Show Notes: Laura Philpot: Vision Over Ego: A Shift from Big Projects to Real Impact

Episode 209 of The HaltingWinter Podcast Brought to you by Zencity

Overview

In this episode, Seth Winterhalter sits down with Laura Philpot, City Manager of Maple Valley, Washington, to explore how a career rooted in public works evolved into a leadership philosophy centered on people, not prestige.

Laura’s journey began with a love for math, a concrete canoe competition, and a fascination with big infrastructure projects. But over time, through building bridges, programming traffic lights, and stepping into leadership, her vision changed. Today, it’s not about her name being on a massive structure. It’s about making life better for her neighbors, one sidewalk and salmon stream at a time.

From her early days in construction to leading her hometown through exponential growth, Laura shares how public works shaped her leadership style, why working in your own community transforms the mission, and how collaboration—not control—is the real infrastructure of a thriving city.

Episode Highlights:

From Calculus to Concrete Canoes How a class presentation hack turned into a civil engineering career and why building big things first lit the fire.

The Rose Garden Revelation A behind-the-scenes tour of a stadium under construction flipped the switch from curiosity to calling.

The Public Works Wake-Up Call Laura shares the funny (and brutally honest) reason she left construction for local government and how it wasn’t the easy job she expected.

Leading Where You Live The emotional gravity of managing the city you call home and why Laura took a pay cut to serve her own community.

Sidewalks Over Stadiums How her definition of success changed from steel and concrete to salmon runs, sidewalks, and community events.

Culture Starts at Lunch Why cross-department tension often has nothing to do with data and how sharing meals became her leadership superpower.

The Power of Holding Space Why not developing a 122-acre parcel is one of her proudest decisions and how vision sometimes means saying “not yet.”

Leadership Is Letting Go Laura unpacks why she makes fast decisions, rarely clings to them, and welcomes correction as part of leading forward.

Connect with Laura Philpot

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/laura-philpot

About Our Sponsor: Zencity

This episode of The HaltingWinter Podcast is proudly sponsored by Zencity—a trusted partner to hundreds of local governments around the world.

Zencity is a software that enables local government leaders to gather, understand, and act on resident feedback - going beyond the "same ten people" to actually reach residents where they're at, and incorporate that feedback into decisions large and small. To learn more about how Zencity is helping turn data into action and insight into impact, click the link below.

Learn more at Zencity.io

Connect with Seth Winterhalter:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sethwinterhalter Website: www.HaltingWinter.com

About HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions

At HaltingWinter, we help local government leaders build thriving teams and resilient workplace cultures through keynotes, workshops, and leadership development programs rooted in the ABCs of Impactful Municipal Leadership. 

Learn more at HaltingWinter.com

Seth's Upcoming Keynotes:

2025 Kentucky League of Cities Annual Conference & Expo September 24 | Owensboro, KY Details at KLC

2025 Kansas City/County Management Association Annual Conference December 4 | Manhattan, KS Details at KCMA

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