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

The ethics and morality is the key component of the behavioral standards for public officials, a guidance that officials can act, if not, they must take a risk of losing their position, not mention to make an achievement in their job. But it is unrealistic to assess the effectiveness of public officials by the highest ethical and moral standards, after all, they are human beings, just as the old saying is that to err is human. Moreover, there are a wide range of indicators to measure an effective leader in public departments.

It is no doubt that a leader conforming to ethical and moral standards takes precedence over others ignoring them. First, he keeps his job safely and realizes his ideal to do good for the public, while others with less awareness of morality must be stepped down owing to their misconduct. Zhou Yongkang, for instance, a former senior official in China Central Committee, has been sentenced to life imprisonment due to the abuse of his power and the acceptance of huge property. Second, an official with high ethical and moral standards often plays a role model for his colleagues and the public, who are inclined to follow and behave as he does, such visible exemplary role better than any severe system. Most importantly, a leader who act on a high ethical standard usually promote his work and deal with social disputes smoothly among all level of citizens.

However, what's the highest ethical and moral standards? It is too hard to give the accurate definition, for the connotation varies in various social system. In the past, life in China is regarded as the supreme, whereas now the family planning is implemented considering the cost the society is difficult to burden with the surging population. For another, it also exists the epistemological difference among people, which sets an obstacle to define a system of perfect morality.

Faced with the complex and changing environment, it is extremely hard for public officials to always maintain the high ethical and moral standards. With the development of science and the change of public ideas, public officials have to deal with such difficulties to make laws as homosexual marriage, euthanasia, clone, to some extent to violate ethics argued by the majorities. Living in a society threatened by frequent violence and terrorism, people would tremble with fear, resulting in the economy of disorder and stagnation and the life of despair if public officials adhered to their highest moral standards rather than took action to fight against rioters and terrorists. Furthermore, in the process of industrial progress, nearly all countries have produced negative influence on the nature, such as the pollution of air, water, and earth, the degradation of ecology, the disappearance of plants and animals, and so on.

Last but not least, more indicators can be used to measure an efficient leader in the public departments, not merely confined to the highest ethical and moral standards. They are as follows: one leader has the quick response to the emergent crisis like economic crisis, natural disaster like earthquake and tsunami, sudden public incident, and deals with them efficiently; Deng Xiaoping, the designer of Chinese economy, implemented the policy of reform and opening-up—it doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice— which has injected a great vitality to the economy, with the boom of society and the enhancement of life, escaping from backwardness and poverty. And there are endless examples to illustrate the effectiveness of public officials.

All in all, it is unwise to judge whether a leader in public office works effectively according to the highest ethical and moral standards, though these standards are important. A leader restricted to these standards may well be hard to fully exert his intelligence and talent, leading to poor performance. So, various kinds of indicators are necessary to measure an effective leader, coupled with the high ethical and moral standards.