Municipal Leaders: Develop Faster, Lead Stronger, Build Better
Every week, you’ll get insights and actionable steps to help you navigate personal growth and professional success.
You spent three months developing the strategic plan. Every department contributed. The data was solid. The analysis was thorough. The recommendation was sound.
You walked into the council meeting prepared and confident.
Fifteen minutes into your presentation, you saw it. One council member scrolling through email. Another reviewing papers for the next agenda item. The mayor nodding politely with that distant look that means she’s already moved on mentally.
When you finished, the only question you got had nothing to do with your proposal. Someone asked about parking at the community center.
Three months of work. Dead on arrival.
This isn’t just about council meetings.
You clearly communicate priorities in Monday’s leadership team meeting. Everyone nods. Everyone seems aligned. You leave feeling like you finally got everyone on the same page.
By Wednesday, those priorities are being implemented in completely different ways across departments. When you ask your team leads what the top priority is, you get three different answers.
Or maybe it’s community engagement. You’re trying to build support for a necessary but complex initiative. You know if residents understood the situation, they’d support the right approach.
But every time you explain it, eyes glaze over. Your carefully chosen words—”operational efficiency improvements,” “enhanced resource allocation,” “strategic infrastructure investment”—land with a thud.
They don’t understand. They don’t trust. They don’t engage.
Here’s what’s actually happening: Once you know something, you literally cannot imagine what it’s like not to know it.
You understand municipal finance. You grasp the regulatory environment. You see how organizational structures impact service delivery. These things feel obvious to you.
But to your council? Your staff? Your community? They’re foreign concepts wrapped in jargon.
When you communicate from inside your expertise, you speak a language only other experts understand. Your message evaporates the moment you stop talking.
Chip and Dan Heath call this the Curse of Knowledge in their book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.” And it’s costing you more influence than you realize.
When your messages don’t stick, you lose the ability to lead.
Council members can’t explain decisions to constituents because they don’t remember your key points. Staff can’t execute consistently because they can’t articulate priorities. Residents can’t support initiatives they don’t understand.
You end up working harder—more presentations, longer memos, additional meetings—and communicating less effectively.
The Heath brothers studied why some ideas survive while others die. They analyzed urban legends, advertising campaigns, proverbs, and organizational messages across centuries. What they discovered is a pattern.
Sticky ideas share six traits: Simple. Unexpected. Concrete. Credible. Emotional. Stories.
Think about an urban legend. “A friend of a friend woke up in a bathtub of ice in Las Vegas and discovered someone had stolen their kidney.” That story spreads like wildfire because it has all six elements.
Now think about your last strategic plan presentation. How many of those elements did it have?
The Heath brothers prove something critical: Your ideas are probably good. But good ideas with unclear communication lose to mediocre ideas with sticky messages every single time.
This week in the Municipal Leadership Development Circle, we’re working through the entire “Made to Stick” framework with a specific focus on local government leadership challenges.
You’ll discover:
How to find your core message using military concepts like Commander’s Intent that translate perfectly to municipal leadership. Not three priorities—one. Because when you say three things, you say nothing.
How to break patterns that capture attention without gimmicks. Your council has heard hundreds of presentations. They know the pattern: background, data, analysis, recommendation. Their brains go on autopilot. You’ll learn how to disrupt that autopilot and create genuine engagement.
How to make abstract concepts concrete. “Operational efficiency improvements” creates no picture in anyone’s mind. “We’re patching the same streets three times instead of resurfacing them once” is something people can visualize and remember. You’ll practice translating your technical expertise into language that sticks.
How to use human-scale statistics. Forty-seven million dollars in infrastructure backlog is abstract. “We’re wasting $800,000 by delaying this decision, and that’s enough to hire eight additional firefighters for three years” gives that number meaning.
How to structure messages that move people. The Heath brothers studied what actually changes behavior. You’ll learn how to apply those patterns to everything from council presentations to staff communications to community engagement.
The private sector leaders reading “Made to Stick” are trying to sell products or manage corporate teams. Important work, but they’re not dealing with:
Your communication environment is harder. Which means you need these tools more.
The difference between leaders who move organizations forward and leaders who spin their wheels isn’t intelligence or technical skills.
It’s the ability to make messages stick despite challenging environments.
They find the core that cuts through noise. They break patterns that capture attention. They use concrete language that builds trust.
They don’t communicate more. They communicate better.
Think about what would change if your next strategic initiative actually stuck in people’s minds. If council members could clearly explain your recommendations. If staff could articulate priorities without confusion. If residents understood why difficult decisions matter.
That’s not about working harder on communication. It’s about communicating smarter.
Every week, we work through a best-selling book—often written for the private sector—and translate its insights for local government leaders. Books like “Made to Stick,” “Crucial Conversations,” “The Advantage,” and “Thinking, Fast and Slow.”
But it’s more than content. It’s a community of city managers, county administrators, and department heads from across North America who understand your world because they live in it too.
Leaders who are tired of watching good ideas die. Who are committed to growing together for greater impact.
This week’s “Made to Stick” content is available exclusively to MLDC members.
Start your annual MLDC membership now and get immediate access to this week’s content, plus our complete library of leadership frameworks, tools, and community discussions.
Want to talk about membership options for you or your leadership team? Schedule a call with Seth to discuss how MLDC can support your specific leadership development goals.
Your community deserves ideas that stick long enough to make a difference.
The framework is ready. The community is waiting.
Let’s make your leadership message stick.
The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) is a professional growth community exclusively for city managers, administrators, and local government leaders. Each week, we explore insights from transformative books and apply them specifically to the unique challenges of municipal leadership. Join Seth Winterhalter, President of HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions, and leaders from across North America to build stronger cities through stronger leaders. Learn more at HaltingWinter.com/MLDC.
