May 2025 ILCMA Professional Development Event Hybrid Event

May Professional Development: Killing Sacred Cows – Why Local Government Fails (and How to Fix it)

Government is broken…but not for the reasons you think. It’s not a lack of money, resources, or even talent. The real problem? We protect broken systems, elevate mediocre leadership, and allow accountability to be replaced with excuses. This session is a direct, unfiltered look at the real barriers to performance excellence in local government and how to fix them. Drawing from real-world municipal leadership experience, attendees will unpack the hard truths about why strategic plans fail, why innovation is often just a buzzword, and why most “best practices” are outdated nonsense. If you’re looking for feel-good platitudes, this session isn’t for you. If you want the tools to destroy bureaucratic inertia and build a high-performance government, this is the session you’ve been waiting for.

Learning objectives include:

• How to spot and kill ‘Sacred Cows’: The outdated processes, rules, and excuses that make government slow, expensive, and ineffective.
• Why “best practices” are often bad practices: And how real leaders push beyond them to drive meaningful change.
• The leadership crisis in local government: How to fix the culture of passivity and make accountability a core value.
• The “microwave mentality” is killing cities: Why instant-gratification thinking leads to bad policy, and how to build for long-term success.

Presenter: Brooks Williams, City Manager, City of Ferris, TX

Brooks Williams is a city manager, performance excellence expert, and disruptor of broken government systems. He has led one of the most dramatic municipal turnarounds in Texas, eliminating deficits, quadrupling fund balances, and securing the first bond rating upgrade in 15 years. As a Lean Six Sigma-certified leader and CEO of Quality Texas Foundation Regional Program, he trains leaders on how to stop managing failure and start engineering success. Brooks has served in executive roles across government, education, and corporate sectors, implementing data-informed strategies that drive real results. He doesn’t do bureaucracy. He doesn’t do excuses. He does high-performance leadership, and he’s here to show you how.

Addresses ICMA Areas: 4. Staff Effectiveness; 6. Strategic Leadership; 10. Service Delivery; 13. Human Resources Management and Workforce Engagement

In Person Attendees:

Registration/check-in and continental breakfast begins at 9 AM at 75 Turner Ave, Elk Grove Village

Zoom Access:

Zoom Access information will be emailed separately, to each registrant.  Note: Access will not be sent immediately following registration, but prior to the event date.