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.
Episode 301 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
What does 38 years in local government teach you?
For Brian Heck, City Administrator of Montgomery, Minnesota, the answer isn’t strategy alone. It’s resilience.
You’re three weeks into budget season when a council member stops you in the hallway with another priority. Your calendar is already impossible. Your to-do list keeps growing. And somehow you’re supposed to be strategic while drowning in the tactical.
So what’s the answer?
Episode 298 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
Most municipal leaders don’t wake up one day with a perfectly mapped-out career plan. They step into responsibility when the opportunity, or the crisis, arrives.
That’s exactly what happened to Abbie Ogborn, City Manager and City Clerk of Wright City, Missouri.
Episode 298 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
What if one of the most misunderstood qualities in leadership is actually one of its greatest strengths?
After more than 30 years serving as a town manager, city manager, and county manager across North Carolina, Craig Honeycutt has a simple but powerful perspective:
Compromise is not weakness.
And criticism is rarely personal.
You can’t match private sector salaries.
Your pay scales are rigid as concrete.
Your bonus structure? Practically nonexistent.
And if motivation really came down to money, you’d be watching your best people walk out the door every single day.
Except that’s not what the research shows.
Episode 296 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
Cities don’t move forward because of plans alone.
They move forward because of people who know how to turn ideas into action and who are willing to stay long enough to see the work through.
Episode 295 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
Most municipal leaders don’t wake up one day knowing they’re ready to lead.
They grow into it through technical roles, unexpected opportunities, hard conversations, and mentors who see something in them before they see it in themselves.
When was the last time someone on your team told you something was failing before it became a crisis?
If you’re like most local government leaders, the answer is: not recently enough.
Episode 293 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
There’s a moment in local government when leadership stops feeling theoretical.
It’s when someone flags you down in the parking lot.
When a resident recognizes your car.
When your presence, good or bad, shapes how people feel about their city.
Episode 292 of The HaltingWinter Podcast
Brought to you by Tyler Technologies
In local government, silence rarely gets celebrated.
There are no headlines when water runs clean, streets stay plowed, budgets balance, or council meetings end without conflict. Most days, the absence of complaints is the only signal that things are working.
