Oil & Gas Leadership: Roller Coaster or Ferris Wheel?
Just because you work in a roller-coaster-esque industry doesn’t mean your leadership style needs to be filled with twists and turns and surprises.
So, take a few minutes to be inspired by the odd sight of a Ferris wheel in the middle of a bridge and ask yourself these three questions:
💡 Do you lead others with the consistency, reliability, and predictability of a Ferris wheel or the dramatic, uncertain, and potentially nausea-inducing nature of a roller coaster?
💡 What are all the ways you can help others take greater advantage of the opportunities associated with their current level on the corporate Ferris wheel and, in turn, avoid wasting all your energy on what might be a short-sighted focus on getting to the top?
💡 Why does your company continue to invest in short-term "thrills" to boost morale and engagement instead of long-lasting leadership development resources that generate sustained impact...like the sustained impact that George Ferris' wheel has had for the past 130 years or the sustained impact that Range Resources first Marcellus frac has had for the past 20 years?
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Well, if you happen to be associated with the natural gas industry here in western Pennsylvania in October of 2024, then there's a very good chance that you've heard some reference, or will hear some reference to the Range Resources Renz #1 well, which celebrates its 20 year anniversary of completion this month; and certainly all of the newspaper articles and anniversary celebrations and other festivities surrounding this 20 year mark are worthy of praise and acknowledgement and celebrating.
00:31
But today I, Joe Sinnott, am not going to talk primarily, at least about that innovation, about that milestone here in western Pennsylvania. No, instead, I'm going to focus on a different innovation that occurred 110 years before the completion of that Renz Number One well, and that innovation with Western PA roots is the Ferris Wheel. And there is perhaps no better location to talk about the Ferris wheel than right here on the Roberto Clemente bridge in Pittsburgh, where there is a Ferris wheel turning behind me. And while this odd site is certainly unusual, although perhaps not as unusual as if the pirates were actually playing a playoff game in October, which they of course, are not in the empty stadium behind me, this site is only in town for a couple more days.
01:20
And so I thought, hey, why not use this as an excuse, as always here on the energy detox to offer you yet another reminder of ways that you can be a more effective leader in the energy industry. And in particular, we're going to focus on the ways in which you as a leader in this up and down industry, which can often be described as a roller coaster, are really better suited channeling the Ferris wheel, because the Ferris wheel serves, for many different reasons, as a much stronger reminder of how you want to be perceived as how you want to be seen as a leader. And we'll get into some of those parallels. And certainly I ask you to think about those parallels as we move through the next couple of minutes. But before that, I at least want to set the stage a little bit more and give a little bit of that history behind the Ferris Wheel.
02:03
Because if you don't know, the Ferris wheel has its roots here in western Pennsylvania, because a gentleman by the name of George Washington Gale Ferris Jr, invented it, and he was living here in Pittsburgh. He was not a Pittsburgh native, but he had been here in Pittsburgh, and he was a bridge engineer. So again, whether or not a lot of the people riding this ferris wheel realize it or not, the connection between bridges and Ferris wheels are certainly linked, and that bridge engineer came up with this idea ahead of the 1894 World's Fair in Chicago, and it was a big hit. Certainly, this is something that nobody had ever seen before. It basically was meant in some way to surpass the the wow factor, if you will, the Eiffel Tower from the previous World's Fair that, of course, was in Paris. And many respects, George Ferris accomplished just that. But as we reflect on it, 130 years later, and looking at that ferris wheel, it's a good opportunity, as I said a couple minutes ago, to reflect on the fact that you as a leader, probably want to be seen more as a Ferris wheel leader than a roller coaster leader, even though you have a lot of excuses to simply go with the ups and downs, the twists and turns and the uncertainty that come with leading teams in the energy industry. And so, as we always do on the energy detox, I'm going to roll through a series of three quick questions that you can use to perhaps come up with some tools, some ideas, some mindsets that you can deploy right away to make sure that you are embracing the inspiration of George Ferris in this interesting site behind me, and not simply going through the motions that, again, wouldn't be surprising.
03:36
Certainly would be easily excused that, of course, being like, Hey, I'm in this industry. It's commodity business. I'm going to be that roller coaster leader who can bring my team to the twists and turns. Because guess what? That's not as sustainable as of course, it could be. So that being said, what's the first theme? What's the first question to ask yourself? Well, it is, are you leading in a steady, predictable manner, reflective of this ferris wheel behind me? Or, again, are you allowing yourself and your team to get caught up in the twists and turns of this industry? Because, of course, the reality is, yes, there are ups and downs. Oil and Gas leadership comes with the realities of uncertain commodity prices, uncertain development plans, uncertain mergers and acquisitions, but there's so much that you can do to be that steady force. So the question is, quite frankly, what are you doing to be that steady force? What are you doing to instill predictability in your teams? That doesn't mean you don't pull in new ideas. That doesn't mean you don't do things to differentiate yourself. Quite the contrary. And we talk about that all the time on the energy detox. But what are the things that people should expect from you? Just like the Ferris wheel which is going to go in its steady motion up and down return to the same spot.
