What Good is GPS if You're Under Quarantine?
How do you maintain engagement, sustain momentum, and avoid unwittingly adding to the fear, stress, and confusion of your personal and professional stakeholders during times like this?
Well, the answers to this question are rarely found on an outdated roadmap, in the advice of expensive consultants, or via that same “gut feeling” that has steered you through past challenges; the answers are instead extracted through a practical and simple “Leadership GPS” approach that helps you (G)row, (P)rotect, and (S)ustain success for you, your organization, and your family.
It’s not high-tech, it doesn’t rely on satellites, and it’s not going to help you find the nearest store with a supply of toilet paper; but this podcast episode will challenge you to ask yourself practical and productive long-term questions as you navigate today’s unrelenting challenges.
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TRANSCRIPT:
00:00
Hello and welcome to The Energy Detox, brought to you by Witting Partners. I'm your host, Joe Sinnott, and today we're going to talk about the concept of GPS for Leaders, especially those leaders navigating what were challenging times several months ago in the energy industry...and that are now, of course, far worse.
00:18
And not just for energy, but of course, for many—if not most—businesses in the United States and around the world. Obviously, for those listening in a state or a country where you're under quarantine on you're living under a state of emergency, you're probably not driving around a whole lot, and the need for a GPS probably seems rather small right now...unless, of course, you're using some app that directs you to the nearest pack of highly coveted toilet paper, in which case I would argue that there is a tremendous amount of value right now in that.
00:48
So we're not going to be talking too much about literally navigating your way around town, but we will offer you some tools to help you more effectively get from Point A to Point B, with Point B standing for whatever personal and professional goals and objectives are meaningful and purposeful to you. Certainly for many of you listening right now, those objectives and goals might be around short to medium term tasks: necessities; survival, if you will; if you're out of work, certainly; or, if you fear that your work is coming to an end, then you might be looking at resume preparation and boosting your professional network.
01:21
Or for many parents out there right now who are adjusting to this new normal: trying to maintain order and find a schedule that works and trying to stay sane for the next couple of weeks (or months) while adjusting to the realities of work-from-home arrangements and homeschooling requirements. So for all those people, we're going to talk about different leadership styles to get through those challenges, and we're going to do it in a way that relates to navigation and offer a different kind of GPS that forces you as the driver to closely examine how the path you've chosen and the driving habits, so to speak, that you're employing can help you and those around you who are along for the ride both professionally and personally grow, protect, and sustain the success that is being sought.
02:09
So how are we going to do that? Well, first, we're going to build off some basic oilfield themes, of course, as that is a core of The Energy Detox. And we're going to do that while asking you questions about how you prefer to drive: What are your driving habits? How do you prefer to move forward in life and in objectives and with challenges? What's worked before? What might not work so well now? And what could help you better drive results?
02:34
We'll touch a bit on where you're actually headed, since that's often—but not always—important when you get behind the wheel (obviously joy rides right now are probably more enjoyable than ever as you try to get out of the house if you can). But the reality is you that you've got to have some sense of where you're headed to figure out how well of a job you're doing getting there. And we're going to break apart this new GPS into three pieces: 'G' for Growth, 'P' for Protection, and 'S' for Sustainability.
03:02
So to start, we'll jump into a drilling analogy because if you're drilling a well, you rely on lots of data and lots of tools to know where you're going. And one of these tools, one of those services, is MWD, "Measurements While Drilling." And this is near and dear to my heart, I suppose, because my first oilfield role was as an MWD field engineer. So I can tell you firsthand that it doesn't actually stand for "Movie Watching Dudes," despite what some might say. It stands for—again—measurements while drilling.
03:34
And those measurements are critical when you're spending millions of dollars to drill a well, because you need to understand where you're at, where you've been, and in which direction you're pointing. And on top of those MWD services there are very often LWD services (Logging While Drilling), which provide even more data, more tools, (and more expense) for the operator. But also more information to help understand the hole that you're drilling, the surroundings of the hole, whether you're in the zone that you expect to be in.
04:03
And then you add on top of that standard services like mud logging, where cuttings (pieces of rock from downhole) come to surface and can be examined to validate where you're at or to say, "Wait a second...maybe we're not where we thought we were or should be."
