Local Government

Many people quote research that indicates that local government is the most trusted among the levels of government. Color me unsurprised. First, the competition is porous. It’s like stacking Bruce Springsteen with a lounge singer and an American Idol castoff and asking who is the generational performer? Second - local governments are closest to the people. We sort of do have an advantage, so to speak, and a leg up. Everyday, our residents see democratic ideals and plans transformed into real-world action—streets paved, parks maintained, people housed, safety maintained. However, it must be noted - trust has to be maintained and secured (and often earned). Don’t screw it up!

On Plan Implementations

I was working in a community recently that is very planful. They have developed plans for a variety of endeavors. In some cases they have hired consultants to develop the plans. They have also very intentionally and purposefully involved the public in strategic and thoughtful ways. Very inspiring I must say, from a planning perspective. I will pause here to say that having a good plan is essential but implementation is what delivers results. As I have written about previously on these pages, often there is frequent disconnect between vision and action. Challenges abound, like staffing limitations, budget constraints, lack of accountability, or shifting political priorities or council/board preferences. Getting everyone on the same page with respect to prioritization, connecting plans together, progress reporting, and measurement of progress are all “must-haves” for successful implementation.

Positive Intelligence

I am not sure where I heard this, but it relates and translates well to my overall life philosophy and buttresses the foundational underpinnings of mindfulness. Always find the silver lining. Ask yourself - where can can you gain positive insights and intelligence in every life experience, even the challenging ones? It’s not Pollyanna-ish and naivete, nor is it a sign of weakness. Instead, seeking (and allowing yourself to obtain) positive intelligence is a sign of mental fortitude, emotional resilience and overall strength of character

Career Capital

An author and podcaster I really like, Cal Newport, talked recently about his concept of “career capital" and I think the teachings have relevance to local government management. First, what is it? As Newport says “The key to a great career is to develop rare and valuable skills — career capital — and then use that capital to gain control and do work that matters. To me, I think of project management, budgeting/financial acumen, public communications savviness, intergovernmental relations skills, technological know-how and the like. One sub-concept of this overall career capital theme is the master craftsman philosophy. Instead of focusing only on "finding the perfect role," local government professionals can benefit by asking: “How can I master the craft of _________ e.g. service delivery, policy execution, or civic leadership?” This mindset builds influence and impact. As someone who is involved in many executive recruitments, I want to see this full breadth and portfolio of career capital skillsets on display in the resume itself and also coming out in the interview process.

Forgiveness vs Permission

There’s an old saying: “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” I had a colleague in economic development who would regularly exemplify this adage to try and get projects done. But in local government, where public trust, transparency, ethics-above-all-else and accountability are non-negotiables, that type of mindset can be risky. Yes, innovation (especially in competitive settings with multi-million dollar projects on the line) often requires boldness. But true leadership in public service balances courage with collaboration. Life is nuanced. When I think of the seeking of operational efficiencies, sometimes a proactive step makes sense. For policy, budget, or community impact, you better bring others along - maybe not seek their permission, but most certainly gain their inputs and involvement. As someone who’s been in the CAO seat, I’ve seen the cost of skipping that conversation upfront—and the power, and positive spillover effects, of building strong coalitions early. The next-gen local government leader doesn’t just act fast, they act wisely and prudently.

Curiosity

Our son and other "home from college" young adults started summer internships this past week. Replete with a pressed shirt, lunch pail, and questions on typical work environs. An inquisitive mind has questions - what will the co workers be like? What will the office attire be? Will I be engaged in meaningful work activity? There is a new book that intrigues me, written by LinkedIn connection William Hatcher, called the Curious Public Administrator. How does this relate to local government? Well - Check in with yourself - have you lost your curiosity? Is anything novel? Get out of your comfort zone and be, again, curious - like the summer intern on Day 1. Ask questions, visit, learn, grow, onboard all over again. My guess is you will find it worthwhile!

