"A goal without a plan is just hot air"
While propane continues to lift millions of people out of energy poverty, it can also lift you 3000 feet above the earth. And although the propane-powered luxury of flying through the clouds in a wicker basket is obviously not as important as the freedom and health benefits afforded to families who no longer have to gather and burn biomass for heating and cooking purposes, a hot air balloon ride does provide a great opportunity to ponder the ongoing damage leadersโin both the public and private sectorโare causing by spewing hot air instead of taking logical, coherent, and sustainable actions.
That being said, in this live episode of The Energy Detox, we'll look to several recent examples of such hot air from President Biden and AOC so that you can be more on guard against situations where your stakeholders are treating you like you are full of hot air, have your head in the clouds, and are merely relying on the wind to steer your team and your organization toward some uncertain destination.
The headline: ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐: ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐ก๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ซ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ (by Judah Waxelbaum for The Jerusalem Post)
The goal: to (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ, (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ, ๐๐ง๐ (๐)๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง success by pondering these 3 questions throughout your day:
๐ก How often are you filling your communications with empty words that don't generate any lift?
๐ก In what ways are you unwittingly contributing to a Hindenburg-like company culture?
๐ก How long until your over-inflated ego bursts your thinned-out leadership balloon?
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Hello and welcome to another live edition of the energy detox a petroleum based blend of leadership conversations guaranteed to 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 look at how those leaders employ physics to get ahead and to keep moving upwards and to help help keep leading their teams upward to greater things. But the physics we're going to talk about is not of course, the literal laws of nature. But we're going to talk about the figurative use of hot air to move a message forward to move an agenda forward, and how a little bit of hot air might have some benefits. But too much can cause your stakeholders to question. You know how much you have going on, whether you're really a good conscious leader, or whether your heads are in the clouds, if you will. And whether you're, you know, at risk of falling back to Earth pretty quickly, because your message isn't filled with substance, it's filled with noise, it's filled with words that really don't have a lot of meaning. And to help inspire today's conversation, we look to an opinion piece from the Jerusalem Post that was published yesterday. And that piece talks about how there's so much hot air, so much empty words, if you will, that are flowing from politicians and from other business leaders regarding climate change, and the best ways to address climate change. And of course, we can continue to look at the results or lack of results from cop 26. Over in Scotland, where there was a lot of talk, there was a lot of bloviating, and a lot of, you know, inspiring or at least inspiration esque messaging. But at the end of the day, there wasn't a lot of substance, it was mostly hot air. And in fact, what I love from this opinion piece yesterday in the Jerusalem Post was the one line that said a goal without a plan is just hot air. And that's the title of this video today. And Title of this podcast, a goal without a plan is just hot air. Well, that was a tremendous line from the author, Judah, wax obame. And again, it sums up what I'm seeing from a lot of leaders, not just from a political standpoint, but certainly from those who are leading companies where a lot of messaging, a lot of internal and external communications are just that hot air, they don't carry a lot of substance. And to add on to this theme, if you will, I need to turn to a business trip that I had earlier this week, where I found myself 3000 feet above the Earth, propelled by hot air in a hot air balloon above Southern California floating through the sky. And as you can imagine being there and this propane propelled vessel. And again, thanks to the to the beauty of that beautiful natural gas, liquid propane was able to in, get above the clouds go through the clouds look down below and also spend some time pondering the figurative nature of hot air that permeates a lot of leaders. And what did that experience teach me? Well, one again, what a tremendous fuel. Propane is to be able to have that in a nice condensed form there with for very large bottles of propane to generate the flames to fill the balloon and move it upwards and allow it to drift along of course, but and also, again, let's have lots of forced analogies, if you will, to leadership, and to those who maybe don't have the right fuel to those who are filling their balloon, if you will, with with something that's not going to allow it to sustain momentum and to stay up in the air. Because in many cases, whether we're talking about cop 26, or whether we're talking about, again, internal communication is meant to build engagement and increase morale. There's a lot of empty words, there's a lot of fuel, if you will, that is going to be short lived, that could be toxic. And so again, as we've been doing in this, you know, format here on the energy detox, we're going to use these examples. We're going to use this recent opinion piece. We're going to use my own experience this week over in Southern California to ask you questions, and to help you avoid situations where what's coming out of your mouth is really just a bunch of hot air so that you can avoid being looked upon as President Biden is right now and AOC is right now because of things they've said over the last four to eight hours regarding the energy industry, President Biden, while he, you know, has has obviously been in the news for trying to balance the desire, the desire his intention to remove our dependence on fossil fuels, while