Municipal Leaders: Develop Faster, Lead Stronger, Build Better

The Leader’s Lens

Every week, you’ll get insights and actionable steps to help you navigate personal growth and professional success.

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You didn’t step into municipal leadership to feel stuck, drained, or defined solely by your role. But too often, that’s exactly what happens.

Long hours. Constant crises. Endless expectations. Somewhere in the middle of serving your city, it’s easy to forget that you’re more than a leader—you’re a human being with passions, creativity, and purpose that reaches far beyond the boundaries of city hall.

That’s why this week in the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), we’re exploring Chris Guillebeau’s powerful book, The Happiness of Pursuit, a roadmap for reclaiming personal fulfillment without abandoning your professional mission.

What’s waiting for you inside the MLDC this week:

  • A 5-part podcast series unpacking how personal pursuits build stronger, more sustainable leaders
  • Daily blog reflections to help you rediscover what energizes you and make time for it
  • Practical tools to identify your own “quest” and build it into your rhythm
  • A community of city managers and administrators sharing how they’ve rediscovered purpose beyond the title
  • Access to this Friday’s live Virtual Book Club—a space for honest insight, real struggles, and shared solutions

A Few Insights We’ll Explore This Week:

  • You don’t need a new job to feel alive again. You might just need a personal challenge that brings energy, identity, and joy back into the picture.
  • A meaningful pursuit outside of work doesn’t compete with your leadership—it enhances it. The best leaders we know? They’re runners. Writers. Builders. Explorers.
  • Protecting time isn’t selfish. It’s strategic. Great leaders don’t burn out because they make space for the things that keep them grounded.

You don’t have to keep running on empty.
This week, take a step toward something that’s just for you.
Then watch what happens to your leadership in return.

Start your free 7-day MLDC trial now.

The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) is a professional growth community exclusively for city managers, administrators, and municipal executives. 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 Solution, and leaders from around the nation to build stronger cities through stronger leaders. Learn more at HaltingWinter.com.