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.
Hello, Impactful City Leaders!
The holiday lights are twinkling across our cities, and municipal teams everywhere are wrapping up their final projects of 2024. As I reflect on the conversations I’ve had with city leaders this week, one theme keeps emerging: the desire to truly rest and rejuvenate during the upcoming holiday break, not just “survive” it.
My deepest hope for each of you is that these next couple of weeks bring not just rest, but moments of pure joy surrounded by family and friends. You spend all year caring for and serving your communities – I hope you’ll now allow others to serve and care for you.
This week, we’ve explored Matthew Kelly’s remarkable insights from his book, “Off Balance” through the lens of municipal leadership. But as every city manager knows, insights without implementation are just good intentions. Today, we’re turning understanding into action.
Recently, an executive leader shared something striking with me: “I did everything right today – attended all the meetings, handled two crises, even made it home for dinner. So why do I feel like I’m failing?”
This conversation perfectly illustrates what Matthew Kelly identifies in “Off Balance” as the fundamental flaw in our thinking about success. We’re measuring the wrong things. For city managers, this insight is particularly powerful because you’re already measured by countless metrics:
My breaking point came on a Sunday afternoon. As a lead pastor of a growing church, I had just finished delivering two morning sermons, attended two leadership meetings, and was preparing for an evening event. On paper, I was succeeding. In reality, I was empty.
This moment mirrors what I hear from city managers across the country. The calendar says you’re managing your time well, but your mind, body, and spirit tell a different story. This is where Matthew Kelly’s insights in “Off Balance” become transformative, especially for municipal leaders.
Picture Philippe Petit on the morning of August 7, 1974, stepping out onto a wire suspended between the Twin Towers. “I was a little anxious on that first crossing,” he later told the NY Post, “because we never checked how strong the anchor point was on the other side.”
For city managers, this image might hit uncomfortably close to home. Each day, you step out onto your own professional tightrope, often uncertain about the strength of your anchor points. On one side: your commitment to public service. On the other: your personal well-being.
A city manager recently told me: “I’m doing everything the books tell me to do. I’ve time-blocked my calendar. I’ve set boundaries. I’ve delegated. So why do I feel like I’m failing?”
This haunting question echoes through city halls across America. As municipal leaders chase the ever-elusive ideal of “work-life balance,” they’re finding themselves more frustrated, more exhausted, and more disillusioned than ever.
But what if we’ve all been misled?
In August 2024, I had individual conversations with nearly 50 city managers across the United States, from communities of 1,500 to cities of over a million. One question consistently stopped them in their tracks: “How are you doing personally?”
The uncomfortable silence that followed spoke volumes.