From Arthur Brooks

(This is not my work - sharing from the great Arthur Brooks)

Arthur Brooks

What you can do

Based on Tibetan Buddhist teachings, here are five examples of small-seeming yet world-changing acts that His Holiness has urged me to undertake each day.

1. Serve the tea. Practice common acts of generosity and humility, like serving tea to visitors in your home. Small acts require conscious intention to begin with but can become a habit in short order.

2. Show your teeth. To the Dalai Lama, to “show your teeth” means to smile authentically—no half smiles, no Mona Lisa–style ambiguity. The true smile, he believes, starts a kind of contagion.

3. Change places. If someone is bothering you, think deeply about their troubles. This is a variation on the loving-kindness meditation in many traditions, in which we change our attitude toward others by focusing on their good and wishing them well.

4. Think, don’t just feel. Enlightenment requires us to manage our negative emotions—so that they don’t manage us. The Bodhisattva Shantideva counsels us to do this by exercising our powers of logic and reason, urging us, for example, to remember that “if there is a remedy, then what is the use of frustration? If there is no remedy, then what is the use of frustration?”

5. Let it go. In our world of conflict, many cultural combatants look for offenses—even when none is intended—as an excuse for aggression. Even when offense is intended, we have the opportunity to make the world a little better by refusing to take it as such and maintaining our equanimity.

Will the globe change overnight with these five lessons? Of course not. But in your own local way, the spirit of the Dalai Lama and his wisdom will be with you, and you will be a force for good in a world that badly needs it.

Public Information

One day, I was in the backseat of a bus and traveling to development sites with a Fortune 500 CEO scouting possible locations for a $250MM investment in my county. The CEO says to me as we are chit-chatting “so, you have a fair amount of crime here, eh?” Flummoxed, as we do not, I answer “not really, what do you mean?” He goes on to mention that he has picked up the paper the last week and noticed the blotter, etc. Our Sheriff was on a transparency kick to post arrest information, including a full press release and mugshot on every felony arrest. Due to the county’s somewhat tepid press activity (generally), the crime news sort of overshadowed everything, good news and all. I vowed that day to never be in that position again, and we doubled down on efforts to increase messaging, engagement, social media activity and press releases. I encourage all the local governments I work with to treat Public Information as an office/department/division, as you likely do with Public Works and Public Safety. It is that important!

Perceptions

There is a phrase “it’s not what you are looking at, it’s what you see,” attributed to many, including Thoreau and Homer Simpson.  I really like this adage. Take artwork, a movie, a book, a mural, a situation happening that involves a fight or dispute, and so forth. We all have different, often visceral reactions to what it is that is in front of us. With local government this could be a police interaction, a piece of public art, a proposed zoning variance for a new housing project, a client service meeting for a public assistance case - the list is endless. The different perceptions and contextualized, subjective assessments (based on our own life experiences) that come into play in these situations should be taken into account when you are managing a local government. This relates both to interactions with those we work for (elected officials) and engagement with residents, co-workers, and business owners. Staying mindful in these situations separates the emotionally intelligent leader from those that still need a little refinement in that area.

Mental Health Days

I was participating as a panelist in an ICMA coaching webinar recently, and the question was related to Mental Health Days. I answered “What do you think about physical health days?” The usual answer is - we don’t, or minimally that we don’t think to distinguish a “sick” day from the physical. I have written about this before - but we need to normalize a mental health day. No, not the trip to the beach because you needed it, nor the shopping excursion because “that’s your therapy” - but a true, needed, day off for your emotional/mental health to improve your wellbeing. If I am a council or board, I want to 1) provide accruals for your appropriate use as an employee benefit and 2) see you at your best self.

You don’t know everything? That’s OK.

