The REAL "Energy Crisis" Plaguing Leaders, Teams, and Organizations
Thanks to the inescapable “energy crisis” headlines flooding newsfeeds, the world’s AWARENESS of energy—or at least awareness of rising energy costs—is greater than it’s been in years.
As is often the case with headlines, however, they can distract you from underlying issues that may be even more problematic—albeit not quite as sexy or attention-grabbing as something labeled with the word “crisis.”
Similarly, many energy industry leaders are suffering from a “Consciousness Crisis” and are unwittingly ignoring issues that are chipping away at their credibility and effectiveness as they and their teams focus on navigating the energy crisis, the supply chain crisis, the labor crisis, and whatever other crises are grabbing their attention.
That being said—and in honor of Energy Awareness Month—this episode of The Energy Detox will raise awareness of the common (yet often hidden) barriers holding leaders like you back from achieving sustained success.
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
00:00
30 years ago, the first President Bush, President George HW Bush declared that October would be called energy Awareness Month. And the idea was that the government and other organizations would be more aware of the impact that they were having on our ability to continue producing and making good use of our energy resources here in America. And Fast Forward 30 years to today. And I think there's no question that the world is as aware as ever of energy, we have achieved energy awareness of nothing else. So this October, we're gonna take some time here on this first episode of the energy detox in a while to talk about the ways that the energy crisis and various other crises are not just impacting you, and your career and your ability to lead your team and organization. But more importantly, how those crises might be distracting you from some of the underlying issues that are impacting your ability to sustainably lead your team, your career, your company to long term success. And of course, we all know that when you throw the word crisis into any headline, you're going to pay more attention. But again, the point today is to not just talk about the high level crises that are facing us. And certainly the cost related crises that are raising the price of a barrel of oil and natural gas, of gasoline of coal, electricity. All of those things are, yes, headline worthy crises. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of underlying issues that are going to continue happening even as prices settle out. And even as we eventually as a world hopefully, figure out some of the supply and demand issues that are going to continue plaguing us. So again, today. The goal is to help you understand how some of these crises are related to very practical, very relevant things, even if you're not in the world of energy.
02:09
Hello, and welcome to the energy detox is a petroleum based blend of leadership conversations guaranteed to help you boost your professional and personal output by flushing away the hidden and often toxic barriers to peak performance. I'm your host, Joe Sinnott, a chemical engineer, executive coach, and 16 year energy industry veteran helping you tap into the same resources fueling today's most successful and sustainable leaders. And today, we're going to talk about how those leaders, the ones who are able to continue pushing forward and not just navigating the high level crises, but how those leaders are able to address the underlying issues that threaten the success of their companies. And in particular, we're going to help you avoid making one of the most common mistakes that I see when I work with other leaders. And that is what I might call a crisis of consciousness, a consciousness crisis that forces you forces you to focus on things that yes, are necessary. And yes, your stakeholders are clamoring for, but also causes you to miss some of the things that you're doing that are hurting you. They're hurting your teams, they're throwing a barriers, and they're making it more challenging for you to keep moving forward even after you solve or seemingly solve or put duct tape on whatever crises is front and center. So today, we're going to use three of the main crises that are in the headlines today. One, of course, is the energy crisis and two other related crises, which are the supply chain crisis that is, again, plaguing the world. And to the year three, the labor crisis, or the talent crisis that, in some ways has been percolating for a while even before COVID, obviously, was exacerbated by COVID. And now is being impacted by a whole host of things that we'll talk about. But again, the focus today is not on talking about all the nitty gritty impacts and causes of these various crises. I'm not going to get into the weeds on all of the economic rationale that is causing some leaders to shift gears and try to come up with innovations. I'm not going to address President Biden who today is meeting with some folks to address again, some of these crises, particularly the supply chain crises.
04:23
No, today we're going to focus on you and your ability to lead your teams and your ability to take some of these headlines, take some of these details take take some of these real things that are out there and look for parallels in the ways that your energy might be getting misplaced or misused in the ways that you might be using supply chain as an excuse for ill performance. And some of the ways that your talent strategy might be way more to blame than anything that COVID may have done or anything that stimulus payments may have done or any of that. So to start, let's ask the first question today. To help determine if you might be going through a consciousness crisis as a leader, and to help you, if so navigate that crisis. And that first question again goes back to the energy crisis. And in particular, it asks whether you are being subjected to an energy identity crisis. And identity crises are something that I talk about quite often. So my apologies if this has become somewhat of a trade topic for you. But as you look at the headlines regarding the more formal energy crisis, particularly related to supply and demand, and in turn prices, it's very clear at times that a lot of the individuals involved are struggling at times with their identity, Case in point, all of the bickering back and forth, if you will, and all of the blame going back and forth between those who are proponents of fossil fuels and believe that much of the energy crisis is related to policies that may be well intended regarding energy transition, and the greening of our energy grid and systems. But they place blame on those green folks for setting us up for you know, taking our eye off the prize in terms of continuing to produce reliable, sustainable, portable, accessible hydrocarbons.
06:12
And conversely, a lot of those who are on the cleaner, greener energy side of things are placing blame on fossil fuels. And in particular, an emphasis on continuing to produce fossil fuels instead of what in their mind should have been a bigger emphasis on transitioning sooner and building a more robust plan around green energy and moving faster away from fossil fuels. Again, two opposing sides, which then for those who are rational, and reasonable, and I'm going to assume that you are one of those people, and begs the question, do you need to choose one identity? or the other? Do you need to subject yourself to option A or Option B? And place the blame on one side or the other? And of course, a rational person says no, the answer is probably somewhere in between. In fact, the answer probably lies beneath simply blaming the fossil fuel proponents and those who are bigger proponents of green energy. And in terms of what you deal with on a daily basis, it's the same thing as you navigate your own career. Or if you're leading a company, how often are you faced with a false choice between identity a and identity B. And very often identity a is where you've been in your career where your company has been for, you know, what could have been decades versus identity B, which is where either you want to go, or your stakeholders are telling you you need to go, and at times, not navigating that identity crisis properly, or finding yourself constantly flipping back and forth between A and B, and not looking at what should be driving and what is the overall mission of you or your company.
07:46
It's that agida, if you will, that is created, when you have these false choices, that is hurting, you might not realize it right now, which again, comes back to this idea of consciousness. So the whole idea of winning partners, right? It's to help you avoid unwittingly limiting your odds of success. And in many cases, that limiter is your energy being drained by some of these false choices that are being created because of these identity crises. And again, another very common example of this is individuals who are looking to transition from a world of independence and consulting, in owning their own business, to perhaps moving into what might be a very appealing executive role for an established company. In some cases, an established consulting firm or an established operator in some cases, but very much a shift from calling the own shot their own shots and being able to craft their own business, and having some trade offs that then forced them into a role where maybe they have to cede some control and cede some of that independence. And again, that is something very common that I work with people on. Because, again, they find themselves in this trap where they feel like they need to give up way more than they had, as you know, being independent, if they were to go down this path of, you know, maybe getting a nice, more consistent paycheck, and some nice perks, especially for people who are getting closer to the ends of their career. But very often, the question is, well, why are you? You know, why are you moving away from one identity to another? Why don't we look for the common ground there?
09:14
What are you looking to do? And again, it's common question that I was asked repeatedly, when I started to transition away from my former life as an engineer and as a leader with an a more traditional oil and gas company to now being a coach, something that is a time seemingly at odds with with my resume and with my background. But my answer to those questions, have one. Okay, who are you now? Who are you helping? How are you helping them? And what are the results you're looking to achieve? Those four questions are the same questions that you need to ask before delving into a question of what is your identity? Now the first question of who are you? It's not who your label artists, whether you're CEO or an engineer, or geologists or an account, or whatever the case might be. It's usually something much Bigger than that. You are a proponent of something, you are a member of society, perhaps you're American or some other nationality. And that's your source of pride. But usually it goes far beyond whatever your degree was. And the next question of who do you help if you're not, in some way impacting somebody, or if it's so complicated that you can't say how what you do on a day to day business impacts people, we need to take a step back and ask why. Because the end of the day, hopefully, what you're doing in your life has some purpose. And more often than that, more often than not, that purpose is to help folks. And that doesn't mean you shouldn't have some self serving interests, because in many ways that self serving interest can be a great motivator that allows you to help do great things that in turn, help other people. But at the end of the day, when you're trying to communicate with others, what is it that you or your company are doing to help people?
10:51
The second question is, or third question I should say is, how, how are you helping other people? What is it that you are doing? Or what is it that you are helping others do that then in turn, have some sort of impact? And then the fourth question, of course, is, well, what is that impact? What are the results that you're hoping to generate? They seem like very simple questions. But very often, when we get so hung up, in the pride, if you will, of being part of the energy industry, or perhaps the, you know, being taken in by the crisis headlines, and particularly the climate crisis headlines that make us feel like we're doing something noble and grand by squashing any talk of continuing to use hydrocarbons for some, you know, a significant amount of time, we might get so hung up on that mission and that vision that we forget the simple question of who are we? Who do we help? What do we do? And what are the impacts that that's ultimately going to have?
11:46
So all that being said, My challenge, my question for you is, again, what are the signs that you are going through some sort of identity crisis? And if you're in the energy industry, what are the signs that you might be ignoring, or may not even be aware of that those who work for you, those who you work for those downstream stakeholders, whether they're shareholders, board, members, customers, whatever the case might be? What signs are they displaying, that they don't know what they want? They don't know who they are, they don't know how they're ultimately taking whatever service you're providing to them and turning it around? And if you can help them answer that question, again, it'll help define you. It'll help refine your identity, and it'll help you avoid getting hung up on these identity crises that, again, are going to continue plaguing the energy industry.
12:38
Moving on to the second crisis that is in the headlines, and that is the supply chain crisis. And as we talk about the supply chain crisis, again, it's it's something that is front and center, not just if you're worried, you know, with still two and a half months ago about buying Christmas presents for your kids, because you've been told that all the toys on the shelves will be bare, and your ability to purchase from Amazon or any online retailer might be severely hampered. Now, obviously, the supply chain crisis is much bigger than that, not just because it impacts toys, but because the domino effects on virtually everything, everything that you need to exist, in some cases, not just the trivial things that are, you know, maybe an inconvenience for you. But the bigger question here is, are those supply chain issues, very real issues? Are they being seen as excuses by stakeholders? And in some cases, the answer is, yes. Or a good chance you've dealt with that, right? You're working with a contractor, perhaps, perhaps on your house. And now you just don't buy the fact that it took three months for them to hunt down a relatively simple part. And they continue to blame supply chain issues, you might ask, where's the innovation, where's the creativity.
13:51
And this morning on the news, I saw someone who again, was talking about, think back, they actually owned a toy store or toy distribution channel, and they were talking about some of the innovative ideas they were coming up with to solve the very real supply chain issues, including getting helicopters to go out over the Pacific Ocean, and lift up, you know, containers. And because the containers are stuck on ships that can't get to the port, because the port doesn't have the labor and the resources to unload them. whatever the case might be, you might be looking for signs of innovation. And obviously, throughout COVID, there are plenty of cases including some folks that I worked with, who showed tremendous innovation when the realities of COVID and the realities of the you know, the complete drop in demand for their services were hit, including one guy who has a tubular business. And he decided to say, hey, look, we're going to be innovative. We don't have the demand for this product right now. But we have trucks, and we have bodies and we're going to stay busy. And you know what? We're going to deliver whatever else we can, again, those are all positive stories. But on the flip side, what are you doing in your own world and when your own figurative supply chain issues, where there's very real concerns that You might be using excuses.
15:02
And they might not feel like excuses, they might feel like something that everybody else is dealing with. And if everybody else is dealing with it, then surely it's not an excuse. But the reality is, and again, this happens all the time. The reality is that people are going to look for signs of you being innovative. How might you get around those supply chain issues? What are the things you're trying to do? Are you still ultimately focused on your end goal of supporting your customer, if that's the end result or supporting your team at a company or whatever the case might be, and if you are, then you should be working backwards to find solutions, not just focused on duct taping, a solution, not just on a short term fix, as important as that might be, but on those long term issues. And again, I think the climate crisis, if you will, is a very good example of people looking at, you know, very real issues or real data and trying to spin them in a way that's not sustainable. Case in point, every time there's a severe weather event, what happens, those are the biggest advocates for addressing climate change are very quick to point out that, hey, here's another example. Here's another data point of the fact that, hey, look, the climate is changing, it's Mother Nature is unhappy with us, and we need to take action. Whereas on the flip side, those who are more skeptical of climate change, and I will also note that today is actually international skeptics day.
16:26
So it is a good day to talk about skepticism. But those who are more skeptical of the immediacy or if you will, the crisis that is brewing because of the climate are very quick to point out on a, you know, nice, snowy day, in the winter, that, hey, you know, look, snow is still here, winter is still here, all as well on the world. And the the earth is not warming as much as you might think. And of course, again, I'm going to trust that the critical thinkers who are listening to the energy detox, are aware enough to know that both arguments in and of themselves are pretty thin, using snapshots and individual data points to bolster an argument and talking points that are again, at the end of the day, you know, not very, not very good enough to stand on their own. It's not gonna fly. And so the question is, are you doing the same thing, when you're so quick to point out excuses, and again, figurative supply chain issues that are impacting your ability to do business for whatever reason? Are you being seen as an excuse maker? And or are you being seen as someone who isn't as critical of a thinker enough to actually make a coherent argument? Why yes, some of these things are issues. But the bigger issue is that we didn't have a long term strategy that could have mitigated some of these, or perhaps spinning a little bit to say, Hey, we look, we did have a long term strategy. And we believe we've extracted, you know, X amount of value over what it would have been if we didn't have it in place. Because again, if you can't do that, and if that's not the mindset that you have going into things, Well, again, your supply chain issues, whether they're real supply chain issues, or some of the figurative ones we're talking about, are going to be seen as excuses. And that's going to chip away at your credibility and the trust that people might have in you, as a leader.
18:13
And the third and final crisis that is in the headlines that we'll talk about today, before we get to any comments or crises that you might have, and want to tie into all of these leadership themes, is the talent crisis, the labor crisis, if you will, whatever it is, it is a crisis. I think it was just yesterday that it was announced that over 4 million people the most ever decided to quit their jobs in August. Here in America, over 4 million people decided to quit their jobs. And again, there's a lot of details around that number. It's not necessarily white collar workers. There's a lot of people facing jobs that people quit. Although in fairness, a lot of people think that, hey, you know, you're not seeing the impacts of vaccine mandates on those numbers. So could it be even higher? So who knows what the real number is, but the reality is, there's stories like that that are out there that demonstrate that, yeah, there's a crisis. We all know that. And, again, we're not going to take our time today to talk about the reasons for that crisis, we can get into getting the impacts of stimulus payments and other disincentives or fear of COVID, or fear of the Delta variant that again, likely drove some of the four plus million people who quit their jobs. No, today we're going to talk about whether or not you are making again, an excuse out of COVID and excuse out of industries that might be pulling away from your industry, which again, in the world of oil and gas might be the tech industry that's pulling away some of your engineering and data minded individuals. Are you using those excuses to cover for what might be an inadequate talent strategy plan? That's the question. And again, the answer might be no, the answer might be that no, you are dressing Those very real issues and you're being proactive and you're doing all the things you need to do. But then if that's the case, the follow up question for you is, are you actually being proactive? Or are you just playing catch up.
20:10
Because many times when I have an initial conversation with somebody who is in the world of talent development, or talent management or human resources, they're very quick to point out all the things that are already in place, or some of the initiatives that they're undergoing to help boost morale and ensure stronger engagement and talent, attraction, and all of those things. But by and large, many of those things feel like they're just checking the box. That doesn't mean they're bad things to do, doesn't mean it's bad to implement a new 360 degree feedback program or performance appraisal program or diversity inclusion program to help, again, generate interest in your company, generate engagement, make people feel more connected to higher level leadership, and the mission of the company, those are all great well meaning things, but very often, even in the initial conversation I have with somebody, it sounds a whole life a whole lot like the things that I can just find by subjecting myself to the 75 page sustainability or ESG report that all these companies are putting out there. And again, that's not to say that these initiatives are bad. That's not to say that sustainability reports that condense or try to condense all of the positive things that companies are doing into one document doesn't mean that's all bad stuff. But it does mean that it's probably not sounding that different from what other companies are doing. And it's probably more game of playing catch up, and not being proactive. And, again, it comes back to the stats which are real, that point to the fact that even in the age of COVID, even with everything else that's going on, when people decide to leave a company, it is by and large, because of their manager, or in some cases, maybe they point to a higher level of cultural issue and problems with leadership or the company as a whole. coming on the heels of the age of COVID, there was a study that talked about people not feeling like the company responded enough to their individual needs. Now again, you can be pessimistic and say, well, it's not the company's job to address all of your personal needs. But the reality is, from a sustainable business standpoint, if you're not addressing those needs, if you're not conscious and aware of the needs of your employees, then you're doing yourself a disservice and you're setting yourself up for disaster.
