Page 130 - The Way to the Top

personal combination of inexperience and impatience drove me at a rate of
a hundred miles an hour in pursuit of a quick turnaround.

Needless to say, I was soon confronted with the reality that in a big

company environment, change has to be dealt with in a fairly holistic way.
That is, leadership has to focus on a few critical things which have to
change and then bring the organization along to be able to execute these
changes. Once the big changes begin taking shape, other issues can be

addressed that build upon the momentum of the overall big picture
changes. Six years later, I can confidently say that the company is now on
an exciting path, patiently executing a simple strategy which should
position Unocal well for the next phase of its future.

For me personally, however, my struggles in learning how to be an
effective senior executive really started after we slowed down and focused
our change agenda at the company. Some of the things we had to do were
fairly major departures from what the company had been used to doing,
and, not surprisingly, would be difficult and involve major dislocations.

Thus it was natural that the changes would spur lots of emotion,
unhappiness, and resistance among some of our employees and other
affected stakeholders. And, indeed, as we began to roll out and execute

some of the changes, I became a lightning rod for the organizational
resistance and personal displeasure. Internet message boards churned with
nasty and very personal comments attacking me.

I had grown up as a fairly well liked and reasonably popular kid. I
played sports all through high school and always prided myself in being

supportive and encouraging to everyone on the team, whether they were
the all-state star or the guy with the really clean jersey who never got to
play. I was elected co-president of my business school class, running on a
platform of being a guy who pretty much knew everyone in the class. As

an adult, I had always taken pride in being able to relate to and learn from
everyone I met, whether they were the CEO of a big company or the guy
who came to cut my grass every week.