04:45
Are you missing out on opportunities to inflict that level of certainty among your team? Or, again, do you pride yourself on simply going with the flow, which is very likely what got you to where you are? So again, ask your question. Ask that question. Are you. Do, what can you do to show yourself as that steady ferris wheel like leader instead of that roller coaster like leader? The next question, the next thing to ask yourself, inspired by this unique site, is, what are you doing to help employees gain value at each level of their career journey? Because if there's one thing that I see quite often, especially when it comes to career coaching, whether it's one on one, outside of organizations, or whether it's it's within company sponsored coaching engagements, it's people that, of course, are trying to climb the ladder. They're trying to move up, and very often, they feel frustrated. And one simple question that I have the pleasure of asking is, hey, what can you do at your current level that maybe you can't do when you do finally move up. In other words, what can you do to take more advantage of whatever level you're at, whatever amount of perspective you have?
05:51
Because the reality is, just like here on a Ferris wheel, the perspective that you get from at the bottom of a Ferris wheel can still be incredibly valuable, especially if you're already up, I don't know, 100 or so feet in the air, because you're on the Roberto Clemente bridge. And if you think back to the World's Fair in 1894 again, people were in awe. Even before they stepped foot on the Ferris wheel and went up 260 some odd feet in the air. They were in awe at, again, this innovation, at the giant gears, at this giant, you know, steam powered marvel that had never been seen before. So how do you take advantage of people's awe standing at ground level and not just focus on moving up to the very top? Again? It's something that's very easy to miss, both as an employee as you're trying to, again, move up and grow your career, but it's equally easy for managers to miss, and when managers and leaders do miss those opportunities, what happens is they spend a lot of energy trying to move people forward, almost apologizing for not even making people move along fast enough, instead of pausing and saying, Hey, look, I fully support you moving up.
06:52
But before we do that, or as we do that, how can you take full advantage of whatever level you happen to be at right now? And the third and final theme, third and final question to ask yourself, tying together the energy industry and the innovation that is on display here behind me, albeit, again, a much smaller innovation, at about 60 feet tall, again, not 260 feet tall, and that is what are you doing as a leader, to invest in innovation and resources that are going to stand the test of time and not be as fleeting as a roller coaster ride, because the reality is, and again, certainly, it's budget time for many companies. As you look at those budgets, there's a lot of things that, yeah, might give a short term boost to your employees, whether it's happy hours and get togethers as employees, or maybe heading off to an amusement park in the spring or summer.
07:44
But do those things really stand the test of time? And of course, the answer is no. There's certainly. They certainly pale in comparison to the 130 year history of the Ferris wheel and the impact that it continues to have, or even the 20 year impact of the completion of that Rens number one, well, by Range Resources 20 years ago. So ask yourself, what investments are you making? And are those investments in things that are fleeting and that are likely to have little to no impact? Because if you think about it again, bringing back the theme of roller coasters versus Ferris wheels, you go to amusement park, how often are the big roller coasters down for some reason, for some maintenance thing, for some safety thing, and certainly again here in Pittsburgh, if you're familiar with the ongoing Kennywood saga, the steel curtain is down more than it's up. It was down all of the 2024 season, and just a couple days ago, Kennywood said, Well, we're working really hard to make sure that the steel curtain is up for next season.
08:31
Well, whether it is or not, again, it serves as a reminder that sometimes people are looking for you to be that steady influence. And when you're making investments in your people ask yourself, are you making investments in things like long term coaching and resources, quite frankly, that can help people move forward and that they can continue building on and moving on and growing upon? Or are you investing in short term, fleeting things that offer very little bang for their buck, thrilling as they may seem, and easy as they may seem. And so with those three questions in mind, again, I hope this little forced analogy or comparison between roller coasters and Ferris wheels and you as a leader offers some insight into some of the things that you could do to display a little bit more steadiness, a little bit more predictability, even though you are indeed faced with the realities of an up and down roller coaster type industry.
09:25
And so with that, again, as always, I thank you for joining me. Joe Sinnott, here on the energy detox and in particular, here on the Roberto Clemente bridge in October of 2024 and as you move forward into fall, I wish you all the best as you continue celebrating the impact that range resources, friends, number one well has had both on the region and on America, if not the entire world. So with that, take care and have a great rest of the day.