December 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Building

Success
Author and industry leader Paul
Gilbert details how adopting
an entrepreneurial operational
model can create highperformance
agencies

Introduction by Richard J. Dolesh
Interview by Barbara Tulipane, CAE

P

aul Gilbert, author of " High Performance Agencies: The Entrepreneurial Model for Public Parks, Recreation and Tourism Organizations, " is a many-faceted man. He is the executive director of the
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NOVA Parks, formerly
known as NVRPA), a multijurisdictional park agency with an annual operating and capital budget of almost $30 million. He is an adjunct professor at
George Mason University. He is also the author of " Lead Like a General, " an
award-winning book exploring the qualities that make a superb leader. And in
his spare time, Gilbert serves as a volunteer on the boards or in leadership roles
of several organizations in his area of expertise.
As executive director of NOVA
Parks, Gilbert implemented a number
of entrepreneurial practices that grew
his agency's enterprise revenue more
than 75 percent between 2005-2014.
According to Gilbert, the steps to becoming an organizational entrepreneur
and creating an entrepreneurial organi	

zation are not so difficult. Thinking
entrepreneurially starts simply with the
willingness to have an open mind, take
risks, and manage and organize for the
success of the agency.
NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane,
who wrote the foreword for " High
Performance Agencies, " recently sat

Paul Gilbert

down with Gilbert to talk about his
book and the experiences in his career
that led him to write it.

W W W. N R PA . O R G | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 |

Parks & Recreation

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December 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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December 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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