Get Up in a Downturn

NOW is the Time, a Series of thoughts and ideas in Preparation for the SAP Oil & Gas Keynote.  https://youtu.be/EDWow2SRnHo

Part 1 - Owning Your Environment      

SURVIVAL IS NOT ENOUGH

 In my teenage years in Aberdeen, Scotland, we were given mandatory basic training to be able to participate in Scottish country dancing. I believe it was part of developing a set of life skills which would be, at a minimum, needed in weddings and annual celebrations.  It was the very last thing that my friends and I wanted to do - learn  something new that has a high risk of looking ridiculous in a large group. But little did we know that we were developing a set of life skills as well as getting an education in socialization.  Through this awkward teenage moment, I realize now that I was learning how to respond to a potential public embarrassment at the cost of learning about growth and life integration.  I was faced with a choice that would come again and again: tolerate and avoid or push through and learn.  How I chose to approach the moment mentally was in fact, not just a moment, but a choice to fight an inner battle. It is my choice, survive or strive, survive through difficult circumstance or deciding that striving through personal development is worth it.  All phases of life have this same choice and all phases of business do too.  The battle for influence over the environment you live in is entirely up to you.

It is a question of willingness to get involved and owning the environment. Whether you are responsible for arriving at this point or it is out of your control, you are here.  How will you choose?  I know that as we look back and think about past and present situations that it can be easy to construct slanted scenarios where we can assign blame to others, but only you can actually make a difference in the experience. Taking ownership of your response and seeing it as opportunity to change the potential impact of a current environment is a big personal step. 

Whatever the pattern has been in your business and personal life thus far, I would like to propose a shift of striving to learn to grow through hard times.  A critical step begins with a healthy open assessment of opportunity and restriction in one’s self. To do so, you will need a new skill, let’s call it “becoming blame-retardant!”

BECOMING BLAME-RETARDANT 

Just like a flame, blame can be a dangerous element if handled incorrectly.  Blame exists but it should be used carefully because without understanding the power it holds you can inadvertently cause destruction.  For example, when you use fire at home, you do so in a very controlled manner like in a fireplace, candle or when cooking.  In these examples your motive is simple: to use the flame sparingly in a careful and controlled manor solely for the purpose of improving the health and wellbeing of those in the space.  If you must assign blame, do so in the same way you handle a flame, carefully and sparingly.  To become blame retardant, approach challenges with a willingness to be wrong while maintaining a strong sense of self.

In the end, the assignment of blame is a complex and potentially destructive tool, and should be handled by experts, where the positive use of it to add energy and provide light are the only valuable applications. Using blame to make things “not your fault” eliminates you from the learning equation, and creates a destructive outcome.  Interestingly the use of blame as a correction tool works in a similar way and can also be void of learning, because the outcome, shame, feeds in to an often engulfing emotional negative mental spiral that can not be reasoned with or added to. Blame begins with a healthy self view.  When you understand that you are imperfect but highly valuable, you can effectively assess the part that you have played in the problem.  It is merely helpful in seeing a better way forward to begin with personal leadership, raising my hand and seeing, that to handle blame well I need to apply it as and luminary on my own weakness and learning. This way others can see the example and choose for themselves how they will respond.  You can not control others behavior but you can learn to discover the potential journey of change and self growth, as you discover how responsibility and accountability are not the same as shame. If you want others to learn, you must lead as a learner for them to follow. Use blame carefully and sparingly, and do not let it cause destruction, because when blame starts to take hold of your mind, shame can run rampant and bad things happen.

OWNING THE SPACE, NOW

This is where I believe self-awareness of the potential your thoughts, words and actions could have, becomes a vital part of understanding business and how you can cause all situations to have a positive effect.  When you transition to seeing your contribution as a critical component in the health and wellbeing of others, your behavior should begin to change.  It begins with yourself, but you will soon see how, whether you believe it or not, we all influence each other.  This is when you start to recognize that the creation or destruction of your environment lies solely in your hands.  Most of us are quick to describe all of the elements that affect our environment, when the important outcomes are often found in how much ownership we take for our contribution to the situations we face. It is in this thought process that I am learning to focus on managing how I let the behavior of others impact my own sense of direction. As all I can control is how I choose to respond, I find the most value I can give to others I lead is found in investing the right portion of my time in growing myself. I recommend the use of humor, and not at others expense, can really help fuel a positive outcome in heavy times.  Use it wisely and appropriately but do find ways to bring levity in tough times.

To obsess about your next job or why people do or do not recognize your abilities is a part of life.   You have the power to make the most of the time and space around you at this very moment to enact change. Tomorrow will bring with it a new set of challenges, but today, right NOW, is the big challenge.  A level of clear headed review is needed to create a positive projection of the current and future state.  The context of NOW is important and combined with a good view of a better tomorrow are the elements of growth, but let us stay focused around the importance of the space we inhabit now, and what are we going to do with it. Think about what you can do NOW to bring a better tomorrow.