also increasing in the short term, the production of fossil fuels to lower costs. Well, he went a step further in the last several hours by basically claiming that your own gas industry is colluding against consumers by having artificially high prices, when in fact, again, if you dig into the basics of supply and demand and the actual timing that it takes to produce energy, the reality is, the prices that we're seeing is simply an impact of all of the decisions that he and others have made over the last several months, this isn't something that can just be turned on a dime. He's also gone out and helped to propel the message that other companies need to begin releasing their own strategic petroleum reserves just as, again, United States has its strategic petroleum reserves that could have some short term benefit in terms of prices, but of course, has long term implications and again, begins to chip away at some of his messages and begins to make some of his comments regarding climate change sound like a bunch of hot air,
06:09
we also had again, in the last day or so, Alexandria, Ocasio Cortez, Representative AOC, coming out and making some false claims regarding the intention for pipelines that have since been cancelled, or pipelines that are in existence that, again, she's mischaracterizing as intended to lead to the exportation of natural gas when in fact, they were intended to move oil and crude so that again, it could be used here in the United States and processed here in the United States, and bring us to a situation or be it in a longer term situation where we're not paying more than we need to for the hydrocarbons that are going to continue propelling and fueling our life. So all that being said, we have no shortage of examples of politicians, and unfortunately, leaders within industry who are filling the airwaves with a bunch of hot air. So with all that being said, we're going to jump in today's first question, all of which, of course, are intended to help you grow, protect and sustain success. And that first question today is, how often are you filling your communications with empty words that don't generate any lift? Because what is the intention of hot air in a hot air balloon environment? Well, of course, it's the generate lift, it's to take advantage of the laws of physics, where hotter air is going to rise, and it's going to bring the balloon and the basket and all of its occupants up into the atmosphere. And while that sounds good, and while that can have some short term benefits for you, as a leader, are you over reliant on hot air to help get your message out there. And in the last episode of the energy detox, we talked about how some leaders are overusing numbers to to generate some, some movement and to help move their message forward. But in many cases, those numbers fall on deaf ears, or people begin to get desensitized to them. And so too, can some words that don't involve numbers and are just a bunch of fluff. And certainly when it comes to climate change in the energy transition, many leaders within oil and gas companies are putting out messages that sound good, that sound consistent, that sound innocent, if you will. But when you dig right into them, many cases, they're they're hot air, they're not resonating with people, or they're quite frankly, not sustainable, they're not going to be able to withstand changes in, you know, the talent pools that are ever shifting the demands of employees, the demands of investors. And the more that you have to continue shifting your words, again, the less your credibility is going to be able to withstand the pressures of your external and internal stakeholders. So ask yourself, when you're speaking, when you're talking, when you're putting out written communications, or in a more personal environment, when you're sitting down with your employees and your stakeholders and your colleagues, is what's coming out of your mouth filled with some sort of substance or is it just a bunch of hot air?
08:54
And if you flip the script and you listen to yourself talk once in a while, and it doesn't sound like a lot of substance? Well, take a pause, take a break. Cut to the chase. You know, we talked about wanting transparency and clarity in terms of communications, well, ask yourself if you're not just being transparent, but if you're being clear, if you're being consistent if you're being concise, or if you're just again, looking to to fill space, if you will, to fill a press release to fill some sort of internal email that's going out there. Because the more time you spend just filling up the figurative balloon, if you will, the less that people are gonna take notice. You know, again, it's it's majestic. You know, seeing if you've ever seen a sky filled with hot air balloons. It's, it's an incredible sight. You know, the sights that I saw this weekend and floating through the skies of Southern California were tremendous, were amazing, but at some point, it is possible as beautiful as that might be to get desensitized, and if your language is desensitizing people if it sounded good once or twice, but now all of your empty promises about moving your company forward and about the energy transition and about your attempts to go net zero. If all of those claims begin to lose muster, well, you're going to have a loss of morale pretty darn quickly in terms of your internal stakeholders, and you're going to have a loss of interest from your external stakeholders quickly, as well. So every time the term net zero comes out of your mouth, every time you talk about increased engagement, and transparency, and all these buzzwords among your employees, every time you use the word sustainability, ask yourself, if it's starting to sound more like hot air, or if there's really some meat behind those words, if there's really some substance because if there isn't, you might find yourself adrift, a float. And again, much as those who are piloting a hot air balloon, you know, you might find yourself you know, without a whole bunch of control, you know, hot air balloon pilot, as I learned two days ago, doesn't have a whole lot of control. In go up and down, there's some patterns in terms of, of how the, the the wind at different elevations turns one way or the other, which is, which is pretty neat. But