Chris is joined by NEI's new (but also not really new) Director of Staff Development, Training, and Shows - Ari Bailey - to welcomes Dr Taylor Gilley back to the show! Taylor shares the path that took her from the education world to her current role as Director of Staff Learning and Development at Houston Zoo, and guides us through a great conversation covering the zoo's LIFT (Leadership, Innovation, Focus, and Teamwork) program, the thousand forms of fear that drive humans, the importance of succession planning and protecting institutional knowledge, how everyone can start their own little development cohort, and the advantages of asking for forgiveness instead of permission. We're all lucky to have people like Taylor working with the humans in our zoos so they can do their best work with their animals.

If you have a shout-out you’d like us to share, a question or a topic you’d like us to discuss, or a suggestion for a guest we should have on the show, let us know at podcast@naturalencounters.com!