Interview 26791 – Caption Index: 166
You know?… Read More
You know?… Read More
I want people to be able to think on their feet so that if I got run over by the bus, the whole place doesn’t go, oh my God, what are we gonna do tomorrow?… Read More
You know, Larry’s not here to make the decision. I want those people to be able to step in and make the decision. Now, that’s taking risk. And, you know, some days, I have to be honest with you, I felt we were vulnerable. Not to the point where we… Read More
And I’ve tried to instill that into the people that when I retired are still there. And I’m still seeing very favorable results. So don’t just be happy with the status quo. That’s not the way I was raised and the way I ran the collection in San Diego. As… Read More
Or do you pause and go a different direction?… Read More
I want people to grow. Read More
When I was growing up, never really had a boss that was an over-the-shoulder kind of person, you know?… Read More
If you have an opportunity to collect and get something for the zoo, is that the right move for the zoo?… Read More
Is that the best move you can make for the collection?… Read More
What is the best?… Read More
Already had a vision. I mean, again, I had watched and learned from people that made a lot of mistakes and people that were successful. And I tried to pick what I thought was the best approach to managing people and managing collections. One of the things, and I still… Read More
Yeah, maybe a few additional responsibilities, but basically, it was just getting the mess cleaned up, making sure they’re all getting paid equally as well, or if there’s a seniority issue, making sure that that was addressed as well. So, you know, again, there’s a lot of rudimentary work that… Read More
Now, during this time, were you forming your philosophy about zoo management or did you already have a vision?… Read More
This is just not gonna work. So again, we got all that cleared up and I didn’t lose anybody in the process of doing that. They all understood it. I was just honest and open with ’em. I said you’re not curators, you will be someday if you wanna stick… Read More
So again, a lot of that seems wonky and, you know, were there additional responsibilities?… Read More
No, no. I had built up, I thought, a very good relationship, you know, fair but tough with these folks because again, they’re young staff, very young staff, in their twenties, I think the oldest staff member I had might have been in early thirties. So not a lot of… Read More
Was it different now that you are the boss?… Read More
So if anything, for your own career, I think it’s best we retitle everybody here, not affecting your pay, just changing titles. And so I took curator title away from just about everybody, but the one who ended up being the general curator, and rebuilt that. Now, they have curator… Read More
You know, I didn’t realize that but it needed it. And Joe saw that, and the board agreed, and adopted those titles. So then you end up with I think five officers and, you know, your CEO and all things. So everything was tidy and nice, and everybody was happy. Read More
It was just a title they gave me to, like, someone said if you have any more titles, you’re not gonna be able to get it on a business card. And I said well, I’m happy with where you left me or where I am. And I said, you know,… Read More