04:17
The mud itself—the drilling mud—coming up to the surface can be examined for signs of hydrocarbons, and certainly it tells the people at the surface what's going on downhole if the density changes and (based on) what it's bringing back. And adjustments can be made to, again, help get from point A to point B. All of these things are data and all of these things and the people running the services and interpreting them work together towards a common goal of landing the well where you want to land it and getting out safely so that you can move on to the next step in the process.
04:46
And the point of this analogy is to emphasize that all these things need to work together to paint a picture. None of them alone are really enough to get from Point A to point B. You want to use all these things to get there, or else you're probably going to be spending a lot more time and a lot more money than you need to. And when things go wrong when you don't get these things correct, the results can be catastrophic...both from a cost standpoint and from a time standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint. Fortunately, I have not been on-site during these situations, but I've definitely seen the impacts from a cost standpoint, from a budget standpoint, from a regulatory standpoint of what can happen when you're drilling a well and you wind up way off track from what the plan was.
05:28
Or, even worse, you wind up colliding with another wellbore. Or if you go ahead and google "directional drilling disasters" or "directional drilling gone wrong," you can see a BHA (Bottom Hole Assembly) sticking up out of the ground. You could see the drill bit and you can see mud spewing up into the air. Obviously, in a situation like that, something went wrong. And often, if something goes wrong—and this is a universal truth—it's not because of one mistake that was made...very often, it's a comedy of errors. It's a comedy of errors in processes that broke down or people that missed something.
06:00
And the same is true as you try to lead through these challenging times right now and (hopefully) what might be less challenging times in the future…but that you you want to navigate in a way that leaves you prepared for whatever is next.
06:13
So how do you navigate? How do you get from point A to point B, so to speak? For the sake of our analogy, you can take the oilfield approach, and you can hire a team of folks to help you arrive at your figurative destination. Obviously, there might be some people out of work right now, and perhaps you pay a directional driller to come and take your figurative well plan or your life plan and and survey on occasion, assess things periodically, and help steer you in the right direction.
06:41
Or you could hire some mud loggers to analyze whatever cuttings you're producing. Or employ a geologist to suggest when it might be time to change course and to enter a different formation. But at some point, if you did that approach and became dependent on those services and those people to get you from point A to point B, the cost of all that is probably going to be prohibitively high and unsustainable...unless, of course, directional drillers and mud loggers and geologists really do begin transitioning en masse to "life coaching," and flood the market, and lower prices to the point that maybe such services do make even more sense for people.
07:15
But anyway, setting aside that very poor analogy and saving conversations about innovative career transitions for another day...and getting back to the question of how you navigate...
07:28
Because you undoubtedly do rely on some tools and people and resources to make informed decisions, whether you realize it or not. And some of those resources may come with some cost...and often not monetary costs, but certainly costs in terms of the time and attention that you give to them. So how does all this relate to this style of leadership that you employ and the way in which you make decisions and what influences are pushing you or pulling you one way or the other? Because all of those things make up how you lead and who you are as a leader. And there's definitely a spectrum of navigation approaches out there for leaders, and all of those approaches have some clear benefits and drawbacks...and all of those are going to reflect how your stakeholders—personal and professional stakeholders—characterize you as a leader.
08:16
So to discuss this further, let's look at things from a historical point of view. Let's think about this spectrum of tools and resources to help you navigate in terms of the evolution of navigation tools over the centuries and over the millennia. Because there was a point thousands of years ago when you would simply use some combination of known landmarks and the position of the stars and the angles of the stars to get to where you're going...and that was it. And that might be all you have.
08:48
Obviously, through innovation, humans eventually devised additional ways to help them navigate. And one approach that some of you involved in drilling might find interesting was from a Chinese sailing approach.
09:03
Chinese sailors a thousand years ago would lower a hook into the sea and pull up some mud samples from the sea floor, bring them up to surface, and then determine—based on smell and appearance—where they were at...obviously this is a little different from modern drilling mud samples! But (as with modern mud samples), they were using whatever information was at their disposal to hopefully make better decisions.
09:27
Fast-forward into a more recent item that also originated in China and that one professor has described as "China's gift to the West." This thing ultimately spread around the world and has greatly impacted people's ability to move around freely and more confidently. And, of course, that item is...the compass.
