Interview 5420 – Caption Index: 324
I was gonna say did you ever aspire to have a home on the grounds?… Read More
I was gonna say did you ever aspire to have a home on the grounds?… Read More
Like tell ’em to put it in writing and they really would. Very good advice. Very good advice. Some zoos’ directors have lived on the property. Read More
Was that ever offered to you?… Read More
That was never an option, never an option. You knew people that lived on the property. I knew quite a few zoos. San Antonio had residents on the property. I think at one time, Oklahoma City. I know Kansas City did it one time, residents on the property. I have… Read More
You had indicated that when you were coming up, there were people that you worked with that essentially were hires because someone said, “Hire this guy.” What kind of pressure as a director did you have, if ever, from your board to hire individuals and how did you handle that?… Read More
By the time I came director, we were a political subdivision of the state of Missouri. The Zoo Museum District. So I was no longer beholding to either the county executive or the mayor. So they did not have the authority to call me up and ask me to hire… Read More
Did you have that pressure from board members?… Read More
Very rarely. And if I did, I gave them the interview, a courtesy of the interview. But there was always a reason why I didn’t have to hire ’em. I had some board members that were businessmen that once in a while would try to use your influence on me,… Read More
During your time as director, if I was to talk to your curatorial staff, your professional staff, how would they say, how would they describe your management style?… Read More
From what they tell me today, they felt that my first interest was always the zoo and not myself. I think they always thought I was fair. They didn’t always agree with me. But they always thought that whatever I dictated, it was in the best interest of the zoo. Read More
Guess you couldn’t say that for a lotta the directors. Read More
I think being a good zoo director, for me was to recognize other people’s talents and utilize ’em and let them shine. Have a lotta stars on the team and not try to be the only star. Because I did know from historically, the first director was very, very good,… Read More
I learned that from Marlin and I think Marlon wanted to create a team because he wanted to be able to run the zoo. He also wanted to be able to go away and do Wild Kingdom. He could only do that if he had a responsible team. But I… Read More
They got a paid membership and they participated in committees, SSPs. By that participation, they were further developing in their own careers. Read More
Yeah, the past people I worked for were more micro-managers I felt. I also groomed as many keepers as I could to be potential curators, gave the opportunity to our keepers to become all they could. Just as Marlin had encouraged me, I tried to be the best encouragement I… Read More
Now you mentioned that because as we talked, many directors have backgrounds in zoology or biology. Read More
So do you think these things that you’ve mentioned made you a good zoo director?… Read More
What were those little things that made you a good zoo director?… Read More
How would you describe your management style and how is it different from the past directors you worked for and did it evolve?… Read More
Delegation. Enhancing staff and delegating. Enhancing the staff and delegating responsibilities to them and then giving the support they needed to use that delegation, give ’em the support. Read More