12 Recommendations for Being Successful in the Oil & Gas Industry

Dr. Eric van Oort

1. Avoid Boring People
o Boring other people, that is
o Write well
o Speak well in public
i. 5 Bs: Be brief, brother, be brief
o Be engaging while maintaining credibility
2. Work with and for- Good People
o Mentor and develop you
o Bad people exploit you for their own purposes and use you to progress their own
career
o Manage your manager
i. Give feedback
ii. Tell them what you need
o Working with bad people: get out and make change fast!
o Become a good judge of character
3. Invest in yourself now the money will come later
o Experience and diversity in your skill set is invaluable
o Become an expert
o Be passionate people will seek you out
4. Always keep an open mind you will be wrong sometimes
o It s good to have an opinion unpinned by facts, but
o Admit that you might be wrong sometimes
o You do not necessarily have to show great humility, but it is generally bad to:
i. Double-down on a wrong or obsolete point of view
ii. Believe in your own infallibility
iii. Believe in the hype around your persona as an expert
iv. Take yourself too seriously
v. Not understand why people may treat you nicely because you work for a
(major) operator
o When you fail, fail fast and get over it
5. Make lots of contacts and friends
o Remarkably small industry
o Who you know
o Who you can collaborate with
6. Follow your own course & be nothing if not critical
o People will tell you often why things cannot be done and why your ideas will fail
if you follow their advice, you are guaranteed to become as unsuccessful as they
have been
o Follow your own instincts, chart your own course
7. Your reputation is EVERYTHING! Integrity is rewarded!
o Build an iron-clad reputation by:
i. Doing excellent work that is recognized and rewarded
ii. Under-promise and over-deliveralways
iii. Build an active network of contacts, bring resources together for a
common goal
iv. Volunteer for industry functions and invest some quality time in delivering
for them
v. Be fair, balanced and objective
vi. Publish, speak at conferences, work with legislators / regulators, etc.etc.
8. Dont fight change (It is inevitable) be a champion for it!
o Companies reorganize often (3-7 years)
o People who can handle / manage change are the ones to thrive in todays
companies
o Become a champion for change, new technology and improvement
o Reinvent yourself every few years do not become a one trick pony
9. Dont work just for the money (it is a terrible way to waste a life & brain)
o Money is important, but.people generally do not work for money
o Money is generally a very poor motivator; it is not what gets you out of bed in the
morning
o Find something that you are passionate about, become an expert, and people
will beat a path to your door (with money to match)
10. See the world work in very different places (it will broaden your horizons)
o Living abroad Is very different from just visiting abroad, it provides new & unique
perspectives
o Being an expat gives you an appreciation for cultural diversity
11. Be a good listener & go out on a limb sometimes
o Dale Carnegie: people like the sound of their own voice true, but sometimes it
pays to just listen
o Listen to people you would normally not have time for you will be amazed!
o The true measure of a man is how he treats / listens to people who can do him
absolutely no good
12. Think big, work on big ideas and projects
o It takes the same amount of energy to think big as it does to think small - so
think big! Tad Patzek, PGE Chair
o Positive change revolves around big ideas, and big initiatives to match them
o Working on big ideas provides a powerful motivator to make a meaningful impact
o What are you going to do with your life, how are you going to make it
meaningful?
13. So what are you going to do?
o To make this industry safer?
o To make this industry more environmentally friendly?
o To make this industry more efficient?
o To develop this industrys technology further?
o To solve this industrys PR problem?
o To attract and develop the next generation to work in this industry?