Introducing: The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) - Save 50% During Launch Phase
Every week, you’ll get insights and actionable steps to help you navigate personal growth and professional success.
Throughout this series, we’ve explored various aspects of Essentialism and how they apply to your role as a city manager. We’ve discussed the power of saying ‘no’, identifying your highest point of contribution, and removing obstacles to your essential work. Now, let’s dive into a core principle that ties all of these concepts together: the idea of “less but better.”
In today’s fast-paced world, there’s often an assumption that more is always better. More projects, more initiatives, more meetings, more emails. As city managers, you might feel pressured to constantly do more, to be seen as proactive and responsive to every community need.
However, this approach often leads to:
In our previous posts, we explored the power of saying ‘no’ and identified your highest point of contribution as a city manager as we continue to mine gems of insight from Greg McKeown’s book, “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.” Now, let’s tackle the next crucial step in your journey towards more effective leadership: removing the obstacles and distractions that stand between you and your most essential work.
At the heart of every thriving community lies an unseen high-wire act: city management. As a city manager, you’re not just walking a tightrope – you’re doing so while taming a three-headed snake, each head representing a crucial stakeholder: department heads, elected officials, and community citizens. It’s a delicate balance of collaboration, diplomacy, and strategic leadership that few truly understand.
That’s why we’ve created this new, 5-part podcast series titled, “The Municipal Tightrope: Taming the Three-Headed Snake.” Drawing from insightful interviews with almost 50 city managers across America, this series pulls back the curtain on the challenges, triumphs, and daily realities of those who keep our cities running.
As a city manager, you’re walking a tightrope every day. On one side, the demanding responsibilities of running a city efficiently. On the other, your personal life and well-being. It’s a delicate balancing act, one that often feels like you’re performing without a safety net.
In our previous post, we explored the power of saying ‘no’ and how it can revolutionize your leadership as a city manager. Today, we’re diving deeper into the concept of Essentialism by focusing on a critical question: What is your highest point of contribution?
As city managers, you’re tasked with overseeing numerous departments, projects, and initiatives. It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to be everywhere and do everything. However, true leadership isn’t about being all things to all people. It’s about identifying where you can make the most significant impact and focusing your energy there.
Welcome to the fourth episode of our podcast series, “The Municipal Tightrope: Taming the Three-Headed Snake.” In this installment, we shift our focus to an often-overlooked aspect of city management: the personal challenges and sacrifices faced by those who dedicate their lives to public service.
As city managers, you’re all too familiar with the constant juggling act that comes with your unique role. Multiple projects, endless meetings, and the relentless pressure to meet diverse community needs can leave you feeling overwhelmed and stretched thin. But what if there was a way to not just manage this chaos, but to thrive amidst it? Enter the concept of Essentialism, as popularized by Greg McKeown in his book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.”
Hello, visionary leaders!
Welcome to the first edition of “The Leader’s Lens!” We’ve updated the name of our weekly newsletter, but our commitment to helping you navigate personal growth and professional success as a leader continues and aims to be even better.
In this week’s Leader’s Lens:
Let’s sharpen our focus and expand our horizons together.
Welcome to the third episode of our podcast series, “The Municipal Tightrope: Taming the Three-Headed Snake.” After exploring the challenges faced by city managers, we now turn our attention to the strategies and approaches that successful municipal leaders use to overcome these obstacles.
We’ve journeyed through vulnerability, values, and trust in our exploration of Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead.” Today, we tackle the final crucial skill: Learning to Rise. The ability to bounce back from setbacks is the crescendo that brings the entire symphony of leadership together…and as someone who’s tasted the dirt at the bottom of the valley, I’m rooting for your bouncebacks to be far higher than you can even imagine.
Brown describes ‘Learning to Rise’ as the ability to get back up after a fall, face hurt in a way that brings more wisdom, and reset faster after disappointments. For city managers, this skill is not just beneficial—it’s essential. In the unpredictable and often harsh world of municipal leadership, setbacks are not a possibility; they’re a certainty.
For a city manager, learning to rise might look like:
