Accountability

So now that I have become one of the “old guys” in the oil patch, I get asked questions all the time about my experiences. I guess I have lots of that so-called experience, but it still surprises me when asked. I am second gen oil and gas, and I did start in this business in 1982 as a roughneck, but I still feel like I don't know anything. This was the result of a question. Someone asked me “What does it take to move up in business nowadays?”

Well, that's easy I thought, I got this. All the old clichés came to mind:

I realized in short order that times have changed. What would work in the past just wasn’t the same today. I work for the most part downtown Calgary. When I first started everyone wore a suit. I would always come on Saturday mornings, and I wouldn't wear a tie, well because it was Saturday. For starters, a lot of very successful people don't work Saturday mornings anymore, let alone wear a tie or anything but jeans now. I still wear suits, but I am pretty lonely in that and the only reason I do it is that I figure people always dress less than there counterparts. So if I don't dress up, I might see a Black Iron Maiden t-shirt. Bronson has been pretty successful in wearing jeans every day.

First into work and last to leave is another old cliché from the "olden days" as my kids would say. The invention of the electronic age has many people working from home, and the smartphone has people answering emails text and calls long after the workday has ended. If anything, they have probably lengthened our 40-hour work week (don't I wish 40 hours).

There is so much different than it used to be. We were taught that concentration is the utmost and now we are constantly distracted by three screens across our computer, landlines and cell phones. If you don't know how to do three things at once, well your not a good enough multi-tasker. I recently noticed that I don't read books anymore. I feel like I don't have time. If I am walking on the street, I feel like I need to be on my phone. I listen to nothing but news and read nothing but politics, and I noticed I started to complain about politics. I have become my father. As another old cliché says 'What I fear I create,' and it has happened. So I quit the news and quit social media (hired someone to do it for us), Amber Harrison (an excellent way to go BTW). So I am trying to go back to basics. Since I stopped (or cut back) on news and social media, my productivity has increased. As David Goggin’s called it "killing empty habits" has given me more time for other stuff. I do have time to read, but I noticed my concentration has gone way down and is noticeable in conversation and in other areas of my life. That’s my accountability.

What does this have to do with moving ahead in a company, you ask? Follow me on this. Yes, everything has changed so much now, but actually, the underlying fundamentals remain the same. Hard work does pay off, and you have to be disciplined to move forward. It only looks different. We don’t need sales reports or to watch someone working hard in the office day in and day out. We have instant gratification with our computers. I see instantly, how a piece of equipment is doing, with an up to date dashboard on my computer. My board doesn't have to wait to see how my performance is until the end of the month. They have access to real-time revenue and who the customers are. They know how I am doing, and I must be accountable for that.

So things are different now but the basics of how to move forward remain the same. You need discipline, hard work, along with accountability and of course my favourite "attitude." These will always remain the same; it just how they are viewed that is different.   

Those are my thoughts, not yours.

L Scott Darling.