0:06

Welcome to Unstoppable at Craig , where

0:08

we pull back the curtain on what makes healthy

0:11

workplace cultures click and

0:13

what happens when people are empowered

0:15

to expand the boundaries of what is possible

0:17

. We'll explore the perspectives

0:19

of employees and leaders who have carte

0:21

blanche to speak their truths , tell their stories

0:24

and unlock uncommon ways of approaching

0:26

challenges . I'm Dr

0:28

. Jand el Allen- Davis , CEO and President

0:31

of Craig Hospital , a world-renowned

0:33

rehabilitation hospital that exclusively

0:36

specializes in the neuro-rehabilitation

0:38

and research of patients with spinal cord

0:40

and brain injury . Join me

0:42

as we learn from people who love what they do

0:44

and what happens when fear doesn't

0:46

stifle innovation . There

0:56

are these people and

0:58

organizations that , if

1:00

we are blessed and privileged , we have the opportunity

1:03

to stumble upon or be

1:05

invited to join and be

1:07

engaged with . And

1:10

it's in those moments where you again

1:12

, if you're blessed and privileged and lucky , to

1:14

watch incredible magic

1:17

happen . In fact , given

1:19

who we're going to be speaking with today , to watch

1:21

amazing things grow and

1:23

flourish . And that has

1:25

been my wonderful

1:27

, wonderful journey coming

1:30

to know Denver Botanic Gardens . I

1:33

used to tell our guest Brian

1:35

Vogt , who is the CEO and

1:37

President of the Denver Botanic

1:39

Gardens , when we'd walk

1:42

about the gardens during the time where

1:44

I was the board chair of

1:46

the place that you get to work in

1:48

a postcard . And it's not just a postcard

1:51

because of the incredible beauty

1:53

of those spaces and places

1:55

that you've got responsibility and accountability

1:58

for . You work in a postcard

2:01

because of what I got to see around people

2:03

who work in a place

2:05

that they truly love . They all

2:08

understand how what they do leads

2:11

to , encourages , invites

2:13

the kind of flourishing and growth that

2:16

we get to see , and the beauty that we , as attendees

2:18

and members , get to see , and

2:21

so we're going to spend some time together talking

2:23

about how you build great cultures

2:25

, cultures of excellence . And so it's

2:27

my absolute honor , privilege

2:29

and pleasure to invite you to Craig

2:31

and our Unstoppable at Craig

2:33

podcast to talk about

2:35

our relationship , our friendship and

2:38

the gardens and just our

2:40

journeys in leadership and why it's

2:42

so , so important to think about

2:44

what great cultures do in terms

2:46

of impacting excellence . So

2:49

welcome , Brian .

2:50

Oh , you're so kind , thank you .

2:52

I've been on your board at your invitation since

2:54

2011 . And I'm coming down

2:56

to this is my swan song year .

2:58

Oh , I hate that part .

2:59

This is my second emeritus term . And

3:02

I had a three year stint during one of

3:04

the most exciting growth times

3:06

over your journey there as

3:08

your board chair , which really gave

3:11

me an opportunity to watch you at work and

3:13

see the magic and the wonder of the place

3:15

. I suspect we'll talk a little bit

3:17

about that , but what's it been like

3:19

? I'm just going to start there , because you came in 2007

3:22

. What's that journey been like for you

3:24

?

3:24

You know it's been a really quiet 16 years . Everything

3:27

has happened at the gardens of the world

3:29

, but it has been a dream

3:31

come true . Creating

3:33

, building , getting to know people , finding

3:36

meaning , developing big

3:38

ideas and then seeing them actually come

3:40

to fruition . It's a dream

3:42

. And it's really about the

3:44

people . The plants are obviously

3:47

the critical players in it , but the

3:49

purpose is really about people .

3:52

And so you get to, in this dream , I

3:55

imagine do a lot of things in terms of making

3:58

sure that you're thinking

4:00

about who you hire , how you hire

4:03

, how you support the folks there so that

4:05

they live purpose .

4:07

Absolutely , We go through . You know our mission

4:09

and vision and values and all that . And

4:11

it really is about making culture

4:14

intentional . So just

4:16

yesterday I met with all the new

4:18

employees coming in . Every month

4:20

I meet with whoever's new . Sometimes

4:22

it's two people , sometimes , like yesterday was about

4:24

a dozen . And we had

4:27

a really deep conversation about

4:29

culture and how it's affected

4:31

and how we could build it and create

4:33

something that everybody can thrive with, you know .

