I think it’s really important that they know that they’re appreciated. And they’re, and volunteers too. You know, we had, we had hundreds of volunteers at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. But, but people like to be acknowledged that they’re doing a good job and they’re part of a team and… Read More
What do you think made you a good director?… Read More
Well, I think what made me a good director was years of experience. I mean, coming up through the ranks, I mean, from the volunteers, the teenager, and doing a little bit of everything at, at the zoo, from concessions to zoo, keeping to education, to man, you know, management. Read More
And I think that’s where I’m really lucky. ’cause I had both, I was, you know, I was an animal guy. ’cause I started in the ditches, you know, in the trenches taking care of animals. And I, and I worked my way up, you know, in, in retail and… Read More
It doesn’t matter what your expertise is. If you’re a good listener, a good collaborator and can prioritize that makes a good zoo director. You’re director emeritus of the Lincoln Nebraska Children’s Zoo. Read More
And so it’s hard to say, do you need the business person or do you need the animal person?… Read More
You know, and I think everybody brings in a little bit different talent and different priority. Read More
’cause you gotta remember, I don’t know what the, the typical tenure is anymore for a zoo director. In the old days, it was like me, I had 30, well, I think we had 36 or 7 37 years. ’cause some of those were his president emeritus. You know, you… Read More
What are the institution’s needs?… Read More
And so are you there for five years, 10 years?… Read More
What’s the resources of the institution?… Read More
Is is the, you know, what is the mission of the institution?… Read More
And, and, and you know, and, and we’ve seen it all happen. We, we’ve seen people who ran corporations take over zoos. We’ve seen retail people take over zoos. We’ve seen researchers take animal researchers take over zoos. We, we’ve seen a little bit of it all. I guess it… Read More
Oh, and that’s and why?… Read More
The zoo director, zoo staff, to go see how other zoos are doing it, be it good or be it bad to talk to peers. You know, quite often I would go to the zoo and not tell my peer I was coming. I just wanted to sneak around being… Read More
So going to other institutions is vitally important. Vitally important for all levels. I don’t care if you’re guest services. I don’t care if you’re animal keepers. I don’t care if you’re facilities, I don’t care if you’re horticulture. I don’t care if you’re management. You need to go and… Read More
So the, the controversy of who should lead a zoo, what’s your position on good animal man or a businessman?… Read More
You know, I think a really phenomenal creature is the Komodo dragon. And I would love to have seen Komodos come to the zoo. Never made it happen. You know, and that’s okay. But I, I, I got to see so many things come and such a diversity of things… Read More
How important do you think it is for a zoo director to travel to other zoos and, and see things Vitally important?… Read More
That’s good. So you have some genetic diversity. So, you know, and I’ve seen bars disappear, which is good. And sometimes it’s just whitewashed to remove the bars. ’cause sometimes you take off the bars and you put the fancy expensive stainless steel mesh in its place. It’s still a… Read More