Municipal Leaders: Develop Faster, Lead Stronger, Build Better
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HaltingWinter Podcast, Episode 218
Featuring the story of Sugar Land, TX City Manager (and former Coral Springs, FL City Manager)
Michael Goodrum’s resume reads like a case study in climbing the municipal ladder.
Parks coordinator. Department head. Public works director. Assistant city manager.
But behind the impressive job titles was something few people saw:
A leadership approach that got results while quietly burning people out.
“I was effective,” he says in the episode. “But I wasn’t good for people.”
This episode is about what happens when leaders wake up, look in the mirror, and realize they’ve been doing it wrong. It’s not a story of shame—it’s a story of reset.
Michael left home at 18 with nowhere to go. He spent his first semester of college sleeping in his car in a parking lot until a volleyball coach noticed and offered him a scholarship to track stats.
That launched a journey from the margins into city hall. But even after landing his first job in Sugar Land, Texas, he was washing city vehicles and cleaning an office with no real responsibilities.
“It was a disaster of an internship,” he says. “But I wrote up everything that was wrong, turned it in, and thought I’d never hear from them again. Two weeks later, the director called to thank me and told me to call him if I ever needed a job.”
Eventually, he did. And that call changed everything.
Every city manager faces pressure. Every department head juggles people and performance.
And every leader will eventually have to choose:
Am I chasing success, or building something that lasts?
Michael’s story isn’t clean. It’s real. And that’s exactly why it will resonate.
Listen to Episode 218: From Cutthroat to Culture-Builder
This episode is made possible by our partners at Zencity, who believe the voices of our local government leaders, and the communities they serve, deserve to be heard.
Zencity helps public sector leaders engage with the full voice of their community, not just the Same Ten People (STPs) who always show up. Through real-time data and actionable insights, Zencity empowers cities and counties to make informed decisions, respond with confidence, and build trust through transparency.
Learn more about how Zencity is transforming community engagement at zencity.io or schedule a live demo of their amazing tools at the link below.
The HaltingWinter Podcast celebrates and elevates the people who power local government. Through in-depth conversations with leaders from cities, counties, and communities of all sizes, host Seth Winterhalter explores the journeys, challenges, and innovations happening in municipal leadership across America.
