Laura Smith, ICMA-CM
City Administrator
Mission, Kansas
lsmith@missionks.org
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is how important it is to make time for visioning and planning. Ongoing organizational transition issues have left our staff challenged just to keep up with the basics in the past year.
I’ve come to appreciate that as soon as we feel there isn’t time for the “big picture,” we have to call a time-out and reconnect with our larger purpose. Implementation (the how) is important, but not at the expense of creating the necessary time and space for thinking and dreaming (the why).
Our communities deserve managers who not only successfully navigate the challenges of today, but also can look beyond the next project, the next budget, or the crisis du jour to chart the course for the future.
Jack Layne, Jr., ICMA-CM
Manager In Transition
Maple Shade, New Jersey
jpmclayne@aol.com
My father taught me long ago the importance of maintaining relationships with those who have helped you along your life journey. Timothy Riordan and Sylvester Murray, along with so many others, have certainly nurtured my development as a manager.
Riordan, my high school civics class instructor, eventually left his teaching position and began working in local government. He had a successful career as a manager. Thanks in large part to him, I developed a sincere desire to become a manager.
I served as an intern under Murray when he was the Ann Arbor, Michigan, city manager. During the 2014 ICMA Annual Conference in Charlotte, I was fortunate to spend quality time and to reconnect with him.
I believe that our success as managers is tempered by the people with whom we can interact.
Dave Kanner
City Administrator
Ashland, Oregon
dave.kanner@ashland.or.us
At this stage in my career, I’m more often remembering lessons I never should have forgotten; for instance, the importance of seeking out new challenges and keeping things fresh.
I was recently part of a team that negotiated the transfer of a community hospital that was bleeding red ink to a private health care concern. It was exhausting, frustrating, time-consuming, and, ultimately, exhilarating.
It was very much what I felt when I was first starting in this profession, when everything was new and exciting, and every day at work was like opening an encyclopedia to a random page and absorbing what you found there.
I was challenged to quickly learn an incredible amount about hospital management; Oregon law regarding hospitals, which is voluminous; and affiliation agreements.
The experience was a good reminder that no matter how long you’ve been around, never stop challenging yourself and seeking out new experiences.
Mindy Moran Conner, ICMA-CM
County Administrator
Mathews County, Virginia
mconner@co.mathews.va.us
“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself. . . .’” ?– C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves.
This quote sums up the biggest lesson that has brightened my outlook and helped maintain a high degree of job satisfaction after 25 years as a manager and administrator. We work in a profession where our family and friends, and often even our employers, do not understand what we do and why it matters.
Working in isolation can become lonely and stressful. Making friends in the profession means that there is always someone out there who gets it, and whether you need to talk shop or talk nonsense, talking to someone who gets it is a wonderful thing!
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