Sometimes, it’s the person.

In the world of city/county management, there is often a default setting that the professional network gravitates to in situations where the manager is in a tumultuous situation. A nasty public back and forth with the municipality, a firing, a contract dispute, relations with the governing body turning sour - and so forth. The auto-defense mechanisms of the brethren kick in, and I fall into this myself, and there is almost blind loyalty. I think sometimes we forget that sometimes it’s the person.

With every profession there are people that just aren’t a good fit, managers that screw up, administrators that can’t read the room, CAOs full of hubris and lacking humility, the list goes on. Frankly, not everybody is cut out to be a city/county manager. It’s a special, and tough, business. Let’s stop pretending everyone is destined to be successful.