4:36

What are some of the things you say ?

4:38

Well , I first asked them if they know what culture

4:40

is , because I think a lot of people don't really contemplate

4:43

it much . They live it , but they don't contemplate

4:45

it . And they gave really good answers . They

4:47

said things like it's

4:49

how you really behave , it's

4:52

how the kind of quiet agreements

4:54

people make about how they work

4:56

together , and I gave them the example

4:59

of when we're children . So

5:01

during the summer months , when I was home more

5:03

from school , I was just sent

5:05

outside in the morning after breakfast , and

5:08

then you find a place to have lunch and then you

5:10

come home for dinner . Then you go out

5:12

until it's dark . S o I just spent my whole

5:14

childhood outdoors . And

5:17

you kind of pick up quickly that there

5:19

are some houses where you really want to go for lunch

5:21

because they're really friendly and they have good food

5:23

, or it's funny or there's something interesting , you

5:25

know . And some houses where

5:27

you just don't want to go . Even the kids that

5:29

are from that house don't want to go

5:31

to that house , and that's

5:33

culture . A culture within a family

5:36

that invites people in , makes them

5:38

feel welcome , or a culture that has a

5:41

lot of stress and pain . And

5:43

you can feel it . When you walk into a store

5:45

and they don't care

5:47

that you're there and somebody's talking on the phone

5:50

and you can't get their attention . That's

5:52

culture . When you walk into

5:54

a store and they're helpful but not cloying

5:56

, they just say I'm here if

5:58

you need me and welcome . You know

6:00

that kind of thing . That's culture . So

6:03

a lot of culture is unintentional

6:06

. It just builds up by combined

6:08

experience right , And when

6:10

you work to make the culture

6:12

intentional , it can change the world

6:15

.

6:15

Do you ever think about what , through

6:17

the lens of your leadership and the things you've had

6:20

the opportunity to do , whether it was at OEDIT

6:22

, the Office of Economic Development

6:24

and International Trade , or

6:27

the gardens or the South

6:29

Metro Denver Chamber , or the work

6:31

you're doing nationally

6:33

and internationally now in terms

6:35

of public gardens and conservation

6:38

and other efforts that you're involved in . As

6:41

you take that look back over a life through

6:44

the lens of your leadership , what do you think has

6:46

been your purpose or what is your

6:48

purpose ?

6:49

Mission-driven work has always been what's

6:52

drawn me . The experiences

6:54

I've had in my life that have meant the most

6:56

to me are the ones where the needle

6:59

was moved most dramatically . So

7:01

when I think about society today , I

7:04

think about how can we create opportunities

7:06

for people whether it's at Craig

7:08

Hospital or it's at Denver

7:11

Botanic Gardens or it's in our neighborhoods and

7:13

how can we create opportunities where

7:15

people are empowered to do good

7:17

work and to really make a difference

7:19

and to move that needle as far as they can

7:21

. And that's what I see on a daily basis

7:24

at the gardens .

7:24

You know you are a builder . How do you

7:27

stay out of the way when

7:29

people have big dreams , or what

7:31

role do you play do you think , as a

7:33

leader ?