I posted recently on LinkedIn, crowd-sourcing ideas for a 30 to 365 day plan for the new local government CAO.  Great ideas were shared, including just listening, visiting departments, getting to know the entity’s “symbolism” and other excellent recommendations. One that I think of is - knowing that you don’t know it all. Humility, curiosity, “I’m not sure,” and those types of questions and attributes are indeed entirely A-OK.  Far too often, especially lately, I have seen new CAOs hindering their own growth, by failing to recognize they themselves still need to grow.  I have been doing this work for 20+ years, and I need to grow, evolve, learn, stay up on professional development, ask questions, stay inquisitive, stay curious, etc. If I do, you do. You don’t know everything?  That’s OK, I don’t expect you to. Confidence, and competence, will grow as you yourself develop and refine your skills.

Main Streets

The GOP cause-de-jour to restore Main Streets, American manufacturing, and that sort of nostalgia is often ridiculed as a dwelling-on-the-past, quixotic, fantasy-land type set of goals. However, one spillover element that would likely be enhanced should this ever come to (even some semblance of) fruition is the reestablishment of social connection activity. As readers of Bowling Alone will recall, these days we have far fewer of these types of activities. Social clubs, service clubs, volunteerism, etc - are all seeing rapid declines in the last few decades. Additionally, and not coincidentally, we see social isolation on the rise. For all of tech’s advances, one achilles heel is the ability to remain isolated but still communicate. It’s just not the same. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you have the research-backed super-strong link between social connections/relationships and overall happiness. While dreamy and aspirational, and perhaps completely non-doable, there are indeed some very worthy tangential, positive impacts of trying to “restore” small towns and Main Streets.

Governance

When preparing for a presentation on governance, and proper board-manager relations for cities and counties, I happened to be in a county government building on another project - a coaching engagement. I was killing time in the hallway before a meeting and stumbled upon a take/borrow bookshelf and found an old book on effective non-profit and public boards.  What a gem of a book!  Noting their top traits of effective boards, I was struck by three (among many):

Culture of Respect, Decorum, Order and Civility - Even when members disagree, they debate ideas, not personalities. In this rise of incivility at the local level (likely a product of the national scene emboldening people and it trickling down) for cities and counties to be productive, meetings themselves must be productive, not chaotic.

Willingness to Adapt and Innovate and allow for creative ideas to flourish - Good boards embrace new ideas, technology, and community trends, rather than clinging to "the way we've always done it."  The status quo, when working, is OK. But it must be challenged and Boards must be not be of the head-the-sand variety. This is also an allowance to fail. What you say?  Meaning, allow for growth and opportunity to happen when staff attempt, and sometimes - yes - fail, at new ideas and concepts to address old problems. Just fail forward. 

Above all, Ethical Behavior and Integrity in activities - No self-dealing, hidden agendas, or conflicts of interest. Public service ethos drives their work. Unfortunately this in my opinion is another area ripe for under or mis-interpretation. Training in this area is important as well, and should be organization-wide.

Academia - A model?

As I was preparing for an interview for a public administration professor position recently, I was struck how, in academia, there are job specification type qualities to emulate for other professions. For example, in the world of teaching in higher education, to receive tenure, the lines are very clear for accountability. It is “publish or perish” as they say. Performance metrics are clear and accepted. Standards must be met or job futures will be insecure. Additionally, training and professional development is embedded in two ways. One, the schools usually dedicate specific funds for these purposes and encourage the professors to exercise their use. Second, CVs of academicians are often loaded with training, courses, professional development experiences and continuing education citations. It is expected that not only will continuous learning be part of the fold, but documentation thereof as well. Perhaps some modeling for other professions.

Do you need me?

A part of my management consulting practice - along with executive leadership coaching, teaching/training/professional development experiences and interim and fractional CAO services - involves executive search. In fact, this is my main area of service these days. A client, usually a local government, will contract with me to help them source and vet candidates for consideration for their managerial or executive level positions. So, it will be interesting to some that I teach and preach elements of an action plan that, if implemented, would render this part of my consulting work limited. Retention! Employers at the local government level have tools in the toolbox to address retention. Community quality of life, organizational attributes, governance and management refinements and best practices, etc. Yes, also compensation. Performance management, team-building, culture, staff relations, stay interviews and the like. While you will not “bat a 1,000” you will make appreciable improvements to your retention efforts with action plan elements including the above.