NO PAIN, NO PAIN!

This is the true cry of our inner being, let’s face it. I am not suggesting denying the unpleasant truth of our realities is the path forward, but it is a human prewire that comes at birth. For a very real example, we in Oil and Gas, are facing a horrific recession that has devastating potential to our businesses, friends and families, which has been very difficult to not obsess about daily.  I could see how you may think that a good solution might be to find a quiet space, - to limit the amount of time you are reminded about reality, with the ultimate goal being to block negativity and start thinking positively.  -  However, what I am proposing is a healthy, more present approach.  Instead of focusing on fear and of what could go wrong, try embracing all of it -– the good and the bad – and let yourself fully immerse in this experience.

TIME WINS

I don’t speak of this lightly, but rather from my own life, or perhaps I should say “near death” experience.  Over 10 years ago in the middle of the National Oilwell and Varco merger, I was handling the Varco part of the DOJ preparations and in the middle of an important career time I developed excessive blood clots. The doctors had assumed I would not overcome the challenge.  During the process, you are reminded of the high potential of your life being over very soon, “within seconds, your heart can stop” is the continual warning of the medical community. As a result you become hyper aware of the limited time aspect of life. With many visitors stopping by I couldn’t help but feel the Monty Python quote “I’m not dead yet.” rise up within me as people sat around my hospital bed, behaving as if I was definitely passing, but I was still breathing! Needless to say, I’m still here!

This breakthrough from a breakdown is important for all of us in the “still living” crowd!  It is not about avoiding the bad things, it is about contextualizing the amazing gift of life that we’ve been given and finding a sense of gratefulness for this gift.  If you can grasp that we didn’t earn this life, you quickly change the thought of “why me” to “I am going to make more out of this.” After my near death experience, my view of life changed. I learned that no matter what the scenario is there are two categories, life and death. We don’t know when one transitions to the other, but let’s refuse death as the place we live in our thoughts throughout life, as it tries to take a dominant role before it’s time. We need to recognize that the only time you are sure of life is in the here and now. What I am proposing is we do life better, and that includes how we do business. Better is good in this case, not always, but that is another story for another day. 

DOING LIFE BETTER

Death before its time is not an option. Tell yourself as many times as you need to “I am not dead yet!”  Refusing death in our life before it’s time is key.  But when death arrives in those around us it almost always feels wrong, but letting the pain of loss hit you full force is a critical process for a balanced life. I have learned in the funerals of loved ones to invite, allow and experience the process of grief with open arms.  The quicker I can effectively progress through the real emotions and not enshroud myself with a constant grief, the sooner I can recover to a full life that those who passed would have wanted. They would want their life to inspire you, not the lack of it to debilitate and mark you. Moving through the wrongs of life to a place of experiencing positive moments becomes important when you realize that time ultimately is a very limited resource.   What is needed for balance is progressing and subsequently passing through the moment to return to a positive state. This is the truth we are striving for in a downturn in business, it can be a real and valuable experience if we can process pain and transition to the next phase with healing scars to learn from more than open wounds. Important to ask yourself, is this death? If it is not then move along to a place where you can process and project a healthier view of the future.

MOVE THROUGH NEGATIVE, LIVE IN POSITIVE

In Architectural terms this is how we define the creation of spaces may help frame this idea. Spaces with a more open feel promote movement; whereas a closed space is often the place where people tend to linger and have extended periods of social interaction.  The idea develops towards an understanding that open spaces cause flow and are interestingly labeled as negative spaces because they have voids that draw you through them and enclosed areas that contain people in a protected way are called positive spaces.  The universal rule that applies in architecture and in life is termed “we move through negative space and dwell in positive space.” 

This is coincidently how life is to be experienced, acknowledging and experiencing the negative but transitioning through and finding most of our life time spent and identity developed in positive spaces.  Even though we cannot understand everything, we can commit to projecting a future where things can change for the better.

THE FUTURE HASN’T HAPPENED YET

My predecessor, Jerry Gauche, was a good thinker who always proclaimed, “The future has not happened yet, so let’s plan on a good one!” If we are asked to think of a future that does not exist yet, isn’t it best to think of a better one, since the canvas is blank? It is really up to us to grow the rare view of building up from here, over a tearing down view of life. It is simple and feels powerful to destroy and demolish things and people with our words and ideas, yet I would encourage that time is better spent on the lesser road,  investing in the personal business cost of growth to become a creator of new and more useful view of progressing from here.  It involves new levels of honesty and feedback but I can recommend this life choice of being a constructionist.  For my own life, I have realized that“Building better lives, including my own” has become my best way of assessing and testing the motive behind my actions.

BECOMING FOLLOWABLE

Once you know how to look at the challenges in front of you and own these challenges, you are in a better place to take on whatever comes your way, good or bad.  This is the same way to look at a downturn in an industry - to accept and fully engage in making the right moves, to own the pain of cutbacks, and to choose each step with a brighter future in mind.  

You never know, people might just want to follow that.