7:33

Well , it kind of goes back to what we started

7:35

talking about the influence of people that

7:37

believe in you . I feel the

7:40

joy in giving

7:42

that support to other people

7:44

that builds their confidence . So when

7:46

Jennifer Riley-Chetwin comes to me

7:48

and says I want to co-direct

7:51

a new project with Metropolitan

7:54

State University of Denver , Metropolitan

7:57

State University of Denver called

7:59

Oh Wow , One World , One Water . And

8:02

my response is well , tell me

8:04

more , what's that about ? And she did . And it's

8:06

this integrated international

8:08

water education program . And

8:11

I said do it , do

8:14

it , you're going to be great at that . You know all

8:16

these amazing things that

8:18

the gardens is engaged in right

8:21

now globally . We have our

8:23

director of horticulture in the Center for Global Initiatives

8:25

is in Taiwan right now . We

8:28

had a team that just got back from Senegal

8:30

doing a project there . Jennifer

8:33

is connected now to a water scarcity

8:35

in agriculture through the United Nations

8:37

. And she's gone

8:39

to meetings in Rome , I

8:42

guess , for five years every year . I'm kind of

8:44

jealous , but you know , and it really

8:46

goes across the board . We have this program

8:49

where we provide staff

8:51

experience scholarships and

8:54

they have to apply . It has to fit into

8:56

our core values and

8:58

it has to bring meaning to the

9:00

gardens and to them . But it doesn't

9:02

necessarily have to do exactly

9:05

what their job is . It could be something that gives

9:07

them a whole new perspective or an experience or

9:09

connections , something that realizes

9:12

some of their passion . We're about to give

9:14

another couple dozen of those scholarships

9:16

in the amount of , I think , $62,000

9:19

. And these

9:22

are people at every level of the organization

9:24

And so they go off . Some

9:27

are international . There's one

9:29

that's a really cool kind of an

9:31

experience , training up in Yellowstone National Park

9:33

. How cool would that be ? That's

9:37

what generates that confidence

9:39

in them . When you're

9:42

a leader and everybody around you is

9:44

raising the bar constantly

9:47

and striving and doing cool

9:49

things and connecting

9:51

and communicating and impacting , you

9:55

get the best job in the world because

9:57

you're their support , but

9:59

you're also their audience and

10:01

you celebrate what they accomplish

10:03

.

10:05

You know , it's a wonderful

10:08

reflection to think that , and

10:10

I think this from time to time . It's like

10:14

what do I do every day ? What really is ? You

10:17

know I can't get a 30-year career

10:20

in any of the things that

10:22

most people do here

10:24

, and yet I have the privilege

10:27

of doing what I get to do every day , and

10:29

I think you just encapsulated

10:31

it in so many wonderful ways . Our jobs

10:33

are to encourage , to inspire

10:36

, to support , to

10:38

the extent that someone didn't come in and say let's

10:40

burn the house down because that would be fun

10:42

. That is , they're coming in with ideas that support

10:44

the mission and purpose and give them the opportunity

10:46

. Because I bet Jennifer if , when she

10:48

first got involved with Oh Wow , never

10:51

imagined that it would lead not

10:54

too , but along a path to who knows

10:56

what's next , to connections at the

10:58

United Nations on this really important issue

11:00

of water in our world . And

11:02

our job is just to kind of , you

11:05

know , just give fuel to these great

11:07

ideas .

11:08

Yeah , I lead with yes . I

11:10

lead with yes . I

11:13

try in most every

11:15

circumstance to say yes to people's dream

11:17

and vision and goal . That

11:20

just means they don't come to me with why they

11:22

can't do things . They come to me with

11:24

what they want to do next . Some

11:27

things work , some things don't , but most

11:29

everything does work . That's

11:31

because you've got a human being behind it

11:33

that is determined to make it happen

11:36

.

11:36

How does that support the

11:38

notion of excellence ? I'd

11:40

love it if you'd even talk about what excellence means

11:43

to you .

11:43

If your cup is full , you're

11:45

not thirsty , you're

11:47

not seeking for yourself . So

11:51

, at a certain point , the more people

11:54

around you have

11:56

cups that are full , the

11:58

more they want to spread it even more and more

12:00

and more .

12:01

Cool .

