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Oz wrote:Tiki <<fly>> writes:
Even though I had the second highest votes last year, Mark Forbes and Randall Shane did some bogus crap to keep me off the board and not give me one of the designated director positions. Anyway, I'm sending this to you because your audience are not all USHPA members, and I want to them, the free flight community, to know that I am out to get them back. To give them an Association of which they want be a part. Since only USHPA only broadcasts to its members, I want to broadcast to the entirety of the free flight community, or as many as I can.
I want to give some specifics on change. The USHPA Board is broken and need to be taken down to their foundation and rebuilt. No more bandaids on a broken back.
It's ttime to get involved. Yes I'm talking to you, members, non-members, used-to-be-members, wanna-be members, disgruntled and disgusted members, and all of you who are in love with free flight, but maybe who are not-so-much pleased with the direction. And wouldn't more transparency be great (rhetorical).
First: the “Diversity Matrix” has to go and that coming from the most diverse person in our organization. “Diversity Matrix,” such buzz words, nonetheless it fails miserably in giving our organization the leadership it desperately needs.
I say this because USHPA is a small non-profit, it doesn't have issues with diversity like corporate America. So introducing a Diversity Matrix falls woefully short of choosing the best USHPA Board of Directors. I had the second highest number of votes in the nation yet I still got cut because of the Diversity Matrix. Honestly, I'm not bitter at all. Oddly, even if I had gotten the highest votes I would have still been cut – I was tossed out last year by the “diversity matrix” - which is ironic since I am the epitome of diversity yet not diverse enough to sit on the Board last year - I know I can make a difference. Makes you wonder, if the Diversity Matrix is in fact trying to get "The Best" Board for USHPA or is it just whomever fits into the new suit USHPA. The stifling of your member voice and your vote is palpable. Your voice and your vote doesn't count, because it's highjacked by the Diversity Matrix. It takes away the power of each USHPA member and hands it over to this obtuse diversity equation that no one quite understands.
The Diversity Matrix is not capable of determining the “best” Board for USHPA, because it falls woefully short of determining the criteria to select a proper Board that would address our needs and doesn't put our best foot forward. I want the decision put back in the hands of the members, let your vote count. “The Diversity Matrix” discounts all the truly important factors that make up a successful Board of Directors for the USHPA. Our USHPA Board needs:
- Directors who have experience and knowledge of the day-to-day grinds of building up the sport and bringing in new members, old members and retaining current members;
- Directors who are on the front line, and in touch with the needs of pilots, instructors and schools;
- Directors who have “skin-in-the-game” - when this is your livelihood you work infinitely harder to build and grow our sports;
- Directors who can elevate safety without creating burdensome rules for schools, instructors and members.
Try to stuff that into the “Diversity Matrix” – impossible because “Diversity” has nothing whatsoever to do with building the best Board for USHPA.
The membership was sold this placebo in the form of “Diversity Matrix” and it stinks – read that “Harvard Review” study they sited when selling you this bill of goods, it mainly touts “cultural diversity” – plain and simple, so if that were the case I should win hands down over everybody – a black, middle-age woman should be a slam dunk.
Let's not fall into this buzz word trap thinking anything that says “diversity” must be good in all cases. In this case it DOES NOT WORK and NEEDS TO BE DISMANTLED immediately. Empower and trust the membership to build a successful Board that reflects their choices, your votes.
Second: “Term Limits” it's good we vote directors in or out every two years and it's on an alternating basis, which means with 8 directors - 4 are on the chopping block each year. That's a good thing. What isn't necessarily good is the 10 year times-up clause. Again, quit taking the power away from the membership, and trust that they know what's best. We are a small non-profit. It is vitally important that once you get a successful no nonsense good working Board that we trust, we hold to it for as long as the individuals are willing to serve or, and this the great part, we as members can vote them off the island as we determine necessary. It important that we value longevity, experience and history. So I would get rid of the current 10-year rule and trust the membership power of self-correcting will keep a good and balanced Board once it is in place. But this will also mean that you, as a member, will need to stay involved, which would be a win-win in my book.
Third, I would propose that the salary of our Executive Director position be intrinsically linked to the growth of our membership. Incentivize the position so that our ED also has “skin-in-the-game” and is motivated to grow the sports. If we grow the membership, great the ED is rewarded, if our numbers are on the decline, well perhaps a re-evaluation is in order. Additionally we would come up with a detailed written description that outlines the specific duties and responsibilities of our Executive Director position.
Perhaps many of the duties could be farmed out to our membership. We have a vast untapped resource of knowledge and experience within our own community i have seen it and worked with it. Farming out tasks to the membership (whether paid or unpaid) would bring members more involved with USHPA, and establish a better sense of community. What a boon and benefit this would be to USHPA, the membership and the flying community as a whole.
And Fourth: I was never against the idea of a smaller Board, I was however against handing over a broken committee system to a smaller Board. I beat the drum to fix the committees first, but that didn't happen and we are still left with the same committee issues. We have to quit walking that lipsticked pig around the deck of Titanic. OOOh perhaps that was too harsh. But speaking of lipsticked pig, how about that instructor insurance, yep there's a lot to address there, so don't get me started. Yeah, too late, I know.
In any event, these are just a few things I want to change if I can get your vote.
Granted I know there were many folks on that Board who were pleased I was not in the room banging the pots and pans around the kitchen this past year, but I guarantee you, if you vote for me I will be cooking up a storm. And please don't take that as a threat - it's necessary change.
Look, I don't like battling with my fellow Board members, but they know I can be like a dog with a bone when it comes to certain issues. And yes, I rarely back down and sometimes I'm the most vocal person in the room. I'll throw my own self under the bus and say sometimes I use a slug hammer when a scalpel might be better. But honestly I do listen to my fellow Board members, I do try to work with everyone in the room and we do have some great people on in the room right now. But I'm not there to make friends, I threw my hat in there to make a difference for the free flight community – the whole community. I do battle for the members, non-members, used-to-be-members, wanna-be members, disgruntled and disgusted members, and again all of you who are like me and are in love with free flight and maybe, just maybe, sometimes are not so much in love with the direction.
I'm there to represent you and to listen to all of you. So, if any of what I said resonates with you - I hope you'll get onboard.
- tikielection2020.jpg (118.62 KiB) Viewed 1165 times
Actions speak louder than words Tiki. You voted to expel a member whose only "crime" was testifying to the truth about an out-of-control business. You didn't speak up when it wasn't your own interests on the line. So why should we believe you now?
Having said all of that, people can change their perspectives over time. Maybe having her own ox gored has opened her eyes. Time will tell ...
