Welcome to our June/July 2015 issue of Business & Industry Connection Magazine or, as most folks refer to our publication, BIC Magazine. In May, my wife Bodi and I were at the Tickfaw 200 Poker Run in Springfield, Louisiana, for a fundraising event where BIC Alliance was a co-sponsor along with Empire Scaffold and numerous other businesses and industrial companies. The next day, we left for Houston where we attended an award presentation for our partner and son-in-law Thomas Brinsko for his role in community service, then an IVS celebration dinner for Creative Resource Group and CapStreet hosted by IVS Investment Banking. The next morning, we, along with 20 of our guests and over 600 others from the energy sector, attended the Oilfield Christian Fellowship (OCF) breakfast during the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) to hear Max Holloway, president of Holloway Resources LLC, talk about his faith and his role as a spiritual leader in business, industry and community. After the breakfast, we donated complimentary copies of our custom books and our most recent film “A Gift Horse” toward the OCF fundraising effort to put Bibles on drilling rigs around the world before attending OTC, our largest upstream event of the year.
All of this was in the first five days of May, and since then our folks also attended and/or exhibited in the OSHA Region VI VPPPA Annual Safety & Health Conference in Corpus Christi, Texas; RefComm in Galveston, Texas; TCEQ’s Environmental Trade Fair & Conference in Austin, Texas; and, our biggest downstream event of the year, the AFPM Reliability & Maintenance Conference and Exhibition in Austin. Also, during the AFPM event, which had over 70 BIC Alliance marketing partners as exhibitors, we hosted the BIC Alliance Hospitality & Networking Function along with co-sponsors Carboline, Cudd Energy Services, Dunn Heat Exchangers Inc., Hertz Equipment Rental, Hunter, Mass Transfer Ltd., McDonough Elevators, Safway® Group, Samson and Turnaround Welding Services.
You may be asking what all of this has to do with the From the Publisher topic for this month. The best way to answer this is leaders don’t punch out after an eight-hour workday or on evenings or the weekends. Also, leadership, like safety, must go beyond the job title, drilling rig, marine vessel or inside the fence. In our May issue, we wrote about BASF hosting about 15 members of BIC Alliance for an educational tour at the Geismar, Louisiana, site. During this visit we got to listen to Tom Yura, senior vice president and general manager, and other members of BASF management talk about the importance of BASF and their staff taking a leadership role not only at the plant but also in their homes and in the community. BASF was recently named No. 14 on Forbes’ “America’s Best Employers” list. Their commitment and passion for safety, workforce development and community was obvious. They gave us some great ideas of articles to write and educational films and videos for us to produce with Launch Media and some of our other BIC Media Solutions filmmaking partners.
I want to say a few more words about leadership strategy beginning with our own family and home as we enter the summer. Whether you and your family are planning a cookout, a boating or fishing trip, or a vacation or a weekend getaway, please remember to be a leader in off-the-job behavior and safety just like you strive to be at work. Back in January 2014, I was asked to speak on Leadership & The Power of Influence at the TEEX Leadership Conference in Dallas. Among the stories and Earl’s Pearls I shared were some characteristics of great leadership. I took the word “leadership” and broke it down so those who aspire to become great leaders would have a simple guide to follow:
L: love and listen. A leader should strive to love others as we do ourselves, and one of the best ways to recognize others is to be a good listener!
E: energy and enthusiasm. Great leaders must have energy and enthusiasm. When we show energy and enthusiasm, it is contagious.
A: accessibility and action. Great leaders need to be available to encourage and train others and lead by their actions and attitudes.
D: delegation and determination. Great leaders must master the skill of delegation and have the determination that helps inspire others to also lead and follow.
E: education. Formal education is great, but great leaders also learn by doing and also searching for mentors who can share lessons learned from experience and the school of hard knocks. Great leaders also stress training at all levels of a company.
R: recognition and resilience. Great leaders know the power that comes when we recognize others. Third to faith and survival, mankind’s greatest need is recognition, and the more we recognize others, the greater our leadership skills will become. Also, great leaders have resilience and don’t quit when the going gets tough.
S: strength and strategy. Great leaders have moral and mental strength and strive to stay mentally and physically strong. Great leaders also know the importance of having a strategy that has taken research, evaluation and planning.
H: honest and helpful. Great leaders are honest, and they are always striving to help others to find greater peace, happiness and success on the job and off.
I: integrity, interested and instinct. Great leaders have integrity; they are interested in others and have good instinct.
P: passion and perseverance. The greatest leaders we meet are often the most passionate about their missions. Also, great leaders are willing to persevere even when others quit or think something is impossible.
In this issue, we feature insight from some of the greatest leaders in the energy sector, including Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton; Dow Houston Operations Site Director Monty Heins; CIMA Services LP Managing Partner Matthew Taylor; Hi-Tech Testing Service Inc. Senior Vice President — Business Development & Marketing John Ashworth; and StoneAge CEO Kerry Siggins.
We also include an array of articles on topics important to industry, including the regulatory environment, steps for a turning point in the oil industry, cybersecurity in the energy sector, efficient process improvements, how others in industry are using 3-D printing, volatile energy markets and more.
In closing, we want to thank our BIC Alliance staff, our 300-plus marketing partners and our 100,000-plus readers of our print and digital BIC Magazine for making BIC Magazine the leading multi-industry, multidepartmental energy magazine in North America. Have a great summer, and please remember safety first, last and always!
