In this episode, Phil Gaines shares ideas on how leaders can improve the ethics of their conservation.

For park leaders, protecting parks is a tedious and challenging issue. While staff efforts are important, these efforts must include education with respect to waste management since many people lack awareness or responsibility.

As Gaines points out, if we want to improve conservation ethics, then we must find ways to not only reach more people but communicate ‘trash’ under the covering of accountability and hospitality. By providing quality customer service and proactive discussion, park leaders can encourage their visitors to see the benefits of conservation ethics as it pertains to federal funding and future generations.

In this episode, Phil Gaines and Dan Cockerell, share ideas on how leaders can improve their communications.

For Gaines in the park world, the two greatest challenges to communication are technological distractions and distance. While more communicational avenues can benefit an organization, employing face-to-face interface should remain a priority as part of a well-rounded a communication structure. The more varied the structure, the more reach potential given different people process information in different ways.

Furthermore, whatever structure is utilized, there should be some corporately understood matrix concerning communication type and the importance of the information being communicated. As for direct forms of communication involving immediate responses, these should always be used anytime opportunities arise to enhance morale and inspire change.

For Cockerell, with so many ways to convey a message, it’s more important for the channel to be authentic than perfect. Additionally, he advises podcasts not be the primary outlet for mandatory information but rather used as an extension of bonus knowledge.

In this episode, South Carolina’s former State Parks Director, Phil Gaines, shares some post-retirement wisdom on marketplace ethics.

Having served in multiple executive leadership roles, Gaines points out integrity, is not only the center of ethics but the foundation of sustainable leadership. In order to lead with integrity, there must be a culture of trust that starts from the beginning and endures on the frontlines. Furthermore, before an organization can develop ethical codes, Gaines submits there must first be a foundation marked by character and integrity since the ethical decision isn’t always the right decision.

To help sustain standards of excellence, Gaines charges leaders to address mistakes as they happen, to be mindful of future generations, to see organizational functionality as inclusive to character, and to promote authenticity as an extension of integrity. By prioritizing these focus points, the groundwork for better growth, customer service, stewardship, vision, and accountability is laid.

On this episode, director Alex Jablonski reflects on his documentary, ‘Wildland’, which follows a single wildland firefighting crew over the course of one summer.

In the film, a firefighting crew contracted through Grayback Forestry builds rapport as they struggle to contain fires in northern California. Influenced by his success in ‘Low and Clear’, a tale of two friends who drift apart during their final fly-flying trip, Jablonski discusses the challenges involved in filming around actual fires while building trust with the firefighters.

For many firefighters, not only is the adaptation to life behind a lens difficult, but also the training and action sequences operated under artistic headings. Yet, despite the added pressure, the crew gradually acclimates as they become of age and mature in a dangerous, life-threatening environment.

Jablonski also discusses why he pursued rookie firefighters in casting, his priority of narrative, and the reward of confrontational experience in directing.