at the end of the day, it's not like you can just plug in into your GPS and say, Hey, we want to go from point A to point B. And, you know, we'll see you there in an hour, no GPS might help you know, where exactly are where there might be some some possible landing options. But it's not quite the same as the GPS in your car where, you know, you can turn left or right or reroute, there's not a whole lot of rerouting when you're in a hot air balloon. So ask yourself, if you're in a situation where again, you're at the mercy of the wind, if you will, and you're just floating there, or whether you are conscious of all the different variables that are going to get you from A to B, or that can push you off course. And so with all that being said, we're gonna move on to the next question today, which is, in what ways are you unwittingly contributing to a Hindenburg like company culture. And of course, if you're familiar with the Hindenburg, the airship from the 1930s, that after several successful trips back and forth across the Atlantic had a fairly spectacular and tragic end to its existence, they're costing the lives of, I believe, a couple dozen people in New Jersey as it came in for a landing and as the hydrogen, you know, took took took on some flames if you will, and burst into flames. And, and again, it was a it was a spectacular ending to a what had been a pretty, pretty cool situation, right? I mean, the airships flying back and forth, you know, they were bringing crowds to look at this, this tremendous spectacle that, of course, shifted pretty quickly. And in the famous words of the reporter there on the ground, you know, over the humanity, Oh, the humanity as a Hindenburg burst into flames. And again, are you setting yourself up for a situation where those around you are looking at you and looking at your company, and you know, on the cusp of them saying over the humanity as you and your company burst into flames. And again, I don't want to, you know, be overly dramatic about this. But there are a lot of companies that are there, and they're teetering, they're teetering on the edge of catastrophe from an internal talent standpoint, and they don't even realize it. So ask yourself, you know, are you at risk of some mule spark that could ignite the hydrogen, if you will, that's, that's filling your organization. And that can lead to a pretty quick, catastrophic event much like the Hindenburg. And again, this isn't meant to scare you. But it is meant to boost your awareness of the fact that there could be some small spark that could ignite things. And again, even in the Hindenburg, there's still some question what exactly ignited those flames? And what exactly led to the catastrophe that that led to that loss of life?
13:30
It's still a question. And again, it's an interesting question, as we we look today to shifts in energy in the energy transition, if for no other reason, then the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen. And one kind of side note here is I go off on a little bit of a tangent here and weave together are forced together some some physics and some energy themes today. One thing while looking quickly about the Hindenburg is that the United States back in the 1930s forbid us they for leaders forbid, United States from exporting helium, we had, you know, plenty Helium was relative to the rest of the world. And, you know, it was strategic, you had a gas that was not flammable, like hydrogen. And so we wanted to preserve it. And so that forced companies that had interest in having gases that were lighter than air to lift ships like the Hindenburg up in the air, they were forced to use hydrogen instead of helium. And, again, we can go through all the, you know, the pros and cons of each thing. But it's just interesting that, again, we have different fuels, we have different trade offs and going back to AOCs misleading comments about the importance of importing or the the strategic reasons perhaps not to, to export and import. It's an interesting parallel to say, hey, look, there's trade offs, right? There's trade offs to importing versus exporting the, the, you know, the natural resources that we have here. Just as there were pros and cons to exporting helium to other countries from a strategic standpoint, that helium was used in wartime purposes. Again, it would seem foolish United States to export it. But at the same time, from a safety standpoint, using helium as a means of lifting airships, as opposed to hydrogen was, you know, again had some trade offs. Helium doesn't quite have the the lifting power that hydrogen does. But at the same time again, it's not flammable, which is why you have the Goodyear blimp, which of course, is filled with helium, there's less risk than hydrogen, even though again, there's some trade offs in terms of the amount of lift and the amount of cargo that it can carry. But anyway, now that I'm way off on a tangent here, which is the beauty of Live episodes like this and bring it back to you. And as you look at different trade offs, are you erring too much on the side of safety and ignoring again, some small spark that could ignite some big flames? And cause you and your company culture to take a you know, a downward turn? And if so, how could you be on guard against that? How could you have your teammates, your colleagues, your employees on guard against those sparks that could again, Ignite whatever flammable nature you've created within your organization? And all? That brings us to the third question, which is how long until your overinflated ego bursts your thinned out leadership balloon. And again, this might be a little bit Stark, this might seem a little bit more focused on some of the toxicity that is filling certain leaders these days. But the reality is, there's a lot of ego driven decisions within certainly politicians that we can go on and talk about for hours, but also, within leaders of oil and gas companies these days who want to protect their messaging, they've already begun to fill their corporate communications with what again, so my call is a lot of hot air. And as they move forward, any attempts to perhaps backtrack on that could be seen as something that is that is inconsistent with what they've been saying. And it could chip away at their credibility, it