public leader must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.  I do believe that it is important to have a high ethical and moral standard, though it should be recognized that there morality is often an abstract concept and there are several  grey areas in characterizing an action as moral or immoral.

Abraham Lincoln is considered as one of the greatest presidents of United States of America.  He led the country through the civil war - a constitutional, military and moral crisis, and ultimately succeeded in abolishing slavery and preserving the Union.  He maintained the highest ethical and moral standards, did not relent despite initial resistance from the southern states and triumphed in the end in achieving his goals. Mohandas Gandhi, widely known as Mahatma Gandhi was a champion of nonviolence and ahimsa. Under his able leadership, India attained Independence from the British in 1947 through a nonviolent resistance of the masses against the empire. He was able to win over the skeptics of nonviolence through his powerful words and deeds. Martin Luther King, inspired by Gandhi, led the Civil rights movement focused on ending the racial segregation and discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means.

Let us now examine the cases of potentially the worst leaders the world has ever witnessed. Adolf Hitler had questionable if any moral or ethical standards and he  headed the Nazi part and was the head of the state of Germany  from 1934 to 1945. He is associated mainly with world war II, the rise in fascism in Europe and also the Holocaust. Muammed Gaddafi, the Libyan leader had no consideration for his own countrymen and openly supported the torture of his opponents. His country was in chaos and is struggling to rebuild now, after his assassination.

What should be the public leaders stand on issues like abortion and gay marriage? These are controversial subjects, and what could be considered free will and basic fairness by one section of the society could be considered as immorals act by others. So an absolute moral stand in these cases may not be achievable.

In general, I agree  that an effective  leader should have a  high ethical and moral standard to ably guide the people,  though I realize that there often times where an absolute moral stand may be elusive idea.