Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 02

44 / Canadian Government Executive // January/February 2018 Readings Brief “Local government touches all of us inti- mately every day of our lives: the water we drink, the transit system that takes us to work, the first responders who keep our cities safe. Those services are only as good as the people who deliver them, and the quality of the people at the working level is determined by the quality of the leader- ship they receive,” concludes David Siegel in his excellent review of municipal lead- ership in Canada, Leaders in the Shadows . The focus of the book is on the municipal Chief Administrative Officer, but its les- sons in leadership apply throughout the public sector. This book is a rich source of insight about leadership in government. It explores what leadership is and the ideas over time that have shaped our thinking about it. Siegal gives us five case studies of CAOs who have had an impact on their communities they have served. From those cases and that theory, he draws important lessons about leadership in government. They ap- ply well beyond the municipal sector. There are many characteristics of mu- nicipal government that make it unique and challenging. That can be said of any part of the public sector. Municipal govern- ments have a high degree of transparency. Advice is seldom provided in confidence. There is a complex mesh of stakeholders. It is highly service oriented. The CAO also serves many masters, being appointed by the Council and working within its deci- sion-making framework, which is quite By Andrew Graham Lessons f rom the Wor ld of the Mu The Up, Down, and Out of Leadership: different from the Westminster model. The election cycle is set and relatively short. The responsibilities of the CAO are diverse. That person can never be master of them all, so they must build a team of experts and create a unifying strategy for them. CAOs are expected to not lead the po- litical masters, but serve themwith advice, expertise and implementation. As Siegel says, “In municipal administration, things that work well are invisible.” And, central to his theme, they lead in the shadows, ensuring that those above provide the democratic leadership they are elected to do, those to the side – the stakeholders and partners – have their interests addressed and those below bring their expertise and action capacity to the game. Siegel’s model of up, down, and out lead-