T. Boone Pickens Remembered

T. Boone Pickens Remembered

How many oilmen propose wind power? The late T. Boone Pickens did in 2007.  He sold his oil business, then opened BP Capital Management hedge funds at 68. Made his first billion at 70. Working with people, adjusting to changing markets, and charity mark his life.

Later in life he reported, “I have earned $4 billion, lost $2 billion and given $1 billion away.” In his 60+ year career T Boone Pickens had many successes, failures, and life’s comebacks.

T. Boone Pickens donated $11 million to the University of Texas Center for Brain Health in 2006. He was talked into having his brain scanned. His brain lite up like a man 30 years his junior. T. Boone was always more interested in being around sharp minds interested in what was new or changing.

Forbes has an article with T. Boone Pickens' Letter To The Class Of 2018. Let’s listen to his advice:

“A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan.” - His Father’s

“Keep focused. When you are hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits.”

“Don’t fall victim to what I call the ‘ready-aim-aim-aim-aim’ syndrome. You must be willing to fire.”

“Work hard. Come early, stay late.”

“Be the eternal optimist.”

“The higher the monkey climbs a tree, the more you can see his ass.” - Be confident, yet modest.

After describing his experiences and “Booneisms” he encourages us, “Now go get ‘em!”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tboonepickens/2018/05/11/ninety-years-of-lessons-learned-t-boone-pickens-letter-to-the-class-of-2018/#3d0b57b3e3c6

Career and Earnings Lessons

Education & lifelong learner handled changes. What can you learn from one career?

1973 Lifeguard - $2.35 per hour. ($0.50 above minimum wage)

Back from 6 week cross country summer trip. Had lifesaving certificate and replaced friends off to college. Bought 10 speed out of $253 earnings.

1978 - Process Engineer - $7.79 per hour.

Graduated college working heat treat department in aerospace manufacturer.  Not use to so much money, lived on 1 of 2 paychecks saving the other. Started MBA classes next year.

1983 - Production & Quality Engineer - $11.54 per hour.

First company laid off half of employees. Got opportunity with nuclear manufacturer before got my lay off. 40 mile commute led to quitting grad classes. Bought first home for $65,000 with 5% down.

1988 - Manufacturing Engineer - $16.45 per hour.

Navy shut down nuclear company. Crossed picket line 2 years for firearm manufacturer in extended strike. Followed 2 short term jobs with small manufacturers. 6 months unemployment was best experience & motivation to develop more skills.

1993 - Manufacturing & Quality Engineer - $19.06 per hour.

Small hardware manufacturer in poor market conditions. Wore many hats, developing ideas into new products. Company employment shrank, but company grew market share from #3 to strong #2. However 2-3% raises not helpful. Had roommates and worked 2^ndjob to pay mortgage and car payment.

1998 - R&D Engineer - $32.88 per hour.

Joined large hardware manufacturer crossing country. 2^ndrelocation to west coast came with promotion. Sold 1^sthouse after 13 years for $72,000 (net loss $1,300). Bought 2^ndhouse for $190,000.

2003 - Commercial Appraiser - $20.00 per hour.

Self employed assisting partner and learning new industry. Difficult how much needs to be done to be successful as entrepreneur. Sold 2^nd house for $262,000 living off proceeds for 2 years. Year met my wife.

2008 - Contract Engineer / Marketing - $29.00 per hour.

Real estate market collapsed in 2006. Got back into engineering rationalizing overgrown product lines for Spa / Whirlpool Bath manufacturer. Wound up leading marketing project. Studied Solidworks computer design software.

2013 - Manufacturing Engineer / Project Management - $43.05 per hour.

Relocate to Pacific Northwest for development program at large aerospace manufacturer. So much need to be done. Keep moving projects and desks. Studied for PMI project management certification, but did not take $600 test while unemployed. Healthy raises & asked would I consider management, but management’s life is challenging. Bought 3^rdhome for $265,000.

2018 - Manufacturing Engineer / Project Management - $52.20 per hour.

Program went from development to sustaining. Out of 1,100 manufacturing engineers, 1 of 123 left on program. Worked 13 projects & had 24 desks in 8 years. Raises dropped to 2-3% as demand slowed. (Age is a factor.) However a new program in development and will be opportunities for promotions. Expect to work 10-15 years more.

