October

Energy and LeadershipContinued from page 21amongst a number of industry leaders.40CEO’s and top managers from the industry,a.o. from BP, Chevron, Dong, EON, Eni,Essent, GasTerra, Gasunie, Gazprom,Qatar Gas, Shell, South Stream and Total,participated in this survey and shared theiropinion. In this article, besides highlightingsurvey results, I will also shed some light onmy own vision on strong leadership.Leadership: A definitionIt is evident that we need strong leadershipin order to overcome the challenges we arefacing in the industry. But how do we definecompetent leadership? If we check thedictionary on leadership, it tells us that one ofthe meanings is ‘the capacity or ability to leador give direction.’Before I became president of the EnergyDelta Institute, I was a member of theexecutive board of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie,where I was also responsible for constructionand maintenance. Being responsible for ofone of the largest departments of Gasunie,I was ‘giving direction’ to a team of severalhundreds of employees.Golden rules in projectmanagement and leadershipFor all department activities both in the pastand in the present, I always apply four ‘goldenrules’. The first one is safety. In our businesssafety is priority number one. The second ruleis budget equals budget. This means alwayssticking to the defined budget. Sticking to thebudget instils confidence by external parties.Rule number three is scope control. It is ofgreat importance to determine the scope,based on what you know today and expectto be true in the future. If and when situationschange, you have to assess the effect ofthese changes on all aspects of the project,like time and budget. Delivering on time is thefourth golden rule I apply as a manager. In mywork I also apply another, not so formal rule,which I think is very important for a great teamatmosphere, which is: work hard and have fun.Strong leadershipIn my opinion, giving direction to a large teamof employees doesn’t automatically mean youare a skilled leader. You can’t judge yourselfwhether you are a good leader or not. Thisis something only others can say about you.Being a good leader means that you are ableto let others excel in everything they do, andthat others respect you for doing so.Some people believe that a good leadershould have the full package of sectorknowledge – both of the entire energy valuechain and in-dept knowledge – and possessexcellent skills, competences and expertise.I disagree. In my opinion, good leadershipmeans you are able to build a good teamaround you. With a fine sense of diversity,you are able to establish a team in which allknowledge and competences needed to getthe job done are covered. When you are ableto surround yourself with such a team, andknow how to inspire them in order to let themexcel, you have proven strong leadership.Of course you should have a soundfundamental knowledge of technology andsector developments, and also develop andexperiment a broad view on different businessprocesses during your career. But establishinga winning team also means being able toidentify personal skills and interests, bothinternally and externally. It means masteringthe art of stakeholder management.‘A great person attracts great people andknows how to hold them together’–Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheDuring the 25th World Gas Conference inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the first copy of our‘leadership’ report, written by energy analystMarius Popescu, was handed over to Dr.Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim, President of theInternational Gas Union, on 4 June, 2012. Theoutcome of the report shall guide the furtherdevelopment of EDI’s educational portfolio.22