12:02

Instead of taking , taking , taking

12:04

. I'll give you an example . This

12:06

blew me away and I got really

12:08

emotional about it . We get shut down

12:10

in March of 2020 and

12:13

it happened boom fast

12:15

for everybody , but we had

12:17

to close down the gardens and

12:19

we were heading into our spring season

12:21

. So , first

12:24

of all , everybody go home . We're

12:26

going to maintain the facilities

12:28

, we're going to maintain the plants , but

12:30

we're going to do it in shifts and we're all

12:32

going to stand really far apart and all that . But

12:35

don't worry about anything , we're

12:38

going to cover you . So in

12:41

the ensuing two and a half months

12:43

that we were shut down , we

12:45

pledged and you remember this we pledged

12:47

that no one was going to get laid off , we

12:50

weren't going to cut salaries and we weren't going

12:52

to cut benefits , and

12:54

I didn't know how we were going to do

12:56

it . But I thought if we

12:58

show fidelity to our team , they'll

13:01

rise to the challenge and we'll figure it out

13:03

. So we were doing this virtual

13:05

plant sale , where it

13:08

was crazy hard . We're

13:10

behind the scenes , separated , putting

13:13

together people's orders that they did online

13:15

and then putting them in bags and then

13:17

putting them in alphabetical order , and being in

13:19

the parking lot and cars would pull

13:21

up and we would just have them open up their trunks

13:23

and we'd put the bag of plants in their car . Amazing

13:27

, incredible , huge work , but it kept the

13:29

plant sale alive and it gave people

13:31

something to do . We added

13:33

about six weeks of paid leave to

13:35

everybody because they needed

13:37

to take care of stuff . They had family

13:40

issues , they had medical issues , all kinds of

13:42

things were happening . And when we came

13:44

back we were the first

13:46

cultural institution in the state to reopen . And

13:49

when we opened again , the

13:51

emotional response of people being

13:53

able to visit the gardens and we kept everybody

13:56

apart , we did everything was different

13:58

, but still people could experience

14:00

the gardens , the thought of

14:02

the staff, at that point their

14:04

cups were full . They weren't

14:06

thinking what I need more, I

14:09

need more . They said what can we do ? What can

14:11

we do ? So , following

14:13

George Floyd's murder and the

14:15

unbelievable stress of that

14:18

summer , we created

14:20

a thing called Evenings of Healing and

14:22

the staff built it . They said

14:24

you know , there's a lot of musical acts in town

14:27

that don't have any gigs because there's no venue

14:29

, so we're going to hire them . And

14:31

then we're going to go out to our

14:33

community partners that worked with traumatized

14:36

communities and first responders

14:38

and we're going to say pick a night

14:41

, this night's for you . Just come enjoy

14:44

no charge , just come

14:46

, find some peace , listen to some music

14:48

, bring a picnic and

14:51

find some place of normalcy

14:54

. And

14:56

I just was blown

14:59

away by how beautiful

15:01

that experience was and

15:03

that these people were

15:06

looking out instead of in .

15:08

Wow , there's the teams

15:11

who will bring discretionary effort into

15:13

work when the

15:16

environment invites that and when

15:18

the environment encourages and in some

15:20

ways expects that . But you know , discretionary

15:23

effort , you can't expect it . You've got

15:25

to work at it as a leader that

15:27

make the place good enough

15:29

, make the place welcoming

15:31

and enriching and enlivening

15:33

enough that people want to bring

15:35

the entirety of themselves

15:37

into work in service to a mission and

15:40

live that purpose . We have to build that

15:42

. But you also have the opportunity

15:45

. I mean , I'd say one of the things that,

15:47

pardon the pun, grows as

15:49

a result of that is you get raving

15:51

fans who will

15:53

tell your story with you not having

15:55

to tell it yourself . I'd ask at

15:57

your place , I'd ask you

15:59

to talk about your experience of working with

16:01

the public , because it's

16:03

not all pretty, we know that there can be some challenging folks .

16:08

T he public is a little bit of everything, right

16:10

? And I think

16:12

empathy , respect

16:14

, listening , connecting,

16:17

joy , sharing

16:20

joy , making sure people feel

16:22

comfortable, it's part of

16:24

our diversity work that's so critical

16:26

is that we we

16:29

are really getting to know communities

16:31

in a deep way and figuring

16:33

out where we can make connections that

16:36

are reciprocal

16:38

and beneficial to everyone . And

16:41

when you do that , it just enlivens

16:43

everything, you know , it's just everything

16:46

improves . It's giving people outlets

16:49

and respect and space

16:52

when they need it , connection

16:54

when they need it , really trying to understand

16:57

, and so everything we've been talking

16:59

about is my

17:01

dream of what our whole society

17:03

could be . We could actually be

17:06

thinking about making

17:08

sure everybody's cup is full and

17:11

they're doing their best to

17:14

make smart decisions and do great things

17:16

, and even when there's disagreement

17:18

, you can still find ways to connect

17:20

.

17:21

Yeah , I love that you you'd

17:23

said that the walking about the gardens and

17:25

having the chance to talk to team members and

17:27

visitors is very

17:30

much akin to here and

17:32

as a leader , that's, I tell people coming

17:34

upstairs and being on the floors, it's

17:36

like chocolate to me . It's

17:38

like the best thing ever

17:40

and it keeps me in the game

17:43

. It keeps me wanting to come back

17:45

and work harder .