could chip away at the confidence that their stakeholders have in them. And all of that is a form of kind of preserving and building up their ego. But as you try to preserve your ego, if not inflate your ego, how could that lead to a thinning, if you will, of company culture, I can lead to a thinning of your company strategy? And how could it in turn lead to a popping or bursting of the figurative balloon that is you and your organization. And, again, we're just talking about individual leaders right now. We're talking about individual egos. And what it is that's driving individuals. And as we've talked about, on multiple episodes of the energy detox, having a bit of ego, having a bit of self serving purposes, if you will, having a little bit of, you know, motivation that's based on an individual's desire to make money and have power and have influence and all of those things is not inherently bad. But today, we want to focus on conscious leadership, and are you conscious of the ways that your ego and your self preservation is in fact, filling up your company with a bunch of hot air, perhaps a little bit too much hot air, that could lead to catastrophe. And again, we could force a bunch of analogies back to the, to the balloon ride that I enjoyed this week. But the reality is, when you're filled with too much hot air, you're gonna go up into the stratosphere, you're gonna have different wind currents, it could shift you even further away from potential landing zones, if
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you will. And if you're a drift up there, and people see that you're a drifting, all you're doing is trying to solve the problem by introducing more hot air. And as you backpedal, you know, and you get nervous, putting more energy and time and money into something that is basically a loss. Again, your stakeholders are going to see that they're going to see that and at some point, your bubbles gonna pop. So again, ask yourself, Is your ego perhaps thinning out the strategy that you have in place? Is it causing additional stress on the outside of the balloon that could lead to premature failure? Is there a possibility for me to add in even more analogies to this, whatever, you know, 1520 minute podcast? I don't know the answer to all those questions. But you do you have the answer? And again, is your ego getting in the way of sustained success for you and your organization? And could it cause you eventually to come crashing down to the ground. And so with all that being said, I appreciate again, this, this balloon themed version of the energy detox where again, our focus on our normal GPS theme or GPS for leaders approach that I employ in all of my coaching is meant as always, to help boost your awareness to help get you from point A to point B, even in situations where like in a hot air balloon, you don't have full control, where you don't have the ability to, you know, precisely dictate your route where you are at the mercy of outsiders and outside influences and different currents and winds, if you will, but you do have some decisions you can make, you can control when to go up or down and you can control certain elements, but you need to make very clear and confident decisions along the way. And again, not just sit back and allow yourself to float aimlessly if for no other reason. Then people see that and if they see you floating aimlessly if they see that you're just filled with A bunch of hot air if they see that the things coming out of your mouth have no substance. Well, again, you're asking for trouble. And that trouble might not be as catastrophic as a hot air balloon crashing into powerlines, or house or might not be as catastrophic as the Hindenburg, of course, which, you know, went up in flames and led to the loss of many lives. Now, it might not be as catastrophic. In fact, it might be more of a of a subtle catastrophe, if you will. But no doubt, if you continue to rely on hot air to move your message forward, people are going to see it. And just as this article pointed out, and just as the title of this podcast notes, a goal without a plan is just hot air. A goal without a plan is just you going up into the winds and hoping that you're going to land in a safe spot, hoping that you're not going to find yourself adrift hoping that you're not going to run out of fuel. And whether that fuel is something new and something exciting that's on the horizon. That's, that's going to eventually replace hydrocarbons. Who knows it doesn't matter. But for now, what is the fuel that's driving you again? Is it nice, compact, affordable, reliable, clean burning American propane that helped propel me 3000 feet into the air 36 hours ago? Or is it something that's you know, yet to be tested, that's maybe unreliable, that's extra flammable, like hydrogen, for example, that led to the Hindenburg catastrophe back in the 1930s. Whatever the case might be, you need to boost your consciousness, you need to boost your awareness of the fuel that's driving, you have the words that's coming out of your mouth, the perception that people have in you, and regarding what you're saying, so that you don't look like a leader or a pilot that's out there with a goal and a destination. That is just hot air. And so with all that being said, I appreciate your your time and your energy here as we went for a slightly longer edition of the energy detox today. But if nothing else, I do hope that it continues to have you asking the right question so that you can continue growing, protecting and sustaining success for you and your stakeholders. And I invite you to continue tuning in to these episodes of the daily detox where we will continue taking current headlines, current energy industry themes, current leadership challenges that I'm seeing as an executive coach and as someone who has a great appreciation for everything that's going on within the energy industry right now. And I hope that you continue joining us and providing feedback and comments and commentary and suggestions regarding the approaches that you can take. And then I'm sharing with you so that you are not seen as filled with hot air. So again, thank you for tuning in. Thank you for checking out the energy detox again today. And I hope you have an excellent rest of the day.