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 know that comprehensive plan your council wants? The one you’ve had on your calendar for six weeks? Still not done.
That organizational restructure that would actually solve your capacity problems? Still in draft form.
The performance system redesign your department desperately needs? Still on the “someday” list.
It’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you don’t care. It’s because you’re trying to do deep, strategic work in an environment designed for constant distraction.
This week inside the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), we’re exploring Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, and it addresses one of the single biggest challenge facing local government leaders in 2026.
Newport’s research reveals something most of us already know intuitively: the ability to perform deep, focused work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it’s becoming increasingly valuable. While everyone else drowns in email and reactive tasks, leaders who master sustained concentration have a massive competitive advantage.
Here’s Cal’s formula: High-Quality Work = Time Spent × Intensity of Focus.
You can’t magically create more hours in your day. But you can dramatically change how intensely you focus during the hours you choose for important work.
The problem? Everything about your environment destroys your ability to concentrate. Open office layouts. Constant email. Smartphone notifications. Meeting after meeting. The expectation of immediate responsiveness to every request.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth: all of this isn’t just wasting your time; it’s rewiring your brain. When you spend too much time in shallow work, you permanently reduce your capacity for deep work.
But Newport doesn’t just diagnose the problem. He provides practical frameworks for creating space for deep work despite all the demands you face. Different philosophies for scheduling focused time. Rituals that make deep work easier. Strategies for retraining your brain for concentration in a world designed for distraction.
Inside the MLDC this week, we’re exploring all of this with five days of focused content specifically adapted for local government leaders. We’re addressing the real constraints you face—political pressures, budget realities, staffing limitations, community expectations—and building practical first steps you can implement immediately.
Join us at HaltingWinter.com/MLDC.
And head over to our YouTube page so you don’t miss our first Leadership & Culture Training Session of 2026: “Personal Well-Being When Work-Life Balance is BS.” This webinar is available for free through the end of January as the rest of the 9-part series is exclusively for MLDC and Leadership & Culture Program members. This session tackles the reality that work-life balance isn’t realistic in local government, but personal well-being absolutely is, and it’s essential for sustained leadership effectiveness.
The strategic work your community needs from you requires your best thinking. Your best thinking requires focus. And focus is a skill you can develop.
Start this week. Join the MLDC at HaltingWinter.com/MLDC.
The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) is a professional growth community exclusively for city/county 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.
