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’ve seen it happen.
The brilliant new hire with impressive credentials struggles after six months. The long-serving employee who started at the bottom is now solving problems no one else can touch.
Council rejects a proposal you’ve worked on for years. Some leaders mentally draft resignation letters. Others start thinking about how to approach it differently next time.
How do you explain the difference?
This week in the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), we’re exploring “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth and her research reveals something critical for local government leaders.
Success isn’t about talent or intelligence. It’s about grit: the combination of passion for long-term goals and the perseverance to pursue them despite constant setbacks.
And here’s what matters most: grit can be cultivated. You don’t have to find gritty people. You can develop them.
In local government, where civil service systems impact hiring practices, where budgets restrict compensation, and where political pressures never ease, the reality of turnover or disengagement runs high. The private sector recruits talent with money. You build capacity through culture.
Inside the MLDC, we’re going deeper on how to maintain your own grit when facing rejection, budget cuts, and community criticism. We’re examining how to build organizational cultures that foster perseverance rather than just survival.
We’re looking at Duckworth’s powerful formula: Talent × Effort = Skill, and Skill × Effort = Achievement. Notice what counts twice? Effort. This transforms how you develop teams when you can’t compete on salary.
Every day this week, MLDC members receive:
If you’ve been considering joining the MLDC, now is the time.
Head over to our YouTube channel (search “Seth Winterhalter” or use the link below) to access our first Leadership & Culture Training Session of 2026: “Personal Well-Being When Work-Life Balance is BS.”
This webinar is an MLDC membership exclusive, and it’s available for free only through the end of January. After that, it goes into the vault.
This isn’t another session telling you to achieve better work-life balance. It’s about surviving and thriving in an environment where balance is often impossible. It’s about personal well-being when the demands never stop and the criticism never ends.
The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) translates the best leadership books into practical applications for local government leaders. Every week, we take one book and show you exactly how its insights apply to your unique context—council dynamics, budget constraints, civil service systems, political pressures, and community expectations.
Because enthusiasm is common. You see it everywhere—in new hires, in ambitious council members, in community volunteers. But endurance? That’s rare.
And that’s what we’re building together.
Learn more and join 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.
