Your Record Was Never the Problem.

The Catalyst Perspective

For the past several months, I have been building real connections with women in local government leadership across LinkedIn. I did not expect how much these conversations would move me.

A woman wrote to me about a city manager seat she had earned and was doing well in, until a new mayor came in who did not trust her. The emails started arriving late at night. The scrutiny had nothing to do with her performance and everything to do with politics she never signed up for. Eventually she made a choice most leadership content never talks about. She stepped down into a department-level role, on purpose, to protect her nervous system and finish an additional degree she had been putting off for years.

I have heard versions of that story more than once. Some come from women who watched the path to the manager's seat open in front of them, the assistant manager role practically expecting her to step into it next, and she said no. Not because she could not do the job. Because she was the one carrying the caretaking, the household, the parts of life nobody puts on an org chart, and she chose herself at that particular season instead.

Others come from directors who are ready to move toward assistant manager or city manager and cannot find a clear path forward. Others still come from women newer to this profession who have built relationships, found mentors, done everything the advice columns tell you to do, and keep getting passed over anyway.

None of these women have a record problem. Every one of them has already built something real. What they are missing is the ability to name it clearly and the strategy to leverage it, whichever direction they choose to take it.

This is not a small shortage. The professional associations have been naming a leadership pipeline crisis in local government for years now, one where managers are retiring faster than they can be replaced and the pool stepping into those seats still skews overwhelmingly toward White men. Women are already in these organizations, already doing the work. What most of them have never been taught is how to build a record on purpose, recognize it as evidence, and carry it into the next room before someone else decides what it means.

The SCALE™ Framework Connection

I built the SCALE™ Framework for Public Sector Leadership™ around this shortage.

S — Strengths-Based Leadership™ - Name what you actually bring instead of performing a version built for someone else's comfort.

C — Confidence and Cognitive Reframing™ - Build the confidence to claim your record, and reframe the doubt that tells you it does not count as evidence.
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​A — Aligned Values and Boundary Negotiation™ - Decide what you want the next seat to cost you, and protect what you are not willing to give up.

L — Leadership Longevity™ - Establish a record that holds up over years, not just through one good performance review.

E — Emboldened Ecosystem Building™ - Invest in the relationships that help you leverage that record once you have named it.

Take Action Now

Here is why now matters. That pipeline shortage is not an abstract industry trend.

It is an open door that will not stay open forever, and the women who walk through it will be the ones who already know how to name their record when the seat opens, not the ones scrambling to build a case after it does.

This is the exact reason I built the Catalyst Strategic Advisory Retainer™, a four month, private, one-on-one engagement for the woman who already has the record and needs help naming it clearly and leveraging it toward her next seat.

I have sat in nearly every seat this profession offers, city councilor, strong mayor, village manager, senior congressional staffer, and school board member. That range means I understand community engagement, stakeholder relationships, constituent services, and budgeting from the inside of every one of those roles, and I know exactly what gets prioritized depending on which seat you are sitting in. That is why I can help your record land with whoever is in the room, not just one type of reader.

Here is what one woman told me after we did this work together:

"Working with Coach Chasity was a turning point in my leadership journey. After serving as a municipal finance professional under five mayors, I was accomplished but hadn’t envisioned myself in the top role. Through her strategic advising, I gained clarity and the confidence to lead at a higher level. That shift empowered me, and today I serve proudly as a city manager."
-----— Elizabeth B., City Manager

No more than four women work with me at any given time, because this cannot be delivered at scale.

Or reach me directly: hello@chasitywells.com​

Know a woman who needs to read this? Forward it to her.

Not ready yet? Stay here. The Leadership Catalyst™ returns on the second and fourth Saturday of every month.

Final Thoughts

Your record was never the problem.
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The women I hear from every week already know how to do the work.
What most of them were never taught is how to name that record clearly and carry it into the next room on their own terms.

If something in this issue named what you have been carrying, reply and tell me where you are right now. I read every response, and I answer every one.

Somewhere tonight, a woman is sitting with a record she built and doubting whether it is enough.
It already is.
She just needs someone who can help her see it.

In partnership and purpose,