Leadership Skills

I was listening to a popular podcast recently and the individual being interviewed was a Professor from Harvard and they were discussing the “number one” leadership skill question. I have heard this posed, and in fact, cite a Harvard Business Review poll/survey from 2023 in some of my mindfulness presentations, that indicated then that the number one trait was empathy. Well, this Professor noted that making connections (intentional and meaningful connections out of a sense of friendship and kindness) and becoming a better conversationalist (hear! hear!) are two of the major, desirable leadership traits in 2025…and I could not agree more. Being authentic, listening with intent, thinking about how you deliver conversation points, “reading the room,” showing patience in conversations, etc. These are super important and in many ways in this digital world - lost arts.

Recognition Programs

A friend and colleague just recently sent out a note relative to their community winning a GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation award. The enthusiasm and joy (and sense of pride) was palpable. The production of the application was a team effort and kudos were shared. Having been through one of those efforts successfully myself, I know the pain of the process but also the satisfaction one receives at the notice of award. One of the reasons I started the Top Public Sector Employers Award program is to replicate some of these positive spillover effects. Awards and recognition programs: boost employee morale and motivation; encourage innovation and continuous improvement; reinforce organizational values and mission alignment and highlight and share best practices across the public sector.

Theories - or what is old is new again

In preparation for a class I was teaching, I revisited my home library of public administration books from:  classes I took myself;  classes I taught; and books I just decided to purchase. Many of them contain sections about the various commonly accepted theories in public administration. Names like Weber, Taylor, Waldo, Gulick etc for those that know. What amazes me is that, in 2025, we have some revisiting of elements of these theories on full display. Take New Public Management, originally popularized in the late 1970s, early 1980s. “Run government like a business” and the application of private sector principles to public sector operations were common elements. Are we not experiencing a revival of the NPM movement on full display via Musk and the efforts of DOGE?  There are also elements, on display from the Federal to the Local government, of the Public Value Theory (Moore), from the 90s - with its focus on creating value and citizen satisfaction. Perhaps we are seeing what is old is new again?

Job Descriptions

I speak often of growing up in South Buffalo.  I write this on my mother’s birthday. I was blessed to be raised by such wonderful parents. They taught us the values of hard work, community, compassion, civic responsibility, family connections and doing what is right, regardless of the situation. My mother taught primary school in the City of Buffalo for ~30 years. Like many teachers, she was not transactional and she was not what I would call a “job description follower.”  Bringing in my old Legos so the kids could have something to play with at recess? On her own. Taking my lightly used but still really nice clothes in to provide kids who didn’t have much?  On her own. Teaching some of the children basic manners and basic life skills, beyond the classroom?  On her own. The lesson here for the public administrator - that “others duties as assigned” section of your job description? That’s the part where you are tested to show your empathy and whether you’re a good manager or a great leader. Show it.

Who is in the class?

When I was in graduate school, my class was full of people in the government space and non profit sector. It was an MPA program after all and the vast majority were state and local government, some federal government and then non-profit. One of my professors, the great Bob McEvoy, told us a story once about his time working on civic affairs and local government matters in Romania, while participating in an academic-exchange type program. He noted that journalists from the newspapers in Romania were taking the MPA courses there. He inquired about it, and these students noted that it was a requirement of their employers that they ingrain themselves in the subject matter about which they will be reporting on (local government, in this case) and, thus, they were soaking in as much as they could via actual MPA courses.

I was reminded of this story this week when a network connection in the private sector reached out about my consulting firm’s coaching/training/professional development experiences. I guessed he might be looking to make the transition to public administration. Instead, he was looking to upskill, learn, grow and be coached individually and specifically in the intricacies of public administration, specifically local government particulars, given that he was wanting to know his (primarily public sector and majority local government) client base that much more in the hopes of servicing their needs as a client even better. I found this fascinating and I wonder if more private sector people and contractors/vendors will consider actions like this in the future. To me, it will be a business separator and value-added benefit.