Powerful lessons in leadership from SMART’s Dwight Ferrell
Inspiring leadership lessons from Dwight Ferrell we all need to hear
Dwight Ferrell GM of SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) in Southeastern Michigan has given us an insightful, inspiring, and motivating interview we’re sure you will enjoy. Beyond the innovations he’s championing at SMART, there are life lessons in there that we all need to listen to.
And one of those lessons is finding the things that make you smile.
Like five ducks walking along a red carpet to an elevator to take them to their own rooftop penthouse. Oh yes, we’re talking about the famous Duck Walk at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis. We’re going to give you the history of the ducks in this edition of the newsletter.
Let’s get right to it.
Dwight Ferrell lays it down for us
Dwight Ferrell has worked at, and led, agencies across the U.S. We wanted to get Dwight on the show to learn how SMART was able to provide a special shuttle service moving three quarters of a million people in and out of the city during the NFL Draft in Detroit. Dwight and his team pulled it off without impacting their regular schedule and in the midst of a driver shortage.
While what Dwight did for the NFL Draft was amazing, his thoughts on technology, and the changing face of customers are really what you need to listen to in this interview.
Over the course of the conversation you learn about Dwight’s leadership and life philosophy. His sense of serendipity. His sense of duty to his employees and community.
And his faith. A faith that assures him when times are hard, he’s where he is for a reason.
Of course you have to give props to someone who weaves in that line from the Spiderman comics into leadership lessons.
What’s the story here? How ducks get the red carpet treatment at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis
While there could be some creative story telling going on, according the The Peabody Hotel website, here’s the story behind the Peabody Duck March…
According to the Peabody Hotel, a couple guests in the 1930s, after having a little too much to drink after a hunting trip, put some live decoy ducks into the fountain. People must have found it charming or funny, because ducks have been living in the fountain ever since.
While the tradition of ducks in the fountain started in the 1930s, the Duck March didn’t become an event until the 1940s when Bellman Edward Pembroke (a former circus animal trainer) offered to help. Mr. Pembroke held the job as “Peabody Duckmaster” for 50 years until his retirement in 1991.
There is some question whether there were ducks in the fountain as early as the opening of the hotel in 1869. Legend has it that turtles and alligators have also been residents of the fountain in the past.
When the ducks aren’t in their fountain, they live in the “Duck Palace” on the roof where they’re kept with another fountain and some grass. They aren’t pets, however, and only serve for three months before retiring and going back to live on the farm where they were raised.
Speaking of “farms” and “retirement,” duck hasn’t been on the menu at any of the hotel restaurants since reopening in 1981. According to the hotel, this might make Chez Philippe the only French restaurant in the world not to serve duck. (Source The Peabody Hotel)
This is just one of the many interesting things about Memphis, you’ll have to watch the video for more. But this also gives you a taste of something we take very seriously here–we want to highlight more than just transit at Transit Unplugged TV. It’s the culture, the food, the music, the fun, and even the quirks, that make each city unique.
Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged: Paul’s book featured on METROspectives
Paul and Davey Kim, one of the contributors to his book The New Future of Public Transportation, were guests on a recent edition of METRO Magazine’s METROspectives video podcast. In case you missed it, we have the audio version of the episode for you to enjoy.
In this special Transit Unplugged episode, Paul, Davey Kim (SVP/Principal, National Transportation Policy and Multimodal Strategy, at WSP USA), and METRO Executive Editor Alex Roman talk about federal transit funding, how to replace the gas tax, and identifying future transit leaders.
Make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss this episode.
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