09:48
And if you think about a compass, it's a great and powerful tool, but all by itself, it really doesn't tell you a whole lot. If all you had was a compass without any directions telling you to "travel X miles due east until you get to the river and then travel X miles south until you reach your destination," it doesn't do you a whole lot of good without any context.
10:07
And if we continue moving closer to modern times where, through most of the 20th century, you could easily obtain reliable printed map for the last several decades by hopping into your local AAA. Well, again, that (a map) is a tool that by itself—without any context—is limited.
10:28
And, to digress here, certainly maps are hardly a modern invention, with some dating back thousands and thousands of years (12,000 to 14,000 BC ). But for the purposes of this conversation, I want you to think about the image of a father...let's say in the 1980s...standing outside his station wagon with his family looking out the windows and laughing at him as he stretches out his AAA map and as he asks a stranger how he gets back on the interstate. And that stranger then begins to rattle off a series of directions that the father may or may not be following.
11:03
Because what that image underscores is the fact that a paper map alone (assuming these days you can even still find a paper map easily) is not enough to reliably and sustainably get us where we need to go. And it certainly doesn't provide the ability to reroute or dynamically show road closures and rush hour traffic and other things that can impact our travels.
11:27
Which brings us to current times where we have the beauty of GPS. And unless you're a Garmin or TomTom loyalist and still have a standalone unit suctioned to your dashboard, when we think of GPS today, we think of a real-time, dynamic application that helps us reroute, avoid traffic, provide an estimated arrival time, alert us to police and all kinds of valuable stuff...all from within our phone.
11:54
And while we discussed how the other navigation tools generally required some other information or knowledge or tools to reliably get from point A to point B, well, GPS is different, right? Plug in your destination and drive. Everything is in there that you need..."set it and forget it."
12:08
But when we put this in the context of leadership, it's probably safe to assume that you don't want your leader just "setting it and forgetting it" and blindly following the GPS, right? You want leaders who are resourceful and lean on people and technologies like GPS to improve performance and improve efficiency, bur what people really want to see in their leaders is someone with his or her hands firmly on the wheel, fully conscious, and in control of where things are headed.
12:34
And this is true in many contexts outside of the business world, certainly, but let's think about the times that you've hopped into an Uber....you've seen the driver's phone and map up front, and it's telling him to go down a route that you know doesn't make the most sense. So what do you do? You often you would kindly suggest that, "Hey, there's a better way that you might want to go...I know the GPS says this, but I'm telling you, I do this all the time. This is where you want to go." And hopefully he's open to the suggestion.
13:01
And hopefully you as a leader are always on the lookout for signs that you might not be headed in the right direction. Because when you're driving and following GPS, especially in an unfamiliar area, you're probably still looking for signs that you are headed in the right direction, and validating things and erasing that doubt that the GPS might be wrong or that you incorrectly entered the destination, right?
13:23
I would imagine that many of us have been there...with that panic, where you're on the highway, you're moving along, and then all of a sudden you say, "Well, uh, I'm not I'm not sure about this. Am I going the right way?" And then eventually you get that relief from somewhere: for example, you see a sign up ahead that says 'X miles or kilometers to your city' and you say, "Phew, well, fortunately, that road sign offered a little bit of redundancy and validation."
13:50
And as a pretty universal rule, redundancy can, of course, be helpful to increase the odds of your journey going smoothly or things being done safely. And without redundacy, you run the risk of blindly following a single tool, a single point of failure, a single person, a single approach, a single idea, a single recommendation. And when that happens, you're asking for trouble because—just as we talked about the ramifications of directional drilling gone poorly—you can read plenty of stories on the Internet of people who blindly followed their GPS and drove into buildings or into ditches or into bodies of water. In fact, you may recall an episode of The Office ten or fifteen years ago where Michael Scott blindly followed the instructions of his GPS and wound up in Lake Scranton.
“The machine knows!”
14:32
On top of that, he also took this as a sign that technology is useless because it tried to kill him. So, obviously, the lesson is that an over-reliance on any one thing or any one resource or on anyone approach is a recipe for disaster. But obviously we don't want to swing in the other direction and paint these tools and these resources as anything that they are not because they're good...and they're not generally out to kill you (until, of course, these things all become self-aware...but that's a different story for another podcast at another time).
