Interview 26791 – Caption Index: 432
Yeah, I think, yeah, again, I always look for uniqueness and that can be locally or nationally or internationally, but part of our job is to get people to come through our gates, right?… Read More
Yeah, I think, yeah, again, I always look for uniqueness and that can be locally or nationally or internationally, but part of our job is to get people to come through our gates, right?… Read More
You know, to me it’s about street credibility in conservation. You don’t just waltz into Africa and say, hey, we’re here to save everybody. And we got a big, fat check and we’re gonna write it for you, and here we go. Or, I’ve got three scientists who will help… Read More
Yeah. They have got to set forward with their bosses, the priorities budgetarily to make sure that they are in those fields. They can’t ignore it and say, oh, you know, we’re a municipal zoo, we don’t have the money to do that. The public’s not gonna buy that. The… Read More
Now, will they turn your money away?… Read More
Or this is our business return on investment. You know, those are hardcore numbers that come out of a database. You got some real unknowns in the animal business that you’ve gotta be able to work through and be able to explain. Nothing is ever a hundred percent in the… Read More
What do you think a small or a medium-sized municipal zoo today, what they have to do today to be involved in wildlife conservation, either nationally or internationally?… Read More
Okay?… Read More
Unlike just pointing to a spreadsheet saying, you know, this is how we got to this number. Read More
Yeah, it’s a very good question. I will always fall to the animal side because that’s what I think, that’s what zoos are. It’s about animals. And not saying the business people aren’t important but that’s a profession that to me, the skillset comes from a different realm, I guess,… Read More
When you say directed, do you feel, in your opinion, is it better to have an animal person at the helm making directions or a business person at the helm making directions?… Read More
But the director needs to be able to steer that ship and say, okay, Mark, I know you’re the animal person and I need an answer on this particular issue with animal welfare, that the press is knocking our door down for, what is your opinion?… Read More
But as the director, you need to be directing Mark to do that and to make sure that you then have checked other sources so that when your statement comes out from you as the director, you’ve done your homework. And you can stand behind that and substantiate it because… Read More
You know, I look back at Dr. Schroeder who had a lot of variety in his day, back in the late sixties, seventies. I mean, he had to worry about a lot of different things. And then it got very specialized. You know, we have specialists for this and specialists… Read More
If they’re strong in animal or strong in marketing or strong in PR, that’s all great, you go back to that, you know, when things settle down. But you’ve gotta have the ability to be able to cast back and forth across today’s environment to see what’s going on and… Read More
It’s like, where are we, what do we gotta, how do we have to resolve this?… Read More
What skillset does a zoo director need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
There’s no time to sit here, and wring your hands, and worry about it. And I took that as a compliment, you know, that yeah, there’s some things you’re faced with, you can meltdown later but you know, at the time you’ve gotta manage it. So that’s kind of built… Read More
Good question. I think my experience in the business in San Diego really helped me understand the industry and understand, you know, how it runs. And with that comes the ability to not be afraid of challenges that come forward. ‘Cause every day you’re gonna have something to deal with,… Read More
So I think my experience in San Diego helped me understand the importance of that. And the challenges that I’ve had throughout my career, mostly based around collection, required you to have a steady hand at the throttle and not get thrown off course regardless of what the issue may… Read More
What made you a good director?… Read More