They really were forced into it before, and now they didn’t have to be. And we had built up, and I’m proud of this, and I don’t think I’m tooting my own horn. But we had developed enough confidence of zoo employees in their jobs and in the management that… Read More
They were in a lot of zoos. Read More
Well, one was the whatever, who was the?… Read More
[Mark} Teamsters?… Read More
I’m very proud of one fact. I was dealing with two unions in that zoo, two. One, was the public service employees. And we, by the way, we took that over when we became the trust, and all that money and that. And we developed that. We had the highest… Read More
By that I mean admissions, food and beverage sales, gift shop sales, any grant money or donations, and that sort of thing. Those were bread and butter. And it seemed to me that if we could get those better organized under the trust, it would, but it took time. And… Read More
Well, the question that kind of leads in is as you began to change direction of the zoo, what hindrances, what major hindrances occurred from what direction?… Read More
Oh! Well, the lack of money for, we just didn’t have money for capital improvements. And, Mark, when we… When the trust was formed, this was a big transition, because we went from one system, the city system, and getting a lot of work, help from the city to doing… Read More
And I had him do that for every animal that we were breeding. Well, he wanted to work, he wanted to do that. But he also was doing his doctoral dissertation on digestion by rhinos and elephants. And it was kind of intruding on him if he needed to be… Read More
And I think I used to do some of that at Fort Worth before I had people. You get in the habit of something, and it’s hard to change it. But I changed it. I damn sure did. I’m sorry, I’ve… Oh no. Read More
What was the last thing you?… Read More
But I don’t want to hear about the problems in between. That’s their job is to solve those problems. It’s their job also to come to me if they can’t do it. And that’s my form of management. And I think the roadmap is very important. Read More
I hired Tom Foos, and he had terrible credentials, terrible credentials. At the Philadelphia Zoo, they, I’ll tell you what, they were very critical of him, and his wife for some reason. I always found his wife pretty nice. Tom Foos was a very difficult guy to work with. He… Read More
And sometimes, now, Tom, you ever heard of Tom Foos?… Read More
And how did you change, and develop their training and upgrading?… Read More
But I had a very good staff there. And you were there when the accreditation was done. Several people said they were very impressed with the staff and their overall. But in three or four years, there can be changes. I don’t like to micromanage. I don’t wanna be micromanaged… Read More
Well, in the first case, in a very interesting observation. We had, I think I had… At Oklahoma City, I would say, if you were to ask me what is my weakest management area, I would say it’s hiring people. It’s very strong in one area where people are committed,… Read More
Well, I think the planning was a big factor. I think we need to have, you know, you knew how to get here this morning. And you had a mental roadmap. Well, you had that gadget too. And if you hadn’t had that, you might not have known where, we… Read More
Speaking of staff, what was your relationship with the staff at Oklahoma City?… Read More
And I think if you have that roadmap, if the staff has it. More important, Mark, if the staff has participated in it. And sometimes, staff doesn’t want to participate. I mean they’re too busy doing something, and they don’t wanna, but it is very important to get them on… Read More