Lessons from That Vicki Hollub Interview

I’m writing my next book about The Moment. I’m exploring the forces laying bare the challenges of the energy transition—as in last month’s post “The Three Ts of Energy Realism.” I’m looking at what The Moment means for you, the oil and gas leader. To seize this opportunity of a lifetime to lead in the energy future, we need to understand the stakes.

Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub was a guest earlier this month on the My Climate Journey podcast—and a lot of people are talking about the interview, which was held live at Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week. I think there are five big leadership lessons other oil and gas leaders can take away from it.

Before I get to those, you should know that I, too, have been a guest on MCJ, and I was nervous and skeptical before I went on. But I believe in bravely building bridges! So was pleasantly surprised at my experience with host Cody Simms, who was open-minded, knowledgeable, and deeply committed to forging the kind of connections and mutual understanding that the world needs more of.

Now, I’ve had Vicki Hollub on my own Energy Thinks podcast, so I know firsthand how personable she is. Yet I listened with trepidation to the interview! And I was both deeply impressed by Vicki’s engagement and then, later, pained by the inevitable critiques of the conversation from MCJ followers. The gist of such critiques: Leaders like Vicki need to be held accountable for everything from historic oil and gas emissions to oil and gas bad actors to the political activity of some of today’s oil and gas supporters.

But I still believe that you as an oil and gas leader should continue to get out there. Why? Here are five reasons, leadership lessons gleaned straight from Vicki’s MCJ interview. I can tell Vicky’s ready for The Moment. Are you?

#1. Leaders don’t hide—and there are still more upsides than downsides to engagement. I have started to increasingly hear concern from forward-thinking oil and gas leaders that engagement is too risky. Environments are too polarized, they say, and there is no obvious upside to speaking to a set of stakeholders who see oil and gas leaders as villains. Here’s why you need to get out there anyway: First, to practice. We have to build our engagement muscles, including courage and thick skin. We have to understand the latest concerns and critiques and do our best to respond. We need to meet our stakeholders and critics halfway, which is often on their turf and using their terms. And finally, we need to humanize ourselves by getting out there, no matter how imperfectly.

#2. Leaders are real—and clear about where they stand. And again, that doesn’t mean—can’t mean—we have to be perfect. There are things I wish Vicki had answered differently, but I bet she does, too! Live interviews are high risk (and low reward). What shined through in the MCJ interview: Vicki has thought deeply about climate and environmentalism and Oxy’s engagement with these things. She is clear about where she stands. She’s passionate. She’s unapologetic. Some listeners didn’t like what she had to say (more on that below!), but no one can say she is the puppet of a slick PR machine. And that’s really important for building connections and trust.

#3. Leaders convey urgency and connection. Climate-activist stakeholders often feel—above all other emotions—urgency. Vicki’s interview showed that she understood this and mirrored back her own resolve to address climate together, rather than separately. It was both an authentic response and a potentially polarizing bit of courage: If you also feel climate is urgent, then let me and my company have a seat at the table. Vicki conveyed that the top obstacle Oxy faces in addressing its decarbonization objectives is rejection by activists and stakeholders. This is a refrain I hear again and again from climate activists. To address this obstacle credibly, oil and gas leaders must also embody and convey a sense of urgency. Are you doing this? Or are you just waiting for the climate conversation to magically disappear?

#4. Leaders are resilient: Here there be dragons. Vicki narrated the way the world has changed around oil and gas executives of her generation: heroes to villains in the span of one career! She leads one of the most climate-forward oil and gas companies in the world. She was humble, authentic, and knowledgeable. And yet the critics came in hot and fast. So much so that the MCJ team felt obligated to add a new introduction addressing their community’s concerns. It’s my consistent experience that climate-centric stakeholders have several immovable demands of the oil and gas industry and its leaders that you will find wherever you go. They want:

• Acknowledgement of (and possibly apology for) the negative impact of historic oil and gas emissions and its effects on climate;
• Critiques of oil and gas bad actors, those responsible for everything from historic spills to international political activity to boom and busts;
• Recognition of harms—generically and specifically—to countries and communities where operations have occurred or are still occurring; and
• Rejection of the political activity, past and present, of other companies and trade associations.

You can run from these difficult dragons, but you won’t be able to hide. So practice facing these kinds of critiques free of defensiveness so you can engage with grace and continue to participate as the authority you are.

#5. Leaders are optimistic. Vicki repeatedly expressed hope for the power of collaboration and confidence in the scaling of innovations and solutions. An important part of engaging with climate stakeholders is providing industry’s optimistic, solution-forward point of view! Oil and gas leaders can authentically tap into our 150 years of entrepreneurial spirit.

Now what?

I hope you’ll listen, and I hope it will inspire you to get out there. Thank you to Bevin Pan for his research in support of this piece. What should you do next?

• Adamantine curates many conversations that bring skeptical stakeholders and company leaders together. Would your team benefit from our experience? Reach out to learn more.
• Know an industry leader who could benefit from these five lessons? Please forward this email to them!
• Do you sometimes feel annoyed that all of this is so dang hard? Hit that like button below.

Because everything’s a leadership opportunity,

Tisha