And then I went to the zoos, the few zoos at that time that had privatized, and I went to those zoos to learn about what they had done for privatization, and what had worked for them, and what was the best thing for them at that time, and how… Read More
You’re the guy that knows about fish. I don’t know squat about fish, and I know I don’t know anything about fish, so educate me, tell me, show me what you know. And so without a doubt I was a strong leader. I don’t think, I certainly wouldn’t be called… Read More
So we managed, at Pittsburgh, over a million gallons of water, and I know nothing about aquariums. So you really have to trust the people that know a whole lot about it. So I’m very inquisitive. I would ask questions, I’d ask a lot of questions. And when somebody would… Read More
During your career at the zoo, what would you consider to be like a major event that affected not only Pittsburgh, but zoos in general?… Read More
We’ll try that, what the heck?… Read More
So I really tried hard to set them up to succeed and to give ’em the resources they needed not to fail. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t let ’em fail, because you do. Because people, one of the things we did at Pittsburgh was we tried a lot… Read More
And so you try that kind of thing. So we were very much, my management style was, try. Let’s see if it works, and if we fail, we laughed and said, uh oh, that was bad. Hopefully no animal was harmed, but, that was bad, we’re not doing that again. Read More
So it just depended on who made the best case where the tiebreaker would end up. But it wouldn’t necessarily, I tried very, very hard not to play favorites, although people criticize you when you say that you don’t play favorites, but you do play favorites. And it’s not because,… Read More
Senior managers. And so often I would have to be the tiebreaker. One thing I can think of is that the aquarium team had a penguin that had an eye issue, and the veterinarians wanted to grab it three times a day to treat the eye, and the penguin team… Read More
And so animal management team in the zoo, and that animal management team would meet once a week, every Thursday at one o’clock for 31 years we met. And often, I put my team together so that everybody was equal. So the curators were equal to the veterinarians, who were… Read More
So for example, we had an animal management team, which made up of all the curators and the horticulturists too, ’cause plants are living thing too, you know?… Read More
So all the team was equal in their senior status, right?… Read More
And so, hopefully you’re evolving your leadership skills and you’re not stuck in one plan. I’m a very inclusive leader. I like having all of the team involved in all of the decisions, because I think it’s a learning process for them, it’s a learning process for me. I always… Read More
Oh, absolutely it changed. I mean, ’cause I believe that if you’re not learning, you’re dead. You should always be learning. You should always be doing something to learn something new. I always wanna learn something new. And so of course your management style’s, I hope to God you learn… Read More
There are only a few times when you have to be, for lack of a better term, the tiebreaker. Read More
Can you describe your management style, and how do you think your staff would describe your management style?… Read More
Did it change over the years?… Read More
Do I recommend you put all your bucks in that?… Read More
And then they would stay on to 18. Many of the zoo teens would be there every single year and be involved. Very competitive program. Usually the signup for zoo teens was January 2nd, and we’d sell out that day. So you can get them involved, you just have to… Read More
No, that’s not the primary market. It’s a great market to capture, but you better have already captured them by the time they hit teens. Read More