What can Madonna teach us about mature oil & gas pros "living in a millennial world?"

Episode 89 of The Energy Detox weaves 5 hit songs from the sexagenarian Queen of Pop into 5 questions you can ask to better bridge generational gaps and avoid allowing yourself or others to prematurely "take a bow":

"Like a Prayer" - Do seasoned veterans in oil and gas have a prayer when it comes to seeking employment or advancing in their careers?

"Material Girl" - Are you able to quantify your non-material value for existing or potential employers?

"Vogue" - How can you proactively debunk the label of being an "old school worker that is stuck in your ways?"

"Like a Virgin" - What advice would you give your younger self on day one in the energy industry?

"Papa Don't Preach" - How can you model authentic curiosity regardless of how much knowledge and experience you have?

Transcript

(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)

Hello, and welcome to the energy detox coming to you today from outside PPG paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where in just a couple of hours Madonna the Queen of Pop will be taking the stage. And given Madonna's 40 plus years of performing and serving her constituents, if you will, what better way what better time to address the topic of generational gaps and potential ageism in the oil and gas industry then right now, right here in front of PPG paints, arena. But before we do that, and before we take some of Madonna's songs and weave together some of the common themes that I get to see as a coach in our industry related to generational gaps and potential ageism, let's go ahead and lay out a couple important disclaimers. The first of which is I am not attending tonight's concert. Nobody in my family is attending tonight's concert. But I am standing here right next to the arena because there's a church directly in front of me and one of my children has an activity going on right now. So of course, why wouldn't I step outside and record a quick episode of the energy detox? The second disclaimer is that this episode is by no means some sort of list of things that you need to do to address ageism, or generational gaps in your industry and your day to day. No, as is the case here on the energy detox, what you're gonna get is mostly questions, questions that you can ask yourself, so that you can come up with answers with data with some sort of picture of the realities of your specific situation so that you can address whatever age related hurdles or opportunities exist. And the third and final disclaimer is that this is by no means directed solely at those veterans, those mature individuals within our industry. No, this is directed just as much as those who are just entering our industry. And of course, anybody that's in between those fresh hires, and those who've been around, perhaps for a couple of decades. And so with those disclaimers out of the way, let's go ahead and step through five songs, five hits from Madonna. And again, tie each of those songs to some questions that you can ask yourself. And of course, again, as I stand here, right next to a church, what better song to start with then, like a prayer? And the question associated with that, for our industry is do seasoned veterans in oil and gas, have a prayer when it comes to seeking employment? Perhaps those who are in between jobs? Do they have a prayer? Do they have a chance when it comes to finding meaningful work in our industry? Or for those who are already employed? Do they have a chance they have a prayer of moving up and gaining more responsibilities, despite what might be several decades of experience? And the short answer to that is, well, maybe it depends. But the reality is, it depends on the approach of that individual. Because one of the things that I encounter fairly regularly is people reaching out to me who, again, who have been around for several decades asking just that question, do I have a chance? Or how do I boost my odds at least of finding a new job or moving up or finding something new or fulfilling with whatever time I want to keep working? And typically, again, there's no set response. But typically, what I uncover is that they're not being as active as they could be. And what I mean by that is, they're not out there, giving people the tools giving people the ammo that they need that other people need to help make the case for them. And we'll give you one specific example. Somebody reached out not that long ago, drilling company, man, and he'd been out of work looking for new work been around for at least 30 years. But despite having a pretty decent resume, and despite having it out there, so to speak, despite having consulting firms who supposedly were out there looking for jobs for him to land. He wasn't being active, he wasn't giving them anything else. He wasn't giving them anything that could differentiate him from what in reality are hundreds of other people with similar resumes, who are looking for similar roles. And so what did we do very quickly, we stepped through his differentiators. In fact, while he was pretty modest, and didn't have a an easy time coming up with those differentiators. Fortunately, his wife was also on the phone during this conversation, and she had no problem skewing at least half a dozen things that distinguished him from everybody else that was looking to do something similar. And guess what they were able to spin that into a headline into a story that they could use to then go back to those consulting firms couldn't go back to those people who already had his resume and say, Oh, by the way, here's a simple headline that you can use to differentiate him from everybody else. So again, if you want to prayer or if you want to boost your odds, at least of giving, getting that final roll or an additional role, then you need