I'm glad the Harvard professors warned us by saying, "Upon returning home, people may be confused when you do not respond as you did previously." Such is the nature of a three-week, immersive learning experience where you are repeatedly encouraged to challenge your thinking, be playful, practice new approaches, and consider alternative methods.

Having the opportunity to disconnect from the everyday routine, establish a space for learning, and find space for critical thinking can spark magic. Being with a group of 59 amazing, committed, engaged, and similarly motivated people creates an experience that will stay with you a lifetime. The experience was energizing and inspiring; I was reminded why I chose a career in public service.

Seeking New Approaches

Three weeks was indeed a long time to be gone from home and work. I oversee seven departments at Ramsey County, Minnesota, with a budget of some $150 million. Outside of the everyday work I do, I share responsibility for moving forward the county board's goals around racial equity and economic prosperity. This includes ensuring that we are focused on well-being, prosperity, opportunity, and accountability for the county's more than 525,000 residents.

My job is to lead these departments, and empower leaders in our organization to work collaboratively to accomplish our goals. I wanted to learn new approaches to be a more effective leader and to use this experience to the greatest advantage for my organization and community.

In the small black notebook they gave each of us, I took copious notes. On the first couple of pages, I distilled down the most precious thoughts and advice given to us every day. Reading them now, after being back from Cambridge, Massachusetts, for several months, I realize that I was truly immersed.

This program creates an environment that enables you to think about what you want to "do" and not what you want to "be." I share these insights:

• Leadership "on the edge" is difficult and deeply challenging. In the end, it is the one thing that can create lasting change; however, you must remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Steel yourself for difficulty; challenge yourself to "lean in."

• Intentionality in all that we do is essential. Frequently, we get one "bite at the apple,"; and we can't let it go to waste.

• Perseverance is necessary to achieving our goals. Tailoring that impulse to specific people and situations is essential for effectiveness.

• Managing conflict is a necessary part of our work. Conflict can and should be used for strategic purposes.

• Taking on and solving difficult challenges represents our comparative advantage as professional public managers. I came away convinced that the public sector is better at this than any other.

• Elected officials and appointed officials must form effective teams to move difficult and challenging work forward. These positive relationships are often the difference between success and failure.

The faculty and staff of Harvard's Executive Education program are extraordinary. Many of us, for example, had read Marty Linsky's book Leadership on the Line in the early 2000s when it was published. We spent several days learning from Linsky and his experiences in local and state government.

The Kennedy School provided its best and brightest each day, and the breadth and depth of knowledge that faculty imparted was something like a three-week MPA program.

Linsky challenged us, pushing back on our mid-career assumptions, and he made us think deeply and critically about our role as leaders—exhorting us to "find the edge of your scope of authority and exert your power and influence to make change." He reminded us that people do not resist change, they resist loss; leadership is about disappointing people at a rate they can accept.

This is especially challenging in a culture that places high value on telling people what they want to hear, not what they need to listen for.

Upon reflection, this was perhaps the most valuable part of my experience at Harvard—the time and guidance to think about leadership on a deeper level, and to consider my role in leading change over the next "half" of my career.

It is increasingly clear to many of us in government that our communities need public servants who can recognize challenges and provide the leadership needed to help overcome them.

A Valued Opportunity

It was a particular honor to spend many hours with Dan Fenn, a member of John F. Kennedy's White House staff, one of Harvard's youngest assistant deans at age 23, and the first director of the JFK Library in Boston. Dan is now 93 years young and still teaching at the Kennedy School.

His sparkling wit and brilliant observations inspired us to look anew at our various professions in public service. It was a special honor to have him with us on our last night at the celebratory dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club.

To say the experience changed my life would be an understatement, but that phrase captures some of what I have taken away from Harvard. Our class members have kept in touch through e-mail, social media, and personal visits, and we now have friends and colleagues all over the world.

ICMA's sponsorship of this scholarship is incredibly valuable. I want to express my deep gratitude to The Ferguson Group, eCivis, and ICMA for the opportunity to attend the 2016 Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in State and Local program.

Toward Global Professionalism

I am currently serving as president of Slovakia's city managers association and will be doing so until March 2019. My goal is to transform the Slovak City Managers' Association into a well-managed and highly professional organization accepted within Slovakia and the European Union.

As the first city manager from continental Europe who was elected to serve as vice president of the International City/County Management Association's executive board in its 104-year history, I have done the most I could to show the pride I have in the professional spirit of local government leadership in central Europe.

By completing the executive education program of the Harvard Kennedy School, I am more widely acknowledged in the European Union and within its institutions. In the short term, I am representing local government as an expert within Slovakia and also in the SlovakAID programs, which are programs for local governments in non-EU countries sponsored by Slovakia.

My Harvard education also assists me in my long-term goal to help develop local government professionals in the EU and worldwide. Thanks to Harvard, I am more recognized by my peers in the profession and by institutions not only in the EU, but anywhere in the world.

The private connections, professional knowledge, and experience exchange are all pluses that will be put to good use in the future at any possible occasion, be it in the EU, United States, or elsewhere.

Professional local government management education should not be a privilege only given to a few well-run cities, but must instead become a worldwide new normal for all local governments. This is why I am thankful to ICMA, The Ferguson Group, and eCivis for enabling me to have the honor of attending the 2016 program.