22:26
And again, that is the point of today's conversation is helping you avoid making those unconscious decisions, to focus on things that you think are fix, putting duct tape on a problem feeling like you solve your piece of whatever crisis it is that's facing you, when in reality, there are underlying issues, underlying crises, or at least brewing crises that are there. And I promise you, they are there. And you know, my apologies for pointing out the realities for those of you especially if you're in human resources or talent development, but there are always issues and there will always continue to be issues. And the moment that you take a sigh of relief, because again, you've implemented some new plans, some new technology, which again, might be good, I will continue to emphasize the fact that there are lots of new approaches and technologies when it comes to talent management that are good. But in many cases, in many cases, they are masking the real problem, which is individual leaders within your company, not being aware of the impact, particularly the negative impact that they are having on their employees. So again, the question is, what's the bigger contributor within your organization to whatever talent crisis, whatever labor crisis it is that you're facing? And if your first answer is stimulus payments, lack of talent, lack of a pipeline, feeding your company, higher salaries, more stability in other industries, whatever the case is, if that's your first answer, well, I challenge you to rethink it, and ask whether or not it might be a case of the individual leaders within your company, not being aware, not being conscious of the impact that they're having. And the final piece of that, and this ties to really any crisis and any challenge, any problem you're facing is what are you doing to innovate around some of these problems, just like the supply chain problems, what is impacting or how might you get around, I should say, the talent supply chain. And I love when examples pop up, especially in our industry, and especially here locally, when there was examples of companies that are being proactive and innovative. One such company here locally, CNS, they started a mentorship program to get out into the community to start talking about children early to talking to them early about jobs in our industry that might not require a college degree, getting them not just excited about our industry, not just you know, giving them all the talking points about how great energy is and how important it is and boosting their awareness not just in the month of October, but throughout the school year of again, how critical energy is and will continue to be to our nation and to our world, but also showing them a path to gain the tools and variables. reasonable way, in a way that might not amass debt, and in a way that will give them opportunities to grow and to flourish as individuals, but in turn to support directly companies like cn x, and our industry as a whole, again, that is a long term, conscious, thoughtful, sustainable approach to solving the talent crisis.
25:25
And so the question for you is for all the various things and all the effort that you're putting in place within your company, or even within yourself is, you know, we flip it and you're looking for a new job. Are you focused on all the short term things and checking the box on resumes and cover letters and applications? Or are you looking at the bigger picture picture issues, and asking yourself how to creatively get around some of the bottlenecks, some of those supply chain bottlenecks, if you will, that are preventing candidates coming to you, and preventing you as a candidate from being seen by your end users or your your end audience, if you will. And so with that, having covered again, at a high level, the energy crisis, the supply chain crisis, and the labor crisis. Now my question for you is, what other crises are facing the energy industry, what other issues are out there that leaders might not be conscious of what other problems are out there that maybe leaders are conscious of, but they're saying that they can't address them right now, because there's bigger fish to fry, there's bigger stakeholders that are more interested in not maybe some of the individual stakeholders that are, you know, expressing displeasure, and that they can't get to their problems, that there's things that are just, you know, more important? What are the some of the crises that maybe are more important, and that require some additional attention, and some, again, some additional creativity to address. And so turning to some of the comments here on this, and again, I continue to welcome any feedback, you might have any comments, you might have any additional crises you might like to point out to weave in before we wrap up today's LinkedIn live episode of the energy detox. And we'll start here with an anonymous LinkedIn user, at least as it shows, which is very law here. Let's see the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form of energy to another. This means that a system always has the same amount of energy, unless it's added from the out side, the only way to use energy is to transform energy from one form to another. Well, that is, again, I would say, a non controversial and astute point that can be applied in many different ways. But I think, take one piece of this, especially as it relates to the talent crisis, although I think it applies to the supply chain crisis as well. And that is the idea of bringing in outside energy. How many companies are trying to go it alone?
