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.
What happens when your city doubles in size… but your infrastructure doesn’t?
Shawn Bell didn’t set out to become a city administrator. In fact, he started his career deep in politics—campaigning, lobbying, even working in D.C. But one grad school conversation, followed by an internship in Ferguson, Missouri, sent him down a different path: one that traded national headlines for neighborhood potholes, and policy theory for real-life leadership.
The water main break happened at 2 AM on a Sunday. Within minutes, you were coordinating emergency response, managing media calls, and preparing community updates. Your leadership was decisive and effective—the crisis was handled well.
But here’s what you might not have realized: your emotional state during those critical hours didn’t just affect your own performance. It rippled through your entire emergency response team, influenced how staff communicated with affected residents, and shaped how your community experienced their local government during a moment of vulnerability.
This is the hidden power—and responsibility—of municipal leadership that most city managers never fully understand.
Local government doesn’t have a process problem.
It has a people problem.
That’s the bold but deeply accurate statement from this week’s guest on The HaltingWinter Podcast, Janice Allen Jackson. With decades of experience as a city and county manager in Georgia and the Carolinas, Janice has seen firsthand how policies and procedures can only go so far when the real issues stem from leadership gaps, cultural toxicity, and organizational fear.
Some people chase leadership. Others step up because the job simply needs doing.
Rebecca Houseman is the latter and the kind of leader every community deserves.
You’ve seen the quarterly reports. Pages of metrics showing increased activity across every department. More permits processed, more inspections completed, more programs delivered. Your team is working harder than ever, yet you can’t shake the feeling that all this effort isn’t translating into the community impact you envisioned when you chose public service.
If this resonates, you’re not alone—and you’re not stuck.
What if the real infrastructure problem in local government isn’t roads or pipes—it’s trust?
That’s the challenge Sam Toles, CEO of CiviSocial, brings to this week’s episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast. And it’s not just a critique—it’s a call to action.
Some leaders rise through the ranks.
Michael Herbert had to claw his way up from rock bottom.
In this week’s episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast, the Town Manager of Ashland, Massachusetts shares a story rarely heard in public sector leadership—a story of addiction, homelessness, and ultimately, redemption through service.
It’s not just a story of survival.
It’s a story of purpose.
And it’s a masterclass in the kind of quiet, resilient leadership that sustains local government through its hardest seasons.
The council meeting was spiraling. Budget cuts were on the table, department heads were defensive, and residents were demanding answers you didn’t have. As the city manager, you felt the familiar urge to armor up: to retreat into technical explanations, deflect criticism with procedural language, or simply power through with authority.
But what if there was a different way? What if the very vulnerability you’re trying to avoid could actually be your greatest leadership asset?
If you lead in local government, you know this tension intimately:
The need to act—fast.
The need to include—thoroughly.
The reality that doing both well is rarely easy.
In this week’s episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast, Will Ibershof, City Administrator of Madras, Oregon, shares a story that’s equal parts hilarious, humbling, and hard-earned.
It starts with a dare.
And vomit on a perfectly manicured lawn.
But it leads to multi-million dollar infrastructure wins, community connection, and a life reshaped by the call to serve.
