The stakes are high for conservation organizations today. Endangered species almost never exist entirely in the wild.
People live there, too.
If we want to protect plants and animals from extinction, we must develop different management skills and more empathetic leadership. But in the new conservation environment, we are learning that it is more effective to appoint a program manager and give him or her a budget and a relatively free hand. He or she goes to bed with the project each night, and gets up with it in the morning. The results are impressive. We develop these 'zealot-like' skills into the whole organization.