15:00
So having stepped through some of the different navigation tools and having emphasized the importance of leveraging whatever data and information is available instead of just relying on a single resource, just relying on a compass, or just relying on a map, or just relying on some mud dredged up from the sea floor, the point that we're trying to get across is that leaders need to be clearly in control, regardless of the situation or the tools and resources they're using.
15:23
Because, as we said earlier, when you're examining the effectiveness of a leader—and many leaders are certainly on display for whoever their constituents are and their stakeholders—one needs to look at a number of factors, including the leadership style, the way decisions were made, and the substance behind those decisions to the extent that substance is available and can be seen. Because, perhaps most importantly in the world today, the ability to adapt to different approaches is needed. But when people can't see how adaptable you really are because they don't know what's going on behind the scenes, their perception could be completely off of what the reality is.
16:06
And some might say as we step through some of the different approaches and some of the tools that because you want a leader who is in charge and confident and knowledgeable, you want to see somebody that just has a compass and his or her gut and experience and who trusts those around him, and that's it. That's all that's needed. But of course, that's not necessarily the case.
16:37
And some might say that a leader who's just standing there with a map opened up like the dad I mentioned earlier....some people might say that that sends a message that the paths to success are already pre-ordained and that he or she just wants people to execute and follow the map, even if there is a better path that isn't shown. And while that is often not the message you want to send—especially in situations where you need innovation and you need new ideas—sometimes that is the right message. And as long as you're clear and transparent about why you have decided to stick with a particular map or a set of directions or business strategy, your people can at least move forward more confidently. Then if they're left assuming that you have no desire to be innovative and that you want to shut down their ideas and you don't care, it's a very different story if you're conveying "the why" behind the route you've chosen or the path that you've chosen to get there.
17:31
And finally, people might interpret my comments earlier about blindly following GPS like Michael Scott is a perfect example of how not to lead. But I also want to be clear that it's not about a leader relying too heavily on a particular technology or resource or adviser, because the responsible thing to do is to embrace technology and resources that can add value in the right situations.
17:53
But the biggest issue we see right now is the perception of those who are watching you lead, because if that perception is that you don't have your hands on the wheel and that you're not paying attention to the road and that you've made the decision to simply just follow the GPS, then no matter what, the engagement of your stakeholders is going to suffer tremendously, even if what they think they are seeing is not true as I said before.
18:20
And in the times we’re in, leaders at any level and in any situation are trying to maintain calm. They're trying to keep some level of productivity and normalcy and trying to keep those around them positive and motivated. And, again, one of the best ways to do that is to convey as consistent and transparent of a message as possible because if you don't do that, you need to be mindful that people are going to assign this concept of "blind trust" to certain leaders. And if they feel a leader is blindly trusting X, Y, or Z, it's going to damage the relationship and the connections that you have with your stakeholders if you are that leader.
19:03
And, unfortunately, this happens time and time again and in all kinds of situations. Stepping back into the world of oil and gas—although probably any company these days is faced with this—there's no shortage of experts and consultants and advisors out there ready to accept millions of dollars in fees to help companies and and its leaders make decisions. And obviously there's a time and a place for such resources and for such advisors and for such an investment...(for example) if the decision is made to restructure (as apparently it was for Chesapeake a little bit ago), then, yes, you bring in people who are experts...and if a company makes a decision to move forward into the bankruptcy process, then again, you bring in the experts to help you assist with that.
19:45
But what about before you get to that point? What about companies who are spending millions of dollars for outsiders to come in and advise them and guide them on what to do when the resources might already exist and when these leaders are already getting paid and when you have boards and other people who have understanding of things and who can make these decisions...what about in those situations?
20:08
Because assuming you're a leader who is truly focused on continuing to call the shots and make decisions (because that’s your job and because that’s what you’re getting paid to do), then you’d surely think it would be nonsense and perhaps even insulting if someone were to suggest that the high-priced advisors being brought in to help are anything more than just a resource. And you might get defensive at the suggestion that those resources are actually the ones with their hands on the wheel and that you’re just there as a pass-through or a figurehead. And you might even get angry if someone suggested that your stakeholders might feel like those advisors are more valued and respected than everyone else within your organization.