27:49
And you know, again, I'm asking this question coming from someone who helps companies leverage their existing resources, in many cases, instead of bringing in very expensive and very disruptive outside resources. Because many cases that's much more efficient, you've already invested time and energy in your existing resources, why allow that energy to bleed away, whether the bodies are bleeding away, or whether it's just a question of morale and excitement, enthusiasm, engagement, whatever the case is, when you can, again, take advantage of the resources either there or even some leaders that you've invested in, in some cases, millions of dollars, you've invested in these leaders, why not try to get the most out of them instead of looking to the outside. But again, to this point here, one way to transform a company, maybe not transform energy within a company. But one way to transform the company as a whole, of course, is to inject outside energy. And maybe a self serving response to this comment here for myself is that as a coach, that is very much what I enjoy doing, I enjoy coming in and being an independent source of energy of yours, if you will, to listen, to observe, to ask questions, all with the ultimate goal in mind of helping boost internal energy and effectiveness and extract the most value from the existing resources within a company. So So long as that outside resource that outside energy is coming in to compliment. Again, I still think you're gonna accomplish what I often caution against, which is trying to completely revamp a company and revamp the energy within a company by bringing an outside resource. I think if you're finding complimentary, independent, knowledgeable resources that can come in and ask the right questions and help reroute and help identify bottlenecks and get things flowing, instead of having to lay a new pipeline in place or put it in a new compressor station or wherever the case is. It's usually much simpler if you don't have to try to create new energy from within, if you will, and if you can avoid energy being destroyed. So again, maybe a windy way to address this comment. But I think it's spot on. But again, I think it also points to potentially the false choice. Going back to the first point, the false identity that people might have, are you either transforming your internal company and doing everything from within, or, or you're looking to the outside, and you're going to completely refresh things. In my experience, working with individuals and companies, and certainly from my own experience and 15 years working throughout various roles in the energy industry, I will say wholeheartedly that the answer is in the middle. And to address people who get hung up on the fact that a company is engaging with outside resources and feel like that's the worst thing they could do. Or conversely, a company is relying on their own stale leadership, those are two extremes that you need to nip in the bud as quickly as possible. And recognize that you can do both at the end of the day, that will lead to more energy, whether it's transformed energy, additional energy, whatever the case might be, you will have more energy to execute upon whatever vision you might have.
30:52
Moving on to another comment here from David McKim. That's a very interesting question, especially when speaking about the industry as a whole, I would say one of the most difficult issues is the complexity around strategic planning and execution, when you have to predict so many scenarios that may affect you. This leads to many people for going long term planning at all. And obviously, I agree. And I would also caution, though, that that can be an excuse for many people, well, we can't worry as much about long term planning in an industry as dynamic as oil and gas has been. And again, there's some truth to that. But the reality is, well, what can you plan on for the long term? What isn't going anywhere. And again, coming back to the item that I probably spent the most time on today, that is people and as cliche as it might be, and as desensitized as we might be to hearing about the importance of putting people first, you know, perhaps in some cases, it becomes almost as, as cliche and desensitized as, as the word crisis, or as we talk about injecting or energizing our infrastructure. And we talk about trillions of dollars, right? a trillion dollars here, trillion dollars there, we can get desensitized to some words like this, but a trillion dollar still has meaning. The word crisis should still have meaning, and people within a company should still have meaning. So David, I would say that, you know, first and foremost, again, as cliche as it might sound, you need to ask yourself, what can you plan on for the long term, and that is the fact that people will always be looking for more, more satisfaction, more compensation, which isn't always monetary, of course, more recognition, more sustainability, more stability. And again, I think as some recent studies have shown more flexibility. There's no question that flexibility is key. And again, the word flexibility is somewhat at odds with, again, the the idea of a long term plan. But that doesn't mean you can't ask the question, what can you be doing to maximize the things that you can plan for in the long term, while injecting as much flexibility as possible, so that when plans go awry, when real crises are roughed, you at least have some foundational things that aren't going to be rocked to their core so that leaders can focus on the crises can focus on the things that bubbled up and aren't seen, as, you know, unwittingly, ignoring some of those things that should have already been taken care of. So to that end, I would say, there are certain pieces of long term planning that can and should be addressed. And most of them revolve around people strategy, succession planning, those 360 degree reviews and feedbacks that arm people with the knowledge of those potential bottlenecks, those potential areas of corrosion that could prevent success from continuing to flow. And apologies for the forest pipeline analogy.