Lessons:

1) Employment tomorrow is Not guaranteed. 

     (Unemployed 2.5 out of 40 years)

2) Save for your future and hard times. 

3) Times change. Moved between industries, 7 states and new technologies. 

4) Education never stops.

5) Growth comes from taking Responsibilities and Risks.

6) Persist for Success.

7) Account for Inflation. 3 median priced houses: $65,000 in 1983. $190,000 in 1998. $265,000 in 2010. (Houses are up 80% in 8 years here)

8) Cash flow determines how comfortable your life is.

These lessons work. Apply them to your career and industry.

Own Your Mistakes

Everyone screws up. Dad said, “The only people who don’t make mistakes, don’t do anything.” Dad was right.

The natural reaction when you make a mistake is to deny it, keep quiet, or make excuses. All 3 are strong temptations. Don’t.

Made an error on instructions I wrote when a new engineer. The number was not clear enough for the machinist to read easy. The gentleman who brought it up to show me was expecting a fight. He had reasons lined up why I had to change it. 

My response when he showed me my error, “You’re right. I’ll fix it.” He was off balance by that response. Started to explain why, and then paused thinking about what I said. My follow up was, “Will do it right now. Is there anything else?”

Reason to own your mistakes, you will learn. Denial takes energy that can be used to learn. Was able to fix my mistake in a few minutes and get back to other work.

Even if something is not your fault, there may be a lesson you can learn in it. Communicating better. Understanding customers. Even not to use that company’s product or service again. Find value.

 Your boss starts talking with you about your performance. You are surprised it is not good enough. Not time to freak out, but time to ask questions. Could you show me what you expected? Do you have a sample what you are looking for? Who does this well? Let me go talk to him to see what they are doing right?

In short you are making a plan to improve your performance. Then set up follow up meeting. Set a time in one or two weeks to review your actions and ask for more feedback. Then thank them for telling you. (They have given you an opportunity to improve)

Answering difficult feedback with questions and maturity are not natural reactions, but can raise your value to your company. Learning often is followed by more opportunities and responsibilities. 

Learning Empathy

With experience we learn more ways to solve problems. We heard ideas from other people. We have seen alternates ideas tried, and the results. We can apply these same ideas in more situations.

We have learned money is not always the answer. And there are times where money buys the solution. We learn when to prioritize it.

Understand little children will be little boys & girls - noisy, full of energy and running around. Understand teenagers will be teenagers with so many insecurities, and so much they don’t know yet. Understand parents are encountering so much they have not seen, and feel so inadequate.

Understand when others are in pain, because of my injuries. Understand their frustration because of my frustrations. Understand it may not be their fault because of times it was not my fault. Understand jobs become unbearable or go away.

Understand we grow old, and our minds say yes while our bodies refuse to cooperate.

People are more important to us despite their problems they bring. Customers are often a challenge. Suppliers and vendors miss deadlines. Family and friends can disappoint you. Through it all relationships are a priority.

 “With Age Comes Wisdom” is the expression. More important we learn empathy. People need our empathy.

Primer for Working with People

This is in honor of Labor Day and workers everywhere. Been fortunate to work with many great people.

For an introvert like me, learning to work with people was challenging. Was shy and meeting all new people. Not knowing their job titles nor responsibilities. Not sure what my responsibilities. Not knowing how the systems worked. Very stressful. This is when mentors and leads are so valuable.

Developed principles and practices that help me from boardrooms to the shop floor. You could do worse that starting work with these.

Assume People are Competent. Solve problems by getting good information from the operators, mechanics and customers. Managers often blame the operator. Find it more productive to ask what are they seeing? Is this new or an old issue? People are your eyes and ears. If they have made a mistake, it is usually because of their training, not deliberate. If it was deliberate it will come out. Start positive.

Talk about Intent. Department of Motor Vehicles is a great example. Got confused one time and said “You do this every day. What am trying to do is register my car and get a license. What do I have to do?” After all they are the experts. When they realize am cooperating instead of arguing, get great service.

Ask Questions. How else will you learn? Second people have less resistance to changing if it is they contribute concerns and ideas to a solution.

Listen and Repeat Key Points They Said. If people know you listen and care, barriers come down. Progress gets made.

