Over the last few years there have been a number of examples of
USHPA leadership. For example, Bill Bolosky, Mark Forbes, Jayne Depanfilis, and
others took leadership when they decided to proceed with acquiring a USHPA
headquarters in Colorado Springs. This took a very significant commitment of
financial resources and required that the leaders get the whole BOD to commit to
this effort against quite a bit of resistance. A number of USHPA members still
erroneously think that this was a bad idea.


Mark Forbes took on the DVD archive project. Jayne and Mark along with others
took on the instructor liability insurance program (still in process).


Lisa Tate took over the position of Planning Committee Chairman to oversee the
development of the strategic plan. Tracy Tillman took on the scooter tow
curricula and organized the 2007 Steve Wendt Blue Sky Scooter Tow Clinics.
Felipe Amunategui pushed the EC to fund the clinics. These are not the only
examples of real leadership within the USHPA.


Often leadership requires getting the USHPA to provide financial resources. It
also means getting committee chairmen, committees and finally the whole BOD
committed to a program or direction.


Leadership does not necessarily come from the designated leaders of the USHPA.
Not even the committee chairmen. Often these designated leaders are in fact
acting as gate keepers instead of leaders, batting down bad, and perhaps good
ideas. You've got a much better chance to get a project going if you are a
committee chairman in the appropriate committee, but committee chairmen are
sometimes not leading, but obstructing.


If your project requires financial resources (and almost all projects that
actually accomplish something do), then you've got a really big hurdle. Not only
do you have to get it approved by an appropriate committee chair, and an
appropriate committee, you also have to get it through the finance committee,
before it goes to the full board of directors. If you are going to take
leadership you need a lot more than just a good idea, you need a whole battle
plan.


That's why a lot of good ideas never get going at the USHPA. What is the
incentive, other than the moral compulsion, for someone with a good idea to
actually take up the weapons needed to win the war? There is nothing in it for
you. Even committee chairmen are reluctant to take on these onerous tasks.


The USHPA has a Strategic Plan that is supposed to provide guidance to the
organization, but it has little in the way of a means to implement that plan. A
strategic plan is supposed to tell the leadership of the organization what is
expected that they will accomplish. I don't believe ours is actually
accomplishing that.


Leadership can come from outside the USHPA. Right now two manageable proposals
for advertising hang gliding and generating leads for hang gliding schools are
in the process of knocking on the USHPA's door. In addition, the USHPA has
committed funds for further Blue Sky Scooter Tow Clinics.


The USHPA is a membership driven organization. Its executive director is highly
restricted in what actions she can take by the Executive Committee. The ED is
not a leader but someone who carries out the programs defined by the BOD and
especially by the EC which has a close working relationship with her.


Can the USHPA reply effectively to these efforts to help it reach its own stated
goal of doubling the membership in ten years (it went down in the first year)?
Is the USHPA structured in a manner that facilitates success or guarantees
failure?