Because 80% of the attendance of Pittsburgh came in from May to September. 80%. And so we had to figure out how we’re gonna survive the next six months with everything that was going on. And that was the spring retreat. And at the spring retreat, we had the senior… Read More
And my team said, they were getting us, they didn’t wanna do planning either, because it took too much time out of their already very, very busy schedule, right?… Read More
Master planning is about your facility and what you’re gonna build. Strategic planning is about all of your programs and everything you’re doing. And so I went through, I think three strategic plans with outside firms coming in, doing focus groups, and doing all that kind of stuff, getting involved. Read More
Then he said, “Oh, about June.” And I’m like, holy cow, about June, that’s not gonna work. So one of the first things we did in the first year I was there was put together a budget for every single department, and we had to train people how to do… Read More
And he literally actually told me, he said, “Well, whoever yells the loudest.” And I said, well, when does the money run out?… Read More
I’m not a planner, I’m a doer. Planning is hard for me because it takes time. You gotta sit down, you gotta take time, and that takes away from doing rounds, or it takes away from, whatever, fundraising, whatever you’re gonna do. But planning, I’ve learned in my career, even… Read More
We had six accounts in the city line item, six accounts. Animal food, provisions, it was crazy, staff. I mean, and that was it. That was a whole budget. So, one of the first things I did was we put together a full fledged budget for the zoo, independent of… Read More
I said, so how do you decide who gets the money?… Read More
And how important do you think master plans are?… Read More
During your time, did the zoo have a master plan?… Read More
Well, those kind of things are very important, especially for the leader to do. In today’s challenging world of all these electronics, and all the computers, and all the emails you get in one bloody day, it’s easy to get sucked into that office and never go, never go out… Read More
And talking to visitors, you learn a lot about where they’re from, where they came from, what are you doing, how often do you come?… Read More
A parent telling the kid what the animal’s doing, and you know that’s not what the animal’s doing. It’s a lot of fun. Read More
If we can accomplish half of them, we’re doing better than most of the zoos if we can get that done. So, I’m sorry your particular idea didn’t get taken, but don’t make that so that you can’t give us another idea, because you need to give us another idea. Read More
Because I walked the grounds at least three times a week. And so I was out there walking around, and so people get very comfortable with talking to the leader, because you’re just out there. And everybody called me Barbara, nobody called me Dr. Baker. The only people called me… Read More
Was that important?… Read More
So I talked to everybody, I got some great ideas from the laborers, I got some great ideas from the custodians who cleaned the toilets. Everybody, I mean, that was the fun thing about Pittsburgh, too. We fostered a culture that everybody could give us an idea. One time I… Read More
Absolutely. Rounds were a hundred percent important. Did it every single day that I could. Sometimes I’d have meetings or weather, weather didn’t permit it in Pittsburgh, but we did have some challenging snow storms on occasion. But that’s one of the most fun parts of the job, to get… Read More
And did you ever do rounds?… Read More
How involved were you in the day-to-day activities and hands-on when you were director?… Read More