17:46

This is going to be a little off kilter

17:48

for a second , but I have to go

17:50

back to my major , which was classical

17:53

antiquity . Right ? And in

17:55

studying Egyptology, they

17:58

believe that when you pass , you

18:00

are taken before the gods and Anubis

18:02

is there and they have a scale . There's

18:04

a lot of mythology that has to do

18:06

with scales . And you put

18:08

your the heart on one side of

18:11

the scale and a feather on the other, and you

18:13

make sure they're a balance because you want a light

18:15

heart . And

18:17

I think about that balancing

18:19

act all the time and I remember

18:21

after leaving one

18:24

career , when I left the chamber

18:26

after 18 years , I remember

18:28

thinking I've blown it because

18:31

my goal was

18:33

to do work that

18:36

on net gave more

18:38

than it got . And

18:40

I just felt so filled

18:43

with warmth and

18:45

connection and support that I thought I

18:48

can't possibly give enough to ever

18:50

balance that scale out . You know ? And

18:54

I agree with you , when I'm at the gardens , when

18:56

I walk around and I talk to people

18:58

and they ask questions and I

19:01

try not to wear my name tag so they can see

19:04

my role , sometimes

19:07

they figure it out , sometimes they know , but

19:10

just having that human connection is so , it's so

19:12

powerful . And

19:14

I go back and I'm doubly motivated

19:17

then to figure out ways to do more to support other people . You

19:19

know , because you got

19:21

to keep that scale in balance .

19:24

Oh , that's beautiful . Yeah , you

19:26

know it's funny that it makes

19:29

that's beautiful , this light heart . I

19:31

said during COVID and getting

19:33

us through it that it was heart work , hard

19:36

work and heart work .

19:37

Yeah .

19:37

It was a lot of hard work .

19:40

And hard work is the most fulfilling work . You

19:42

know , the easy things leave us like

19:44

yeah okay , yeah . There's

19:47

a tradition now, a

19:48

folklore , I think , at the gardens

19:50

that has sprung up over

19:52

the years that when new people come

19:54

on staff and they're in some

19:56

kind of leadership role , their colleagues

19:59

take them aside . I've learned this just recently

20:01

. and they say one

20:03

thing you need to know, be careful

20:05

about taking ideas to Brian , because

20:08

he's going to say yes . And then you're going

20:10

to have to do it .

20:13

That's so cool .

20:14

I interviewed a person for a

20:16

role a couple of years ago and

20:19

he was asking about how the place operates

20:21

and I said, we think big

20:23

, we dream big , we raise the bar and

20:26

I'm going to do everything I can

20:28

to clear every obstacle out of your way and

20:30

give you the sport you need . And

20:32

people react really powerfully

20:35

to that because they're not used to it

20:38

. We live in a society where

20:40

we think what's important

20:42

that drives all of our decisions are

20:45

paramount . It's all

20:47

about the numbers , it's about discipline

20:51

and everybody has to fit a mold and

20:53

all these things . And that's

20:55

not what humanity is about , And we've

20:57

learned that even more deeply

21:00

in the last couple of years . So

21:02

the more you give people a chance to

21:04

be their own star

21:07

, shine their own light , the

21:09

better .

21:10

Talk about what's happened around membership

21:12

and around growth

21:15

and around the

21:17

financial health of the organization

21:19

. Your employee

21:21

satisfaction . Tell us a little bit

21:23

about that .

21:24

You still have to get the business

21:26

done . You can't be a failing institution

21:29

as you're ascending

21:32

your impact . And

21:34

there are people that want to judge

21:36

an institution by the numbers . There truly

21:39

are , and a lot of them board members

21:41

have fiduciary responsibilities , so they're

21:43

going to be eyeing that . So in

21:46

order to have the freedom to

21:48

have a culture like we have

21:50

, we had to be successful , and

21:53

that started with giving people

21:55

an idea that things could actually

21:57

happen . Confidence in

21:59

the institution was lacking

22:01

when I started . There was a lot of

22:04

scarcity mentality and

22:06

now there's an abundance mentality . So

22:09

people are pushing the envelope . And that's people

22:11

that are using funds

22:13

and people that are bringing funds in

22:16

. It's people on the inside,

22:18

it's members on the outside and donors on

22:20

the outside . It's our incredible

22:22

financial team , which is so

22:24

good and so thoughtful . So

22:27

I think budget

22:29

was about $8 . 5 million when

22:31

I started . It's $33

22:33

million this year . Our visitation

22:35

was about 400,000 . Last year it was 1

22:38

. 36 million . The

22:40

number of members was probably 14,000

22:42

. It's 52,000 households now

22:45

. And I remember, I

22:47

look back on it I know what was I thinking at

22:49

a board meeting you were at . Somebody

22:51

asked me what did I think

22:54

the kind of the upper

22:56

echelon of our membership base could possibly

22:58

be . And I said I think we'd

23:00

probably peak around 35,000

23:03

. And we've been steadily over 50,000

23:06

for the last two years , and

23:08

so all of that gives us a success

23:11

story that becomes a

23:13

support system for all of this

23:15

dream-making that happens .

