Fish, people, and Dairy Queen: Some of Bill's best lessons on the back of a napkin

I was lucky to join Dr. William W. Taylor's lab in 1990. The first time I walked into his office in the Natural Resources Building, I was struck by the amazingly large stack of Mountain Dew cans along one wall and the several students that were talking with him, waiting to talk with him, or working in there. There was no question that this was a high-energy place where things were happening. That was the beginning of my graduate career where that high energy pace led to lots of opportunities and many life lessons. When thinking about writing this piece, I went through several outlines trying to capture the many things I learned while being a member of Bill's lab and through our enduring friendship after my graduation. I finally decided to focus on three main lessons that help guide my work every day.Anyone who has worked with Bill knows that he is an idea generating machine. It does not matter where you are or what the setting might be, Bill is always generating and playing with ideas. Whether it is guiding questions for the next research proposal or plans to create partnerships with key agencies to grow the department's faculty, ideas were never is short supply for Bill. One memorable experience with this part of working with Bill was on a trip to northern Michigan to attend the Michigan Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Meeting. On our way back from the meeting, Bill found a Dairy Queen to stop in for ice cream (I do need to mention the fact that Bill had an uncanny talent for finding Dairy Queens anywhere in Michigan). While we sat and enjoyed our ice cream, Bill began playing with ideas for different projects. Many of these were sketched out on the back of the Dairy Queen napkins since none of us had thought of bringing a notebook. Napkins were handed to individuals as ideas were worked out – mine had some key questions about the data that we needed for the lake trout model we were proposing to develop. Of course, somewhere in the transition between the restaurant, the car, and getting home late, I lost the napkin. I had never been so distraught about losing a napkin! When I told Bill that I had lost that very important napkin, he laughed and said that it was OK because now we would just have to reinvent those ideas and maybe they would be even better the second time around.Freely sharing his ideas with others is probably one of Bill's biggest strengths as a mentor. Bill enjoys generating ideas that he can hand off to others to make them come to fruition. He did this with me many times as a student and as a continuing mentee. Sometimes the ideas were a little scary, could I really do what we promised in this proposal? Bill would always remind me that without being curious and stretching further, we would not advance our science. And he would also remind me that when I ran into the “burning building” as he referred to some of these ideas I thought were crazy, he would run right in there with me and find others who could work with us to put out the fire.The idea that it was really all about people was a bit devastating to learn when I joined Bill's lab ready to save the world from people. In his fisheries management class, I learned all about the importance of the people component of fisheries, but it did not seem real to me until Bill took me for my first time fishing. Yes, I was pursuing a doctorate in fisheries and wildlife but had never really gone fishing. That fact was a bit shocking to Bill and from his perspective, I was never going to be able to fully appreciate the value of fish and recreational fishing without having some experience with it. The opportunity came when Bill was serving as president of the American Fisheries Society and planning for the 1998 annual meeting. He decided to take a group out on Denny Grinold's charter boat (the Old Grin) to fish for lake trout, the topic of my dissertation, and I was invited along for the trip since I was helping to plan that meeting. I learned so many things on that one trip! I got to fish for, catch, and hold a lake trout – and yes, the value of fish and fishing became much more real to me that day. I also had the opportunity to watch Bill work his magic at building relationships. He had invited Fred Poston, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lana Golden, the event planner for the AFS meeting venue in Detroit, and John Robertson, the Chief of the Fisheries Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. I watched as Bill built relationships with each of these individuals and with the group. While on the boat, plans were solidified for the annual meeting, ideas for partnerships between the state agency and the university began to form, ideas for future research on the role of charter fishing in recreational angling were generated, and life-long friendships were created. To me as the student, it became clear that people were important not only in how they impacted the fisheries resource, but also in determining how we manage that valuable resource. It also became clear to me that building trusting relationships with colleagues and collaborating partners is key to developing and implementing good ideas for resource management.Over time, the driving motivation for Bill's tireless work generating ideas and building relationships became clear to me. I don't remember the exact setting I heard him say it the first time, but I do remember the message. It was related to our job as scientists to communicate what we have learned. I remember complaining about having to write some part of a report that I felt was repetitive, and Bill saying that he understood I was done with the particular aspect of the study and that we had reached a conclusion, but what value did that have if we did not communicate it to a broader audience of fellow scientists, resource managers, and the public. “Who will speak for the resource if not you?” I remember him saying that lake trout cannot come to the table, so it is our job to speak on their behalf and that it was not enough to satisfy our curiosity by completing a study, but that we had a responsibility to communicate our findings. This really was the motivation behind the work that was being completed under his mentorship and a message that has stuck with me throughout my career.I cannot express how lucky I have been to have had the opportunity to be part of the Taylor lab at Michigan State. I learned so much while I was there beyond what I can share here, but these three lessons are things that I think about all the time when I look at problems and opportunities and think “what would Bill Taylor do?”. I am ever grateful for my life-long friend and mentor, Bill Taylor.