Opinion
OPINION: The work you don’t campaign on
There’s a strange irony in public service. You campaign on what’s broken. You walk neighborhoods with a vision for fixing it. You point out where things can be better, and people respond, because they see it too.
But once you’re elected, the story changes. You now sit inside the very system you ran against. You gain access to the reasons, the constraints, the history. You realize that some of what’s broken cannot be fixed, at least not easily, because it was broken by decisions you didn’t make, but decisions you now carry the weight of anyway.
You also learn that bold ideas do not move without trust. That vision without buy-in is just noise. And that the magic, the real change, only happens when people come together. And when it does? Most of the time, no one will ever know.
No one runs on “let’s go status quo,” but maintaining what works takes just as much effort as fixing what doesn’t.
Most people don’t see the ongoing, respectful conversations that often shift perspectives and make real progress possible. The staff who go above and beyond to make something work. The resident who changes their mind because someone took the time to listen. The council member who was ready to vote no until someone asked a better question. No one cheers when a problem doesn’t erupt because it was handled before it escalated.
And sometimes, despite the noise and pressure and politics, something remarkable happens. You speak up about a better way, and two other voices join you. That is often all it takes to move something forward. Not a headline. Not a spotlight. Just enough support to get a good idea off the ground.
That is the tension of election season. The loudest ideas rise to the top, but the most lasting changes usually happen through patient collaboration, through relationships, through compromise and through consistent, unglamorous effort.
And that is okay.
Because real leadership is not about credit. It is about outcomes. It is about being willing to do the work even when it is slow, messy and thankless, because it matters. Because our communities, and the people in it, are worth it.
As this election season unfolds, I hope we remember that. I hope we choose leaders who do not just talk about what is broken, but who understand what it means to carry the weight of what others built, even when it is flawed and hard to fix. Because the truth is, those who came before us carried broken things too. They faced different challenges, answered to different residents and worked within constraints we may never fully see. Just like us, they did the best they could in the moment they were in.
Leadership means building on that work with humility and urgency. Knowing when to preserve, when to repair, and when to reimagine the path forward.
Not just visionaries, but stewards. Not just voices, but builders. Because that is the kind of leadership this moment, and every city, deserves.
Heather Newall
Lehi City Council
Newall is in her first term and has loved serving on the Lehi City Council for the past year and a half. The opinions expressed are her own and do not reflect the official position of Lehi City.