to do that. You need to come up with a simple message that you can get into the hands of others so that you have people out there advocating on your behalf. With that being said, let's move on to the second song and in turn the second set of questions that you can ask yourself, and that song is Material Girl and The question there is, can you quantify your non material value? Can you quantify the unquantifiable? Can you come up with some sort of number for those intangible benefits that you can bring to an organization? And again, this is obviously related to the first question, but forces you to to get into the weeds a little bit more to come up with a number, or at least something some sort of additional quantifiable piece of information that's going to grab the attention of your audience. And for this, again, I want to give credit to a couple of different people one, certainly Dr. Amanda Rico, who if you don't follow her, you should especially again, if you're interested in trying to boost your presence and want to give credit to to JB Benda, who, again, if you know him, and you saw some of this material recently, he hit this point head on, he said, If you don't know your value, if you can't put $1 amount to your time and what you're worth, you're at a disadvantage. That doesn't mean you're going to find a role or a job that's gonna pay you what you're worth. No, it doesn't quite work like that. But at least if you know what you're worth, and you can go into a conversation or have a conversation with your existing employer about that worth, again, you are at an advantage. So do that, again, recognize that in many ways, you know, is as much as the oil and gas industry has prided itself on producing a very material product, a very tangible product, again, in many ways we live in an in material world. And sometimes you need to put $1 figure to some of those unquantifiable values. So with that, again, take a page from some of the new unquantifiable values of our industry when it comes to things like carbon credits and environmental attributes that people have no problem sticking in number two, even though they're difficult to grasp. And again, do the same thing for yourself, attach some value to some of those some of those difficult to see things that, again, might not be comfortable for you, especially if you've been around an industry where again, we'd like to see and touch and feel, typically the things that we're producing. With that being said, let's move on to the third song, and that is Vogue, Vogue. And the question there is, how can you proactively debunk the label of being somebody who is old school and stuck on the status quo. And again, as cliche as it is somebody who is inclined to just do things the way that they've always been done? The question for you is, again, how do you get ahead of that narrative? Because the reality it's out there people are are waiting, they're waiting to say that to slap that label on people who've been around for any number of years. Whether it's true or not, whether it's fair or not, the reality is people are doing that. So the question for you is, how do you proactively address that? How do you take a moment and basically call out the elephant in the room and say, Hey, guys, Hey, gals, we don't want to just do things the way we've always been doing it, right? I did that 30 years ago. Let's think of a couple new ways to do it. Yes, we can build on what was done before. But hey, we don't want to, we don't want to just go with the status quo. Here, there's a lot more value, there's a lot more untapped potential that we can access, if we don't embrace the status quo. So we can think of tactful ways to do that, so that you don't find yourself on the defensive. Because again, if you're not proactive, I promise you, that narrative is going to develop and then you're going to have to defend yourself and by then, it's too late. So again, build on your experience, acknowledge your experience, but don't let other people attach that label to you. Or else, it could be game over. Song number four, and question number four, and that is like a version? And what's the question to ask related to the song like a version? Well, it's what would you tell your younger self? On day one, when you first entered the energy industry, however long it happened to be you can go back in time, what would you tell your younger self? And again, I love this question. Again, you can hear it in all various forms from various leadership gurus and everything else. You could say, you know, what would you tell your younger self? All of those various things? And it's a great question. And it's important one to ask yourself, because if you're armed with at least one or two of those tidbits, hey, what would what advice would you give your younger self and you can deliver it in a thoughtful way again, in a proactive way, people are going to pay attention. If for no other reason, then, you know, I think unfortunately, people are drawn in sometimes by a little bit of regret, right? Oh, what's this person gonna say? What? What are they going to reveal? And once you have their attention, if you share something of value, now you can embark on a fruitful conversation again, if for no other reason, then you showed a little bit humility, right? A little bit of candor, you let your guard down and maybe just maybe, especially if you offer some good advice to your younger self, the people on the other side might be inclined to ask some more questions and extract some of that value for you, which of course is absolutely what you want. You want the other side, being curious and asking questions, to unlock the knowledge that those seasoned veterans and again if you're one of those seasoned veterans that you have, so again, embrace the theme of like aversion, go back in time, ask yourself what,