23:17

Yeah , I think that it also

23:19

wouldn't be , you

23:21

know , sort of a telling of a full story

23:23

of how you build great cultures if

23:25

we didn't talk about the fact that not everybody

23:27

wants to get on board .

23:29

No . No .

23:31

And not everybody can necessarily see

23:33

the vision, or people,

23:35

there are people who are either skeptical

23:38

or just sort of live in the place of

23:40

we call ministry of no

23:42

or no way , or I won't , or

23:44

you're trying to change , you know those

23:46

sorts of things , and people

23:48

see evil's too strong a word

23:50

but they see malfeasance or they see negativity

23:53

and trying to change from who we are . So

23:56

any thoughts about that

23:58

, in terms of when you think about the from toos

24:00

that you just laid out from us

24:03

, there must have been people who'd be grudgingly

24:05

, went along or didn't . How do you manage that

24:07

?

24:08

Yeah , the thing about culture is that's

24:11

so powerful is that if you have a really positive

24:13

culture , the people that

24:15

are kind of the destroyers , like you're

24:17

you're describing , don't like it

24:19

because they can't run amok and

24:22

their joy or their energy comes

24:24

from stirring the pot . You

24:26

know , if you have a bad culture , it

24:28

chases off people that want to be in a healthy

24:30

culture . So it's a constant

24:33

battle And

24:35

the thing I know absolutely

24:37

is you have to look at everybody

24:39

with compassion . The people that feel

24:42

like they're just always negative and they're , you

24:44

know , they're just a drag to everybody around them and

24:46

they suck up all the energy

24:48

in the room and all that . You have to look

24:50

at that human being as a human being and

24:52

think to yourself, I don't

24:54

know their journey . I don't know

24:57

their life , I don't know what they're experiencing

24:59

. I learned a long time ago that it's

25:02

always about something else . When people

25:04

come to you and they have an intense

25:06

kind of they're ready to really

25:09

let you have it and they're telling you what the problem

25:11

is and they're very upset , I

25:13

pause for a second . I think what is this

25:15

really about ? Because it's hardly ever the

25:17

thing that they are discussing with you

25:19

. It's something else , right ? Yeah , and you've learned that too

25:21

. And so you have to react

25:24

in that pivot point

25:26

where you're showing respect

25:29

and empathy and compassion

25:31

, but you're actually trying to discern

25:33

what the real issue is and sometimes

25:36

you can't help them get to a solution . You

25:39

can never really solve it for them . You

25:41

can help them solve it themselves

25:43

. At that point there

25:45

could be a separation and

25:47

it happens , and I've seen it with people that

25:50

have been highly functional for a long

25:52

time and then they just start

25:55

to fall apart . And again

25:57

, I don't know their journey . I don't know what's

25:59

happening on the weekend and the evenings . I don't

26:01

know what's happening in their families or what

26:03

traumas they've been through or something that changed

26:05

, or that maybe they got health news or I

26:07

don't know any of that . So I can't react like you're

26:10

bad and you don't fit anymore

26:12

. I have to look and say I

26:15

know that your journey is going to go somewhere

26:17

else and that's okay .

26:18

Yeah , yeah , that's

26:21

beautiful . These roles

26:24

of service and I mean that, I say serve, I

26:26

try hard not to use the lead word . I'm

26:28

just one of the gang . If you didn't

26:31

come in with humility , these jobs will humble

26:33

you fast . And even if you did

26:35

come in with humility , because you're

26:37

just sort of positioned that way and I know

26:40

that about you , these jobs will humble

26:42

you fast because we don't do everything

26:44

perfectly . But that idea of

26:46

I would say about

26:48

Craig that I knew I was working off

26:50

of a strong foundation .

