Non‐essential: Reclaiming the Value of Public Service

The author is Professor of Practice at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public and International Affairs, where she also serves as Director of the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership and the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum. She writes about the importance of public service and public servants, and how the contributions by these people have been politically devalued in the United States in recent years. She builds on her own experience, as she writes that “for over 20 years, I have worked in public service in the United States, including as an intelligence analyst, National Security Council staffer, diplomat, and university professor.” She pays tribute to Frances Hesselbein, the founder of Leader to Leader , noting that ”her most enduring legacy was in convincing business leaders that the values that had long upheld leadership in the public and nonprofit sectors—service, care for others, respect for all people—would also work for them.“