How can cultivating curiosity within an organization transform it from a place of work into a community driven by passion and purpose? Why is wetland conservation crucial for combating climate change, and how can public-private partnerships make a difference? What are the keys to maintaining operational excellence and how can we pursue excellence in our personal and professional lives?
SAM SMOLIK
What happens is that companies get complacent. Things go well for a long time. All publicly traded companies are under tremendous financial pressure. Everyone's looking at quarterly earnings and all that, and they take their eye off of safety and operational excellence. And you can't do that.
Two-part interview:
When you get to know people, you find out these organizations really are a collection of people, and people decide which way a company goes. Is it sustainable? Is it very good sustainably, or are they doing the wrong things and, you know, just hiding it? And so they wanted me to get involved in organizations. Get active with our industry associations because you can help drive the right performance and attitude across the industry. It's amazing how much influence you can have, but they also wanted me to get to know the NGOs that had an interest in our activities. So I interfaced with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth and all those organizations.
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It's like our energy transition. We all know where we want to go to, but how fast can you go? That's the question. You don't want to destroy what we have today moving too fast. And you don't want to just keep delaying progress, you know? So we have to keep pushing, doing the right thing, but technology will help drive it.
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You need to love and enjoy your work. Every day of my working life, I woke up excited about going to work and achieving things. And I think if you can achieve that in your life, it's just so much better.