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again, what advice you would give to your younger self there as you just enter the industry and share it or at least be ready to share it with others. And the fifth and final Madonna song that we're going to use to talk about generational gaps and managing the potential downside and upside of ageism in the energy industry is Papa don't preach. And in the song Papa don't preach Madonna is singing to her father saying, hey, look, or at least the the person in the song is singing to her father, hey, I'm pregnant, and I'm going to keep this baby. And basically, Papa, you know, I don't really care what you have to say I'm letting you know I made this decision. And so the question for you related to that song, the theme of that song is how can you model authentic curiosity so that you don't come across as preachy? And again, I will say this now, I will reiterate one of the disclaimers from early on that this is not this is absolutely not some sort of admonition against those veterans of our industry and saying, you know, don't share what you know, don't preach to others don't don't come across as preachy, because that is not the case at all. And again, piece of advice, if you will, like that can, again come across, totally incorrect. No, this is actually one of those two way street questions, two way street for people who are new to the industry, who have been experienced in the industry and everywhere in between, to demonstrate curiosity, how can you demonstrate curiosity, and one of the practical ways to do that is again, a tip and it's not my tip, it's certainly one that I embrace, and try to share with others. And that is, the old Tell me more. You know, when somebody shares some sort of tidbit with you, or some new piece of information in your company, respond with, tell me more slow down, resist the urge to jump in and share your own thoughts and what you know about the topic say, Hey, tell me more, that lets everybody's guard down. And again, especially for somebody who might be, again, experienced and probably does know quite a bit about that topic. It shows a level of humility and curiosity that is going to breed a much better conversation. And again, for those of you who are newer to the industry, embrace the same thing. Don't come across like, you know, things because you don't have to know things. Again, going back to the previous question, you know, what would I tell my younger self? I would tell myself that it is absolutely okay to say, I don't know, we'll take it a step further. Again, recently, I heard Simon Sinek say, you know, one of the best tools that he tells people to use is, I don't know anything about that, you know, take it a step further. And again, if it's true, if it's genuine, if it's authentic, say, I don't know anything about that, that totally sets a perfect tone for a conversation now, for people to explore the unknown and new topics, even if you have an inkling. So we can resist the urge to jump in and tell people what you know, shut up, listen. And then with that insight, with that little bit of extra knowledge with that little bit of telling me more. Now you can build. Now you can ask better questions, now you can grow. And so with that, again, hopefully those disclaimers all come to fruition there. And hopefully, you understand that, again, this is a absolutely a two way street with the shared goal of unlocking all of the value all of the potential that is housed in people who have decades and decades of experience. And so with that, again, before you allow others to take a bow, again, subtle nod there to another Madonna song to their career and, and bow out early and leave every kind of value that's still there on the table. And before you yourself, take a bow prematurely. And again, we value on the table, run through these questions, ask yourself how you can boost your presence, boost your value to others, and continue contributing at the same level. Perhaps I guess, I don't know, I haven't necessarily been following Madonna's tour here other than the fact that I do know in New York a couple weeks ago, she went on stage about two and a half hours later than she should have. So again, for these people in Pittsburgh who are getting ready to enjoy the show. Hopefully, that's not the case tonight. But other than that, again, I can't speak to the value that she's delivered to her fans, but I do know, firsthand from working with plenty of veterans of the world and gas industry that there is tremendous, untapped potential. And hopefully, these questions hopefully, this episode here is a little bit of fun, but provides again, some value to you to make sure that that value is not left behind. So with that, again, I'm going to take a bow of sorts here and end this episode and head back into retrieve my child here from the church next door. But for now, again, thanks as always for tuning in to the energy detox and I hope you have an excellent rest of the day and I look forward to you joining here again next time on the energy detox

Leadership, Management, Coaching, Energy, Envronment, ESG, SustainabilityJoe SinnottLeadership, CoachingComment