Michelle Kaufusi tells people there is nothing special about Michelle Kaufusi, but there is something about Mayor Michelle Kaufusi: she is not afraid of a challenge or hard work, and when she puts her mind to something she does not let up. On this episode of The Franklin Planner Podcast, co-hosts George Wright III and John Harding sit down with the mayor of Provo, Utah, the city's first female mayor and its 45th, a former Provo City School Board chair, and a mother of five who is now running for a third term.
Her story runs from a Provo childhood with police in the driveway to a conference room where she asks eleven directors what they would do if they were mayor. Along the way she offers a clear picture of what values-driven leadership looks like in practice.
Michelle Kaufusi on Grit, Provo, and a Childhood That Built Her
Kaufusi was born and raised in Provo, one of seven children, and she can see the hospital where she was born from her office window. Her father struggled with drinking, and after years of trying, her mother divorced him, an almost unheard-of step in that era, and went to work as a nurse on the graveyard shift from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night. All the kids were working by age 12, and on Sunday nights the family put their money on the table to figure out how to make it through the week. In seventh grade, she had enough money for two pairs of pants, a pack of underwear, and a pack of socks.
What saved her was the community. Neighbors paid her more than a dollar an hour to babysit and paid her to read to their children and clean their homes, things they did not really need, because they knew she needed the money. At their dinner tables she saw a different kind of life and decided she wanted it. As a freshman at Provo High she tracked down her counselor and asked what it would take to get across the street to BYU. The counselor handed her a list and warned it would take four years of hard work. Kaufusi went to task on it and earned an academic scholarship.
Why Giving Back Became Her Mission
Nobody writes in a seventh-grade journal that they want to be a mayor, and Kaufusi never planned it either. She simply kept finding her way to the front of leadership, willing to say "let me lead this and see if I can get us there." A rough childhood, she explains, recalibrated her sense of what is overwhelming: she had already lived overwhelming as a child. Her husband jokes that she has a sign on her forehead that says "will work for free," because she feels a lifelong desire to lift the community that lifted her.
Her daily disciplines are ones the hosts hear from top leaders constantly. She was an avid reader who spent hours at the library and still keeps stacks of books around her, and she built deep relationships everywhere she went. She also collects mantras that direct her path, from "Kaufusis never quit," used on a hot, discouraged son at soccer practice, to "swing for the fences" at the office. Nobody, she says, is going to be mad at us for trying.
How She Leads a City With Trust and Love
Being the mayor is not a job. It's a lifestyle. You're always the mayor all day, every day.
When Kaufusi first won, she could not sleep, so she wrote a single-spaced, two-page document of all her weaknesses. She used it to choose a deputy mayor who thinks differently and knows more than she does, rather than someone who mirrors her. She also says something that gives people pause.
I didn't get in this seat to get reelected. I took this seat to do the right thing.
Provo's mission statement, which did not exist when she took office, is now "exceptional care for an exceptional community." The word exceptional has stuck with her since seventh grade, and she uses it daily as a standard: not average, not good enough, but a notch higher. She leads roughly 1,400 employees with open affection. She was the first mayor to cry in the boardroom over a tight budget, and she tells police officers she loves them. She reminds crews that when they pick up garbage cans or pour concrete they are the face of the mayor, and with trust in government so low, every interaction matters.
Measuring Trust in a Living Room
Her motto is "I go to them," because nobody wants to walk into a government building. Her inner meter for trust is a living room with 25 concerned neighbors: she hears them, lets them speak, and tells them how she will handle it. Naysayers are part of the job, but she refuses to be honed down by the grumpy minority when she is doing the right thing for the majority.
How Maternal Instinct Shapes Her Decisions
Kaufusi says the thing that surprises people most is how much she uses her maternal instinct every day as mayor. In a conference room with eleven men fighting over the why, she remembers calming her sons Bronson and Corbin fighting over swords in the backyard, and she goes to work with the same skills. Her message to women who feel unproductive at home is to throw that thought out the door, because everything you do now will serve your future.
On major decisions, with growth coming at Provo fast, she asks whether the city will look back in 30 years and be glad. She goes around the room and asks every director and chief what they would do if they were mayor, a game they admit they hate, and then she sleeps on it with thought and prayer. Sometimes she follows their counsel, and sometimes she goes with her gut.
Action Steps
- Write down your own weaknesses honestly, then surround yourself with people who are strong where you are not.
- Choose a one-line standard, the way Kaufusi chose "exceptional," and measure your daily work against it.
- Go to the people you serve instead of waiting for them to come to you, and listen before you explain.
- Practice sitting alone in complete silence with zero distractions for daily self-reflection, a skill she says you lose if you do not use it.
- Be brave enough to nurture the leader inside you and let it come out a little more each time.
Kaufusi's closing advice for individuals and leaders is the same: it is easier to hide behind a screen, but trust the process of bringing that leader out. You don't just manage time. You lead your life.
