My career as a petroleum geologist has afforded me an opportunity to work on projects around the globe. I have explored the deep waters of Africa and its northern onshore basins. I have developed fractured reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin of China and prospected in the subthrust belt of the Andes. I have also bent my geologic pick on both conventional and unconventional plays in the many basins of the United States. The petroleum geology profession has truly afforded me a unique opportunity to see the world and to expose myself to a wide variety of geologic environments and business challenges. I am proud to say my vaccination record is complete and my passport is full. I am equally proud to have not yet earned the nickname of “dry-hole” or “wet” Wilker. I am certain the colorful characters I have worked with have given me other nicknames, however.
Mentoring and Advice
This diverse career has been intentional and has been based on advice I have received from some wonderful mentors. I would like to highlight some takeaways I have been gifted by seven individuals who have both knowingly and unknowingly provided me with wonderful career coaching.
Did you know mentoring is a benefit of the AAPG?
As a summer intern at Amoco, groups of interns were extended invites to have lunch with a senior executive. The lunches were informal and the interns were encouraged to ask questions. Being a fearless intern, I asked David Work, the senior vice president of Shared Services, what had enabled him to have a successful career and what career advice would he give us interns. He responded with these five elements:
- Be a lifelong learner and become knowledgeable in your field.
- Stay current, especially with technology.
- Be willing to relocate for growth opportunities.
- Be a team player.
- Be patient and a loyal employee.
With those five elements, he said, luck will happen and other people will make their own career choices, moving themselves aside to create opportunities for you to advance.
Ask Questions
The next great career advice I received came through observation of my mentor, John Randolph. John had a gift for asking leading questions. John would never tell you to think or work differently, but he would ask, “Have you considered this?” or “What would happen if … ?” or, just, “And …?”
By always asking myself these questions, my work product became more complete and my answers more thoughtful. It helped me to be prepared to defend my interpretations, thoughts or theses. John’s gift of how to ask questions also helped me to become better in my future role as a technical assurance leader. I learned how to delicately examine a prospector’s prospect without calling it less than drillable.
Gain Unique Experience
Byrd Larberg, a former supervisor and champion of exploration, encouraged me to make sure that each year of my professional career was unique. He advised me that you don’t want to have the same year of experience for 20 straight years. He reasoned that you would only be good at one thing and be one-dimensional. He advised that you need to gain technical depth by broadening your experiences. In professional development discussions, he would articulate that you can still be an expert in a particular subject area, but with diverse experience you are a more complete thinker and can leverage your varied experiences to see things differently.
Know Why to Care
The Executive Vice President of Exploration John Williams, whom I once supported, was gifted at thinking pragmatically and incrementally. He knew how to chart a course or strategy and enable its execution by implementing sequential steps to achieve results. John also demanded a value proposition be present during business discussions. John would often ask presenters, “Why should I care?” Some presenters could rally and answer, others could not. I now never make a presentation without ensuring it clearly states the value proposition for the audience or decision maker.
Concision and Commitment
Brent Smolik, the president of El Paso and EP Energy, gave me two great career lessons. One like John Williams’ was with regard to presentations. He liked presentations to be concise and never longer than 10 slides. The key presentation elements for him were the “What?”, the “So What?” and “What Next?” As an executive, he liked to understand the problem or challenge, why it was important and, lastly, what options existed to solve the problem.
Brent’s second mentoring advice came to me via a leadership moment. For a change initiative, he asked me to capture the employees’ commitment and not their compliance. This was a much higher standard of leadership. You could no longer say “Because I said so” or “Because Brent said so.” You had to enroll people, involve them, gain their trust and buy-in. This requirement of commitment has forever changed how I approach leadership.
Bring Them Along
Doug Foshee, Brent’s boss at the time and the CEO of the company, also once pulled me aside for a coaching moment. He told me, “You cannot just be the smartest kid in the room; you have to bring others along.”
I had taken a position in a senior executive meeting and had my facts and methodology down. Regretfully, others in the room had not seen the methodology performed in practice. I was looking at the probability of economic success for a drilling program and not just the probability of success. He counseled that if you have the knowledge, you have an obligation to teach others and raise the bar of the organization. He was basically calling me to become a mentor.
Who Are You?
The last mentoring advice I want to share comes from John Jensen. John was my supervisor at the time and the EVP of operations. John is one of the best human beings I know. John told me that, as a professional, you want people to think of you when they have a need. You want to be the employee they want on their team to help solve a challenge. It forced me to look at what kind of geologist and employee I want to be. He has helped me to anchor who I want to be, and it is advice I have passed on to my own children. I ask myself, “Am I that person who is going to make that extra effort and be the team player?”
AAPG: A Wellspring of Mentorship
In closing, mentors have had a profound effect on my professional career. Many of those listed above are members of professional societies and have been or are members of the AAPG. As a member of the AAPG, are you taking advantage of this member benefit and networking? You have a chance to be mentored or to mentor peers. As members, are we making each other better? I thank my mentors, and I hope you will consider making mentorship a value proposition for the AAPG.