“They’re just like musk oxen.” That throwaway line turns into a sharp lens on leadership in Wells, drilling, and completions, and on what happens when smart teams get defensive instead of curious. We talk about why technical groups can circle the wagons, how that hurts decision-making, and what it looks like when leaders choose humility, learn the business, and stop optimising only for their own function.

We also get specific about leadership development in oil and gas: the bets you place on people, the heat you take when you promote someone “too early”, and why talent grows faster when you back it with real resources. We reflect on leaders who break the old narrative that Wells people lack business acumen, and on what changes when the expectation is clear: you have to know the business, not just the tools.

From there we go deep on the Leadership Essentials Programme, why leadership training often arrives too late, and why first-line supervisors can either do enormous damage or enormous good. We lay out what makes the programme stick: spaced sessions, experiential learning between modules, accountability partners, and leaders who protect the investment even during budget pressure.

Finally, we connect leadership to safety culture through business partnering and human performance. You’ll hear how asking partners “what do you expect from us?” can change the entire tenor of a business unit, how different approaches can be integrated rather than fought over, and why AERO became both a proud achievement and a lasting frustration when it stopped being used.

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