33:51
But again, that's, that's part of the fun of being here on the energy detox. But that's it, asking yourself where the potential bottlenecks are, so that when Black Swans or double Black Swans, as was the case in the energy industry, they're two years ago, when they erupt, you at least are still continuing to flow something, you're still continuing to move forward. So that's what I would say to that, David. And I'd very much appreciate that comment and appreciate any other feedback that people might have. And, you know, bringing up one other, I guess, crisis here. While we're on the theme of energy related crises that in some cases might be getting ignored or in some cases might be getting blown out of proportion. I'd be remiss not to bring up a headline from yesterday regarding diversified energy company, formerly known as diversified oil and gas company. And the Bloomberg article that addressed them yesterday pointed to the fact that diversified was, I think, they claimed was air is one of the strangest companies to have ever come about here in the American oil patch. And that is because that company is focused primarily on older Producing wells, which includes in many cases, abandoned wells. And, again, thinking about the theme for today's episode, I'd be remiss not to talk about the orphaned well crisis, because that is very much a crisis that is directly and indirectly impacting the energy industry. if for no other reason, then it leads to very damaging headlines that the one that Bloomberg put out about diversify yesterday, pointing to the fact that so many old wells, even if they're not abandoned, those old wells might still be producing, but they might also be producing some, some much higher amount of methane into the atmosphere, then it's actually being sold, and therefore, sort of undoing some of the positive aspects, at least from a from a carbon standpoint. And from a global warming standpoint, from a greenhouse gas standpoint, some of the positive elements that we tout correctly about the benefits of natural gas. And so again, one of the questions there to ask for you, from a practical standpoint is,
35:57
what are you abandoning? What are you leaving behind to go run towards or to try to fight whatever fire crisis is in place? And again, are you running away from whatever you have in place in terms of helping to support your people? ensuring engagement and feedback loops? And whatever the case might be? Are you running away from some of the strategies and approaches that have worked for your company, perhaps for decades, but now are being challenged by outside pressure regarding ESG? The energy transition, whatever the case might be? Are you orphaning? Those things? Are you leaving them behind, even though they're still value? Are you able to salvage some of that value? If you only were able to ask the question, hey, am I going down a path of you know, some false identity, my identifying as new and transformed, and, again, like many companies, shedding my oil and gas name on my company, again, I don't have the stats. But I'd be curious to know how many companies over the last several years, I've gotten rid of the word oil or natural gas and or oil and gas, whatever the case might be in their names for something like energy, we're removing it all together and making you wonder, Well, what is it exactly that company does, and again, I say that, having worked for 11 years for a company called EQ t that, again, had no sign of energy in its name, it didn't even have the word resources as it had for its predecessor record resources. But again, it begs the question, going back to the initial question of, are we navigating a crisis of identities right now, more so than a crisis of supply chain issues, and labor issues and whatever the case might be? Because that is going to cause consternation and turmoil within you, whether you realize it or not, within your people who are still working towards whatever mission it is, and can't ignore the fact that they worked for 30 years, in some cases, in this industry, producing oil and gas will continue producing oil and gas. But then there are signs like that as logical as they might be.
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And as much as we understand them from a public relations standpoint, they still chip away, they still have an impact, they can still drain energy, they can still chip away morale. And they can still make it very difficult for people who are, you know, already on the edge about whether they want to transition out of our industry, because, as is the case with any institution, as soon as you start chipping away of some of the foundation that is in place, especially when that foundation isn't inherently bad, and saying the word oil, saying the word natural gas isn't inherently bad, but when you treat it like it is, even subtly, even when there's a positive reason to get rid of the word oil and gas, replace it with energy, because it sounds better to investors or to I don't know somebody Bloomberg who wants to write a hit piece on you, whatever the case might be. There's still an impact. And again, if you want to be a conscious leader, you need to ask yourself what that impact might be. How might you be responding to all of these various crises out there in a way that is merely sounding like an excuse to do whatever your stakeholders tell you to do? Whether or not it actually makes sense whether or not there are unintended consequences. And again, that doesn't mean you necessarily change your approach, you change your decision. But what it means is you're at least aware of those impacts so that you can actually be proactive, so that you can actually put in place, policies, procedures, strategies, that can ensure that the next time some crisis pops up, you are ready. So with all that being said, and given the fact that again, I contend that this is in many ways, a consciousness crisis, particularly as it relates to leaders within the energy industry.
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The question for you today is how often Am I unwittingly using the word crisis? as an excuse? How often Am I unwittingly Using the word crisis and excuse interchangeably, how often Am I unaware of the fact that my stakeholders see me as somebody who is incapable of innovating around solutions and incapable of identifying the things that should be locked in for the long haul, so that I don't face supply chain crises, labor crises, talent crises, and whatever crises are facing our industry today.
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And as you ponder that series of questions, please allow me Joe Sinnott, to thank you for joining today's discussion. And for more questions and commentary derived from my work helping people like you avoid or repair individual or company wide leadership crises, please visit the energy detox.com and until next time, I hope that you continue to have a safe, warm and enjoyable energy Awareness Month.