20:45
And if you as the leader were to adamantly swear to me that those resources were absolutely not in control and that you were still the one in the driver’s seat, I’d tell you that while I certainly hope that’s the case, it really doesn’t matter if you think you’re in control because your stakeholders have already formed their own opinions, and they're almost always going to default to the assumption that it's the folks getting paid big bucks (be they advisors or a third party rolling out some sexy new software platform or perhaps an individual that has been pegged unofficially as your “right-hand man…or woman”), that are now steering the ship. And it's easy to pick on executives and corporations who are spending tons of money to help make these big decisions or even transform their organization.
21:30
So at the risk of being hypocritical, it's important to remember that the same exact principle is happening in households all over the globe right now. As families come up with a plan to deal with the impact of the Corona virus, leaders within those families are picking what resources and what people to listen to, and what sort of data they can trust and rely upon, and what kind of suggestions make sense...what they should and should not do, and what they should and should not be stocking up on, what they should be doing with their money...do you need to run out and buy a gun or some ammo or some seeds to do some planting...or some chickens?
22:03
All of these things are flowing continuously, and there are leaders of households who are trying to digest and make decisions and turn to some reliable resources whenever they can...and obviously it's good to listen and to digest all these different opinions of knowledgeable people. But your family ultimately wants you to judge for yourself. They want you to make a clear decision—right or wrong—and if you're wrong, then so be it. But be clear about why you're making the decision in the first place.
23:01
Because if that happens and things don't turn out as expected, your family is going to be much more inclined to flip into innovation mode and deal with the problem instead of immediately spending their time thinking, "What the heck did Mom or Dad do that for?...they should have done this...why didn't they think of this?"
22:49
So, again, whether you're talking about your personal life or you're dealing with professional decisions, the truth remains that people yearn for decision-makers with their hands firmly on the wheel and willing to be upfront and as honest as possible about their motivation and about their intentions. Because, again, even if you as a leader of a professional team or of your family is lying awake night after night and is stressed to the max and is doing everything you can to support others, the reality is that your stakeholders are probably not going to see all of that, so let them see a glimpse of that. Let them in a little bit.
23:29
And if it's children in household who are watching a father or a mother who was stressed out during the day, those children are not going to appreciate what's going on behind the scenes. How much extra stress and thoughts (are occurring)? And when the kids are off watching TV or something, how those parents are still working for the good of their family...they're not going to see that.
23:53
And on the professional side, clearly there's plenty of practical reasons why board meetings aren't broadcast live via Zoom and streamed to the masses. But the reality is that if you as a leader are not communicating clearly and honestly about your thought process and about what's going on to the extent you're allowed to...if you're not communicating what's driving your decisions and where you're getting your information, then you're asking for trouble...and people are just going to assume what they want to assume. They're going to assume that you're blindly following whatever your figurative GPS says.
24:31
So as you attempt to maintain or regain the trust and the confidence of your stakeholders, and as you work through the decisions both big and small, we humbly suggest relying on a different kind of GPS rooted in three key areas, with those being growth, protection and sustainability...G...P...S. And those three things lead to three questions that you can ask yourself as you move forward.
24:57
The first of those is, "How can I best grow more knowledgeable and stronger and confident in my ability to move forward?"
The next question is, "How do I best protect that which is most valuable as I move along?"
And the third question is, "How can I sustain myself and my stakeholders not just for the next few weeks and months of chaos, but for the long haul?”
25:24
And is this an earth-shattering concept? No. Does it sound, in many ways, like a lot of the posts and articles and comments about "leading through crisis" that seem to be spreading on social media (...nearly as fast as the coronavirus seems to be spreading)? Well, yeah, it probably does. But this is a concept that is designed for you, and it is intended for you to think differently and to think more clearly and to slow things down, especially during these times when it's very important to do so.
So stepping through each of those three pillars of this GPS...
