Dr. Matthew Fairholm explores the difference between management and leadership in public service, urging officials to lead through empowerment rather than control. Using history, metaphor, and principle, he calls for “noble public service” rooted in humility, transparency, and cooperation—where true leadership guides citizens to act for themselves. Dr. Matthew Fairholm is Professor of Public Administration in the Political Science Department and the W. O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership focusing on public administration, leadership studies, and constitutional governance. He has received several teaching and research awards. Before coming to USD he was the Director of Leadership Studies and Development at GWU’s Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, where he still serves as a Senior Fellow, and before that he worked at the U.S. Department of Energy. His professional outreach involves organizations spanning the public, private, non-profit, and university settings. He has written dozens of technical reports, professional pieces, and peer-reviewed articles that appear in leading journals, and he is the author, with his father, of the book Understanding Leadership Perspectives: Theoretical and Practical Applications (Springer 2009). He also wrote Putting Your Values to Work: Becoming the Leader Others Want to Follow (Praeger 2013). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx