The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Cities

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Andrew Kleine
February 28, 2025

Stephen Covey’s self-help book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1989. It has sold 40 million copies worldwide and been named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential business management books. In 1994, President Bill Clinton invited Covey to Camp David to discuss how to integrate the book’s ideas into his administration. Covey and his family subsequently published variations of “7 Habits” for families, teens and even network marketing professionals. All of which got me wondering: could Covey’s habits be adapted to help cities function better and manage the complex challenges they face today?

The 7 Habits are intended to help individuals achieve personal mastery, interpersonal effectiveness and renewal. Translated to city-speak, we are talking about getting the house in order, collaborating and sustaining progress. Applying this concept, I have come up with my own set of habits for cities, each correlated with one of Covey’s (his are in parentheses).

1. Admit mistakes (Be proactive): Americans trust their local governments more than state or federal to handle problems and do the right thing, but trust in government is down from historical levels across the board, that according to an October 2023 Gallup polling analysis. Without the trust of residents, cities are unable to find agreement on problems, much less solutions. Covey wrote that “Trust is a function of two things: character and competence.” To be trustworthy is to be honest and authentic, to acknowledge when you make a mistake instead of using blame, spin and secrecy to evade your critics.

G.T. Bynum, who recently completed two terms as mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, apologized in 2021 on behalf of his city for the 1921 race riot. Bynum’s actions, which include investments to identify the unmarked graves of victims and restore the Greenwood district, engendered broad support behind a historic period of inclusive economic growth for Tulsa. A new Beyond Apology Commission will recommend ways to further the goal of shared prosperity.

2. Focus on outcomes (Begin with the end in mind): Covey wrote that all things are created twice: first in the mind and then in reality. Without a clear and purposeful vision of what we want to achieve, we risk being sidetracked by external circumstances and other people’s agendas. Defining outcomes helps local leaders stay focused on priorities through a blizzard of distractions, from busted water mains to budget fights to, yes, blizzards. It can also unite people and organizations in common cause and inspire innovative solutions.

An outcome that many cities share is reduced homelessness. The big city that stands out for making the most progress toward this outcome over the past decade is Houston, Texas. By bringing together a region-wide coalition of dozens of organizations around a Housing First strategy, Houston has reduced homelessness by 63 percent since 2011, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County point-in-time counts. This success has largely resulted from better coordinating existing resources, not finding new money.

3. Make strategic decisions (Put first things first): Covey argues that effective people prioritize what aligns with their values and long-term goals, as opposed to what seems most urgent, and have the courage and discipline to say “no” to make room for what matters. Where such courage and discipline is needed in local government is the budget process—making tough decisions about how to spend limited resources.

There’s an old saying that if you want to know what a city values, look at its budget. Sadly, most city budgets are more a function of past spending patterns than current community values. The philosophy behind Outcome Budgeting is that budgeting should be about purchasing results rather than funding line-items.

Instead of giving departments funding targets based on the previous year’s budget, Roanoke pooled available dollars around a set of seven priority focus areas. During the Great Recession, Roanoke was able to reduce its budget while preserving priorities, and even the local paper called the process transparent!

4. Take care of your people (Think win-win): Covey encourages an “abundance mindset.” Life is not a zero-sum game; there is enough for everyone to succeed. This way of thinking takes me back to the negotiating table with public sector labor unions, where understanding and satisfying both sides’ interests too often gave way to duking it out over predetermined positions.

In 2018, the City of Baltimore tried gainsharing, a labor-management partnership designed to share the benefits of making government work better. In Baltimore’s fleet division, cost savings from doing more repair jobs in-house were divvied up among employees, the Department of General Services and the General Fund. Over two years, every fleet employee received gainsharing checks totaling several thousand dollars. Gainsharing improved productivity and performance while at the same time building trust and morale.

5. Engage the community meaningfully (Seek first to understand, then to be understood): Covey wrote, “Diagnose before you prescribe,” which requires what he calls “empathic listening”—listening completely and attentively. For sure, listening is essential to understanding and solving problems; so is asking the right questions.

I previously disdained open mic town hall meetings. It was not helpful to listen to hours of advocacy for spending more money when I was trying to close a huge deficit. I endeavored to put residents in the shoes of the Mayor and City Council and understand what tradeoffs they were willing to make.

An issue that stokes passion in many communities is where to locate affordable housing. Elk Grove, a city of 175,000 just south of Sacramento, California created an interactive website to get beyond the so-called “ism” (“not in my back yard”) that had long stalled housing proposals. Residents were presented with options for rezoning and upping density in several sites. They could oppose a site, but had to craft a plan to achieve the goal of 2,063 new low-income units.

6. Partner with business and civic leaders (Synergize): Synergy is what happens when people and organizations work together to accomplish something they could not accomplish alone. At the local level, government cannot achieve the most important outcomes—safer, cleaner, healthier cities—on its own. “Turning the curve” toward these outcomes requires collaboration across sectors, neighborhoods and political lines.

There are many great examples of community collaboration. One that is particularly tangible, and beautiful, is New York City’s High Line, the repurposing of an elevated industrial rail line into a linear park with gardens and public art. Long abandoned, the rail line had been approved for demolition, but two men with a vision joined together with the City, CSX railroad and others to create what is today a 1.5-mile greenway maintained, operated and programmed by the non-profit Friends of the High Line, in cooperation with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.

7. Be fiscally sustainable (Sharpen the saw): Covey’s last habit is about regularly renewing oneself—mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally—to maintain long-term effectiveness. Just as a dull saw cuts wood slowly, a depleted person cannot focus, engage and take care of others.

I see a strong connection between personal renewal and city fiscal sustainability. Cities that overspend and overborrow to meet community wants may score points today, but ultimately are left holding an empty bag when the bills come due.

The City of Colwood, British Columbia, received the Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Award for Excellence in Government Finance for its Sustainable Infrastructure Investment Plan. According to GFOA’s award citation, Colwood forecast its capital investment needs over the next 50 years and determined that a proactive approach to funding infrastructure replacement would save taxpayers $86 million over that period. The city took steps to budget for the full lifecycle costs of capital projects, set aside reserves for capital maintenance, and converted debt service payments to proactive investments as debt is retired.

Cities, like people, are creatures of habit. Adapting and adopting Covey’s 7 Habits may help cities become better versions of themselves and have the humility, strategy, partners and resources to take on an ever more challenging and uncertain world.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.  

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Author: Andrew Kleine is Managing Director for Government & Public Sector at EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young LLP. He is the author of City on the Line: How Baltimore Transformed Its Budget to Beat the Great Recession and Deliver Outcomes (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and has served as Baltimore’s budget director. His email is [email protected], and his X/Twitter handle is @awkleine.

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