26:12
G...Growth:
We're not talking about asking what crops you may need to grow if things really go south with this whole crisis...although obviously that's probably not a bad question to ask. No, the question is, "Are you growing in your ability to navigate future hurdles? Are you growing and learning and deepening your understanding of things that will help you move forward, be it academic things or skills or even hobbies that might round you out as a person and help you healthfully disconnect from the world, at least for a little bit on occasion? Are you growing in the sense that you're not just going through the motions and following the crowd? And finally, are you taking advantages of opportunities to grow at times when it's not expected?"
26:58
The irony, of course, is sometimes if you're lost or on a detour, you may actually still be growing, whether you realize it or not. How many times have you been rerouted and thought, "I didn't know I could cut through this way. This is great! This is a new shortcut. I never would have known if there wasn't a roadblock up ahead."
27:15
And during the next several weeks, there's going to be plenty of great stories and memes about life hacks and ingenuity that are on display because people were forced to change up their normal routine. And sometimes a detour can even reveal a safer and more reliable route or approach, something that overlaps nicely, with the next letter of our GPS, which is...
27:34
'P' for Protection:
Of course, we're not talking about protecting your title or your position within an organization. And while, obviously, protecting your safety and well-being and health are critical, that's also not the thing that 'protection' in this context is about. We are talking about protecting the investment of time and energy you've made over the years or decades, no matter where you are in your career.
27:55
Because even if you're right out of school or you're still in school, you're certainly still looking to protect the investment that you've made in a degree that you've either just paid for or may be paying for for many, many, many years (all, of course, assuming that the next coronavirus relief bill or the next president of the United States doesn't erase all your student debt...although, of course, I would argue that if that happens and you're a petroleum engineering or petroleum geology student, you'd probably be one of the few people excluded from any presidential student loan pardon).
28:27
But anyway, the point is that students still have plenty to protect and, of course, so, too, do seasoned industry veterans. If you're at the tail end of your career, you might be looking to protect your legacy in some way (in addition to your 401k, of course). And for those listening who are mid-career—especially those who are out of work or who are worried about their futures—it's as important as ever to protect and be proud of and promote what's gotten you to this point, even if you have in your head that your skills and your resume and experiences aren't going to matter much moving forward...which is a dangerous—very dangerous—temptation that I hear and read all too often...to shun or forget about your experiences and to write them off as irrelevant, especially if you have decided to transition out of the oil and gas industry.
29:15
So are you really asking yourself how and in what ways you can apply what you've done into future roles? Not just how to spin your resume to sound like you check the boxes of some of new role, but really digging down and determining how you could confidently bring something to the table that other people can not?
29:40
So, as part of this concept of protecting what you built, ask yourself if you are "running away from things and from your past and from your experiences because you think that's the only thing that makes sense right now?" Or are you asking yourself what's worth protecting and what's meaningful to you and what can truly translate into new opportunities? And, finally, moving on to...
30:06
S...Sustain:
It's not just about survival over the next couple of months. It's not just getting through the current downturn in order to live, to see many more cycles of the oh-so-volatile oil and gas industry if that's your calling and if that's where you intend to be for the remainder of your career. When we talk about sustainability, it's really about making sure that the investment of time and energy you're making now are worthwhile investments.
30:32
So we talked about protecting the investments you've already made. But moving forward, how do you ensure that you're not wasting your time and your energy? And, you know, one of the many things about the coronavirus is that there's a lot of people—myself included—who are excited and waiting to hear all of the positive stories that will come out over the next couple of months. And obviously I'm in the camp of people who certainly wish we'd never heard of COVID-19 and that the energy industry was “a beacon of stability and certainty,” but obviously that's not the case.
31:06
So, dealing with the reality that we have right now, and as you see these positive stories pop up—these silver linings, these stories of human ingenuity—I challenge you to really think about the lessons that are being learned right now and what you want society to remember when life returns to normal (whatever that looks like). And from an industry standpoint, what do you want things to look like when oil returns to $60 per barrel at some point? Because, unfortunately, once commodity prices rebound, there's a very good chance that many companies who historically are very quick to forget about all the lessons learned when margins are thin and commodity prices are low are gonna go right back to the same inefficient approaches and strategies that set them up poorly for the next time that we're in a downturn.
31:54
But the good news is that you have the power as an individual and as a leader to decide what lessons you're not going to forget. You have the power to decide what lessons and stories and anecdotes from this unique time you wish to share for years to come with others. And because of that, you have the power to instill a true sense of sustainability that will help you and those around you navigate future challenges much more smoothly and confidently.
