The once vibrant Mandaue City in the Philippines decayed into an underperforming city with sluggish industrial output, corruption scandals, and a record-breaking drug bust that caused international embarrassment for the city. An energetic new mayor found a solution to his city’s woes: a balanced scorecard approach to governance called the Performance Governance System. Technical guidance was available from the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, but implementation proved to be a major challenge. To overcome these obstacles, the mayor identified entrepreneurial employees within the government who could drive the implementation; used “experiential learning” to motivate and address the feelings of distrust that plagued City Hall for years; and adopted an iterative approach and led by example to sustain buy-in across his organization. Mandaue’s experience further contextualizes literature on free development, problem-driven iterative adaptation, and theories of motivation and dignity.