“You’re Right”. The problem with politics is competition to be right. Neither side has all the right ideas. Good ideas come from everyone. Try to find the whys behind their ideas. They are often right. Cooperate, not competition solves problems.

“Yes, and …”. This is an improve idea that works well daily. The best solution is often a combination of ideas from different people. Help build solutions.  

People Want What They Want. No matter your job title, you are in Customer Service to customers and co-workers. Help people get what they need.

None of these ideas are original. Learned them from past and current co-worker sharing their knowledge. Have you got any to add?

Could Your Job be Replaced by a Robot?

Most of us think, “No way a machine could do what I do.” Over your whole assignment that may be true. But there are simple repetitive parts of your job could be automated or done with artificial intelligence (AI) programming.

The drive to work and deliveries will be done by self-driving vehicles. Note auto-pilots can already take off, fly and land aircraft with minimal intervention by pilots. The Navy has already tested self-flying aircrafts on carrier decks, the hardest landing task for pilots.

Computers are better at sorting and searching than we are. Your work organization could be better managed by programming.

Millions of hours legal research are no longer done by young lawyers. The AI research programs are faster, cheaper and more accurate.

In medical fields doctors enter symptoms and programs like IBM’s Watson propose more alternative diseases for doctors to evaluate than their memory would hold. The result is less misdiagnosis.

When I started working drafting was done by hand, and every manager had a secretary or access to a secretary pool. There were dozens of secretaries in my department. Today my department has 3 office assistants for ~150 people. We all write emails, documents & PowerPoint’s instead of memos, and schedule meetings with Outlook.

All these jobs are white collar jobs being automated or out sourced. Parts of all our work can be replaced.

The good news is what can’t be automated is deep knowledge and judgment. We need to do is determine what part of our careers is most valuable, and then focus to be move productive there.

What parts of you job are grinds? Just time consuming. We need to minimizing those tasks, and focus on making money for our companies.

Not saying there will not be change in our working world. It is determining what is valued and providing those services.

Being Heard at Work

Recently read about a young professional not being able to get a word in edgewise in a meeting. It is uncomfortable not being heard, but their experience is not unique. With 38 years’ experience, and being (formerly) shy introvert in an extroverted world have suggestions to be heard:

• Ask questions first. Then when you have the floor, make a point. Actually got compliments for participation during different meetings where I only asked one question.
• Being able to project your voice is an asset. Look into Toastmasters to be able to present to a room. I start talking to the person furthest away to get my volume right.
• I had a baby face (could pass for high school till almost 30) and had to dress one level up to be taken seriously. Casual Fridays are still a weakness.
• Attitude makes a difference. EXPECT to be heard and taken seriously. Sit at the table and take up space in the meeting room. Make small talk with people before and after the meetings.

Should add interrupting with a firm “Yo!’” has worked on occasion for me.  Recommend reading Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking”

Try and use whichever tips works for you. It is only a matter of time before you will be a full team member.

Fix Your Job Hunt

(Do you really want a job?)

Job Hunting is Frustrating and Very Stressful. You no longer have the income that you depended on. Bills are piling up and savings going down. Your social standing may be lower with strangers. You miss your old friendly coworkers who greeted and talked with you daily. We depend on social interaction to live.  We want our old life back.

We need to adjust our attitude to get our next job. This is only a trip to our next life. Not insurmountable. A phase to get through. Assume you will get a job. Then job hunting will be less stressful.

That is right, assume you grow through this experience. You will be a better person, more humble and more human after starting a new position. You will help other job hunters because you understand.

We don’t know how long it will take to get another job. We just know you will find one. You may have to move. You may have less stuff. But we, who have been unemployed before, found new work. You will too.

Now you know you will find work. What steps to prepare should you do?

1. Write down a list of your successes at work and in school. Does not matter if anyone else thinks they are a success. You do. Write them out.
2. What compliments did you receive? People have told you what you are good at. Don’t discount small compliments. What you find easy to do are your gifts.
3. What assignments or parts of your jobs did you enjoy? What tasks or skills do you want to do on your new job?

 Your strengths, gifts and experiences will help you excel at your career. Don’t skip this step of understanding yourself. Most people think they can do any job. But you get hired for the job you do well. The more focused you are, the faster you go back to work.

Assume you will succeed, put in effort, cultivate a positive attitude, and you will succeed.