The article discusses different approaches to the moral component of leadership, to the definition of ethical leadership. It is argued that ethical leadership in public service is a complex phenomenon, which includes the leader’s possession of certain ethical characteristics, moral qualities, their expression in the right actions and behavior, as well as in ethical management - in determining ethical decisions in public service organizations, performing functions motivating, organizing the actions of followers, initiating ethically sound group interactions, responding to unethical behavior of public servants.