The objective of this study was to examine the leadership and the efficiency of the chief executive of local government organizations. We asked chief executives of local government organizations in nine provinces in the lower northern region of Thailand to fill out questionnaires and participate in in-depth interviews. Then we used a computer program (SPSS) to do a quantitative analysis of the data, and we also did a content analysis using a qualitative method. The results of this study found that the characteristics of local government leaders are vision, education and knowledge, good personality, high morality, attention to work, responsibility, and participation.