And then we brought in a group to help us run ’em. Help ’em get and eventually we contracted with the group to do that and we built a new gift shop. And so, it just took time. We had to, obviously, some people changes helped that. We got rid… Read More
Can you describe visitor services when you first were at the zoo and how did you start to think about what you wanted to do to change it and were you able to do that?… Read More
When I first went to Oklahoma City, the concessions area was really fairly rudimentary. There were, I’m trying to think, I think there was just one or two refreshment stands being maned by high school kids, typical. And there was a gift shop that was full of all kinds of… Read More
Once in a while I would take time to do that. When I really got uptight, I’d go over to the greenhouse and the horticulture crew would put me to work planting seeds. That was good therapy because nobody ever came looking for me there. (laughter) And so, I did… Read More
Now, once in a while, I’d break off and particularly with the bird curator and we’d sit down and we’d talk birds and we’d talk about nothing else, we’d talk about birds and we’d talk about okay, is this technique working?… Read More
Or how’s this species doing, are they nesting?… Read More
Time wouldn’t allow me to do that anymore. Read More
And did that happen to you and how’d you keep that connection, if indeed you could?… Read More
I did miss the animals. I missed going into an incubator and turning eggs. I missed helping chicks outta shells. I missed that. That was a hands on thing. And it was something I’d done for so long that it was second nature. Brought me home, the kind of things… Read More
I think that it was more of a strain on my available time being a director than what I had previously thought it might be but it wasn’t just animal issues anymore. When I’d go out on the grounds, I was looking at trash cans. (laughter) I was looking at… Read More
Did you do it, do you think it’s important?… Read More
I think it’s very important to do daily rounds. The unfortunate thing is when you get to a higher administrative level, there are other things drawing your attention away from the ability to do that. I know that I’m a morning person. And so, I’m an early riser and I’d… Read More
And how important is it do you feel, is it for a director to make daily rounds?… Read More
I was very hesitant to just turn ’em loose without monitoring and supervision until I knew what their skill levels were and were they going to be able to do things in time?… Read More
When as I learned more about them, I had more faith in their abilities and pretty well let them lose but I always monitored. I would say to them, “I would rather you take a chance and try something and fail, then not to have taken the chance at all.”… Read More
How involved were you in the day-to-day activities and hands-on when you were director?… Read More
I probably did micromanage a little too much in the beginning because I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t know what their strengths and weaknesses were. Read More
Ron Blakely was close. He was close a neighbor. But I was always had an ability to have at least a good open conversation with him if there’s something I wanted to know. Read More
And Ron Blakely, you remember Ron Blake?… Read More
So, he was very helpful simply because he’d been the man on the ground at one point in time. And there were others, certainly Clayton Freiheit was a good mentor. Clayton always had a calming effect of thinking things through. There were some others as well. Bill Connolly was always… Read More