32:20
So as you think about the kind of leader you want to be for your teams, for your family and for yourself—both now, during these tough times and well into the future—go ahead and ponder these three pillars of this leadership GPS concept that we've laid out and ask what it is that you're striving for and how you're growing, protecting and sustaining whatever you're in control of to get to where you want to be. And how good are you doing at this? Because we believe that some reflecting on those three items during these unique times can really be a practical and powerful mechanism to keep you on track.
33:00
And as one final thought, bringing all of that together and all the concepts discussed today, we want to acknowledge that much of the time today has been spent on ensuring that your stakeholders clearly understand and know that you are a reliable leader and—as we've said multiple times—that your hands are firmly on the wheel.
33:21
But before we wrap up, I'd be remiss not to remind you to ask yourself how good of a job you do at letting others take credit for things that you have found or discovered on your journey, which can be difficult to do sometimes when you're up front leading the way? For example, as a parent, if your young child is participating in an Easter egg hunt, do you go and snatch up every egg you see for yourself and pick them up and hand them to your children? No, of course not.
33:51
You tactfully say, "Hey, child, have you checked over here? Hey, what's that sticking out from behind that bush over there?" You ask questions, you lead them to the answer without telling them the answer. So as a leader in more professional settings (not that office Easter egg hunts aren't professional), are you doing the same thing with your stakeholders? (Hopefully, you're doing it in a less condescending way and a more tactful way.) But how do you balance that need to be a leader with your hands firmly on the wheel while being humble enough to allow for input and observations from your passengers, whether they're alongside as a co-pilot or sitting in the back seat and in a position that you would tend to ignore?
34:32
Because I've certainly learned in my time as a manager and as a father that even when I think I see something...when I think I see a pink piece of plastic peeking out from under a leaf, so to speak, if I shout out, "I see an egg," and there's one over there, it's gonna cause whatever child I told that to to think differently and to—at least for that period of time—drop what they're doing and blindly trust me, which is not always the best decision and, quite frankly, is the opposite of what you should want people to do.
35:03
There's a time to blindly follow, but those times are limited. Right now, you want people to be creative. You want people to think for themselves, because if I happen to be wrong as a leader about what I see (or as a father), then I've shut down other thoughts. I've shut down some amount of creativity, and I've limited the ability for my stakeholders to grow confident in their own ability to be a future leader, because if I've learned anything from my time working at home with four young children running around, it's that if the—at least the older ones—don't feel like they have some input in the direction of the family and the makeup of our ever-evolving schedule and attempts to stay sane and avoid broken bones and windows and mass chaos in the house over the coming weeks and months, then the likelihood of sustaining whatever breakthroughs we do have on occasion will be greatly diminished.
35:57
So all that being said, hopefully all of these thoughts today help you shift gears in some way or shift lanes a little bit more smoothly. And if you're looking for some more depth on the topics that we discussed, I invite you to listen to additional podcasts, of course, or visit us at theenergydetox.com.
36:20
And, in the meantime, I want to offer my sincere thanks, of course, for listening, and I want to leave you with today's final question, which is...
Are the tools you're relying on to guide you to long-term personal and professional satisfaction...are they doing the job you want and need them to do or are you unwittingly following a GPS, so to speak, and ignoring all of the other signs telling you when to take a pit stop, or to slow down, or perhaps even to turn around?
36:57
...and as you ponder that, please allow me, you're grateful host Joe Sinnott, to once again thank you for listening and for suffering through all of today's forced analogies, with special acknowledgment to the directional drillers, mud loggers, geologists and the litany of individuals who have safely guided tens of thousands of horizontal wells to their targets over the last decade and also to those leaders of businesses of families and, yes, even of governments trying your best to steer us all in the right direction these days.
37:29
And, again, to learn more about The Energy Detox, we invite you to visit us at theenergydetox.com.
37:36
So, until next time, keep your hands firmly on the wheel and, if you happen to be following behind someone, be sure to maintain a safe distance....something we will discuss further on our next episode, where we explore the topic of social distancing and how it relates to the importance of proper horizontal well spacing. Thanks again.