May 2026 Presidential Message

Dear Cal-ICMA Members,

As I reflect on my 35 years of direct local government service, I have had the recent luxury of being able to spend some time reflecting on what I have done well and what I could have done better.  I’d like to share in this month’s Cal-ICMA President’s message two reflections, one from each column, that I think could be insightful to Cal-ICMA members.

Starting with something I could have done better: Deliberately and consistently carve out more time to read, study, and share/activate learnings from more professional articles or podcasts than I did.  Although I did this somewhat regularly, my approach was haphazard, constantly de-prioritized on my task list due to more urgent demands of the job or family/life demands.  I suspect this happens to most of us.

Intellectually I knew that blocking off 30 minutes on my calendar to close my door, or get out of the office to a quiet place, to digest an article was the best strategy. But in reality, so many other priorities, all seemingly equally or more important, impinged on this sacred time – calls from Councilmembers, check-ins with employees, backlog of other tasks and responding to e-mails and calls, family obligations, etc.  So we end up adding this reading or listening task to our superhuman to-do list to be tackled late at night before bed after a 14 hour day, early morning while we exercise, on the weekend, during our commute, on the plane to the conference, etc.  This approach works somewhat, but exacerbates your work-life imbalance, and is not as effective as a productive 30 minute timeslot during daytime working hours.

So keep this sacred time block on your weekly schedule and, for starters, pick just one article to digest per week.  And when pressure mounts to do other tasks during this timeslot, remind yourself that the value you will gain is well worth the time.  Whether it’s a new article about best practices for a contemporary issue or an old article about timeless challenges faced in local government management (I recommend you alternate), most articles will, either explicitly or implicitly, be a reminder and an affirmation about basic principles underlying excellent local government management and why we do the work we do.  I just spent 30 minutes rereading John and Carol Nalbandian’s “Meeting Today's Challenges: Competencies for the Contemporary Local Government Professional,”[1] published in 2003, and was pleasantly surprised by the insights it provides that are still applicable more than two decades later.  And their closing paragraph is the perfect segue to my next point:

“Today’s local government professional is not expected to be superhuman . . . or so we hope.  However, the widely varied knowledge, skills, talents, and personal attributes that appear necessary for success certainly encompass enough breadth and depth to involve a willingness to grow continually and to learn from others through one’s entire career.”

Something I did well, thanks to the wise coaching and mentoring I received:  Prioritize involvement with professional organizations and professional development, notably through ICMA/Cal-ICMA, its Affiliates, and partner institutions. These organizations are the source of many of the publications and professional development resources available to us, and provide the conferences, trainings, and events that allow us to connect and grow.  Providing these opportunities is a core part of Cal-ICMA’s mission (see the contents of this newsletter) and I encourage you to prioritize your involvement for your own career development and for the benefit of the communities we serve.

And thank you for taking the time to read this message about some of my recent reflections!  Now go schedule your weekly reading timeslot and pick an article to read!

[1] Nalbandian, John & Nalbandian, Carol. (2003). Meeting Today's Challenges: Competencies for the Contemporary Local Government Professional. Public Management. 85.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29445860_Meeting_Today's_Challenges_Competencies_for_the_Contemporary_Local_Government_Professional