26:52

Like you say , stasis

26:55

is not an option , and so

26:57

the gardens has been beloved from

26:59

the very beginning . It has been

27:01

the recipient of genius work from

27:03

the very beginning , the architecture

27:05

, the designs the plantings,

27:08

extraordinary . I

27:10

didn't inherit something that needed

27:13

a complete overhaul . It just needed a lot of repair

27:15

work and then some new twists and

27:17

then added elements . But I'll

27:19

tell you , the next thing to think about is

27:22

how am I going to pass

27:24

it along ? And I was asked

27:27

one time what I wanted my legacy

27:29

to be at the gardens, and I answered really quickly and

27:34

I thought I think that's

27:36

exactly how I feel . I

27:38

would like , when I leave the gardens for it to be barely

27:41

noticeable that I left . That

27:43

would be an amazing legacy .

27:45

That's when you know you've planted, pardon

27:47

of the pun again, you've planted some serious

27:50

trees, some serious seeds , laid down some great

27:52

roots .

27:53

It's thriving .

27:56

This place would be fine whether we're here or not , and

27:59

we can look back and say well done and that we're

28:01

proud of what we were able to accomplish or

28:03

move along or help .

28:05

And thank you for whatever forces

28:07

brought me to that place at that time, you know, I just feel so much gratitude .

28:13

I live that every single day here

28:15

at Craig . I do say I get to go

28:17

to Craig . I

28:19

work alongside fabulous , wonderful

28:21

people and I think that notion

28:24

of the charismatic leader I've

28:26

thought about for years because I watched

28:29

great places become

28:31

not so great when those amazing leaders moved

28:34

on , and it is one of the

28:36

harder and yet most important

28:38

obligations we have is to make

28:41

sure that part of our legacy

28:43

is that it wasn't all tied up in us , that

28:46

there are people here . Brian , I , you

28:48

know I love you . I have to say that to

28:51

the whole world, and you keep doing what you're

28:53

doing because the garden is as we know

28:55

you didn't say that from to it's one of the

28:57

premier gardens in

28:59

the world . And that's not a board member

29:01

bragging , that's fact . So thank

29:03

you for spending time with us .

29:05

It's been a joy . Thank you , thank

29:08

you .

29:11

So building excellent

29:13

cultures , or continuing

29:15

to enable excellent

29:18

cultures to be even more excellent

29:20

, or good places to even

29:23

be greater than they already

29:25

are, embodies a really interesting

29:27

recipe that I think we had the

29:29

opportunity to explore

29:31

in this last hour . It starts

29:34

with a dream , and the dream , as

29:36

a leader , is actually part of who

29:38

you are . It's the fabric of that person

29:40

who strives to be part

29:42

of doing great work and doing something

29:44

better , who knows that there's

29:46

another great story

29:49

in there to be told , another great chapter

29:51

of their own lives to be led

29:54

and to be written . And

29:56

it involves hard work . Clearly

29:58

, it involves the ability

30:01

to humble yourself in

30:03

the presence of those who

30:06

, in that organization or

30:08

that space , came before you . It

30:10

requires a huge amount of learning . We

30:13

heard that for sure that ability to

30:15

ask lots of questions and to listen hard

30:17

. It involves the notion

30:20

that stasis is a premorbid condition

30:22

, so that change is inevitable and there's

30:24

careful and wonderful and important ways

30:26

that we do it . It involves hard conversations

30:29

in terms of those

30:31

who may be reticent

30:34

to move along , but

30:36

it also , at the same time , involves

30:38

the patience and the

30:40

importance of us understanding what's

30:43

behind the reticence , because there's some potential

30:45

great learnings in that that could keep us from stumbling

30:48

as leaders . And out of all

30:50

of that , the alchemy that

30:52

we have the opportunity to create

30:55

and to watch just

30:57

happen and I should say , create

30:59

together, is the stuff that grows

31:02

great cultures , grows excellent cultures

31:04

, creates the kind of impact

31:06

that Brian rattled

31:09

off beautifully , and at the

31:11

heart of all of that is just really

31:14

good leadership , and I mean it . I

31:16

was envious getting to see what he

31:18

got to do . So once again

31:20

, thank you for joining us at Unstoppable

31:22

at Craig , and I hope you'll pick

31:25

us up on wherever it is that you listen

31:27

to podcasts . Thanks so much and see

31:29

you next time .