Witting Partners

03/16/2024

Frac'ing turns 75 on March 17th. And what better way to mark the occasion than with a / St. Patrick's Day giveaway?

Enter to win by 11:59PM (in your local time zone) on March 17th by submitting an entry form at https://ShaleShamrock.com

🍀One lucky winner will be drawn on March 18th at 9:00am EDT and will receive the following:

☘️4 Guinness pint glasses engraved with “World Shale Energy Day” → what better way to celebrate organic-rich black shale that has enhanced the lives of countless people around the world than with a pint of rich black Guinness that brings life to any gathering (note: Guinness is not part of the prize…so the winner is welcome to fill the pint glasses with a—preferably dark—beverage of his or her choosing)

☘️4 stone “Happy World Shale Energy Day” Guinness coasters made in West Virginia → protecting the health and well-being of people and the environment a top priority when developing shale resources…and protecting your tabletops should be a top priority when enjoying a set of Guinness pint glasses.

☘️Stone-handled bottle opener → using this unique bottle opener to unlock the potential of a sealed beverage can serve as a reminder of how hydraulic fracturing has unlocked the potential of shale.

☘️“World Shale Energy Day” socks → many of us are lucky enough to have amazing shale resources below our feet…and what better way to remember that than by sporting a pair of green World Shale Energy Day socks?

📗'George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet' Biography → this hardcover book profiles “the father of frac'ing,” a renaissance man who didn’t embrace an over-simplified view of the world, an over-simplified view of , or an over-simplified view of .

📜Limit 1 entry per person; must be 21 or older; no purchase (or viewing of the video below) required; void where prohibited. Find all sweepstakes rules and legal mumbo-jumbo at https://ShaleShamrock.com

08/08/2023

🤢 You may not have soaked your audience in human waste today...but there's a good chance your words & actions have unwittingly made a few of your stakeholders nauseous in the last 24 hours.

So take a moment to dive into this conversation about the "Dave Matthews Band Chicago River incident" of August 8, 2004 and apply 5 tips from today's vomit-inducing anniversary that will help you shift from nauseating to energizing:

1) 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬: From late-night, non-urgent email requests to evasive-sounding conversations filled with hollow "corporate-sounding" clichés, the easiest way to mitigate the impact of toxic communication releases is to avoid them in the first place

2) 𝐋𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: If you don't stop the ripple effect of toxic rumors among your gossiping front-line leaders, it can cause far more damage than a leaking pipeline or an overflowing tank

3) 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Revisit your recent emails, meetings, phone calls, etc. and give them an emoji-based "nausea rating" from 1 to 5, where 1 nauseated face (🤢) represents minimal vomit-inducing language; and 5 nauseated faces (🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢) is on par with dumping 800 pounds of human waste on an unsuspecting group of tourists

4) 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: transform corporate fluff into relevant and actionable messages BEFORE your audience starts coming up with their own (mis-)translations

5) 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐩 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬: Whether it's a band who dumps human waste into a river, an company who has an inadvertent release, or a manager who suffers a flare-up of foot-in-mouth disease, owning up to mishaps and rectifying them swiftly gives you a chance to avoid leaving a permanently bad taste in stakeholders' mouths.

All that being said, you can get a taste of other (less nauseating) episodes of 'The Energy Detox' and watch/hear/read/share today's episode by visiting this link: https://www.wittingpartners.com/the-energy-detox/nauseating-leadership

04/27/2023

Do you spend enough time encouraging your employees to steal?

If not, check out this episode of The Energy Detox, where you'll hear:

1) how a theft-based culture can actually be the key to sustained success; and

2) why it's up to you as a leader to implement rules that make it easier for your employees to steal.

Curious where the inspiration for this unconventional advice comes from?

Well, look no further than the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have have used every tool (sword?) at their disposal—including roster construction, data analytics, and MLB's bigger bases—to lead the majors in steals and, more importantly, to lead the National League in wins.

Steal like a Pirate. Lead like a champ.

03/17/2023

As you raise a ShaleRock Shake™ to the GREEN that we’re LUCKY to have below our feet, take a moment to ask how many leaders you know who are...

🤢Full of malarkey

🍀Over-dependent on luck; and

🐍Unwilling to drive the snakes out of their organizations.

☘️To help you answer that question and honor today's blending of Shale & Shamrocks, check out this & St. Patrick's Day episode of The Energy Detox:

https://ShaleRockShake.com

12/27/2021

FREE Rapid At-Home (Toxic Leadership) Test!

Are you unwittingly spreading toxicity among your professional and personal stakeholders?

Find out now by taking a simple 3-step test that merely requires answers to these questions:

1 - In what ways are you limiting the growth of those around you?

2 - How might you be protecting yourself at the expense of others?

3 - How sustainable are your demands and expectations?

NOTE: Self-administered tests have a much higher likelihood of false negatives than tests administered by an independent third party...especially if that third party also tests your friends, family, employees, co-workers, and other close contacts.

Additional ways to watch/hear/read/share this and other episodes of can be found here:

https://www.wittingpartners.com/the-energy-detox/rapid-leadership-test

05/25/2021

Are the conventional resources you’re using to improve your golf (or ) game GORO: “Good for One Round Only?”

Are the tips and tricks you’re employing rendered useless after a few swings (or a few meetings)?

Are the swarms of people offering you advice failing to help you build a sustainable foundation and instead leaving you searching for the next feel-good hit?

Well, if you’re like many golfers — or business leaders — there’s a good chance you’ve answered “yes” to some (or all) of the above questions. And you’ve probably invested plenty of time, , and money trying to sort through the overwhelming number of articles, videos, clinics, workshops, books, and so-called experts promising to “simplify” your approach to professional and/or personal challenges.

But did a success story like Phil Mickelson rely upon the endless supply of one-off, disposable resources to become the oldest major champion in yesterday?

Heck no.

He relied on a committed and witting coach who helped him confidently and efficiently regain and maintain peak performance throughout the PGA Championship.

And that's not just our own self-serving opinion, but also that of Mickelson, who made the following post-victory comments yesterday:

"When he's out here with me, he's able to keep me on track right away if I make a few errors.”

"He is a tremendous instructor because of his ability to simplify it.”

“He doesn't cloud my head with a lot of things."

Phil Mickelson has heaped praise on his Australian coach Andrew Getson after becoming the oldest major championship winner in history.

05/05/2021

How much do you know about the tangible and intangible benefits of “Renewable Non-Toxic Responsibly Sourced Potatoes of Inclusion?”

Well, on today’s ‘Play Hard Work Hard’ morning show, you won't learn about the nutritional value of root vegetables, but you will hear about the value that effective resources (and trendy -themed labels) can bring to the bottom line of companies:

https://lnkd.in/d725khW

And if listening to this discussion has you hungering for more information about the above-mentioned potatoes that Jason Spiess and The Crude Life will be smoking at the Bakken BBQ to support Make-A-Wish North Dakota, you can learn more here:

https://lnkd.in/dmBP6G9

jason spiess, jason modglin, the crude life, permian, bakken, ev vehicles, joe sinnott, witting partners, tesla cars, marcellus

05/01/2021

Is your adherence to the ‘Golden Rule’ tarnishing your reputation?

If so, you’re likely committing these 2 common mistakes:

1) Assuming that what others want "done unto them" is the same thing you want "done unto you"

2) Equating what your stakeholders WANT with what your stakeholders NEED

Keep making those mistakes and your reputation will inevitably shift from that of a “kind and caring” leader to that of an “out-of-touch and ineffective” (and perhaps “former”) manager.

04/15/2021

If an company paid 41% more to hire a certified “organic” CEO, you’d think the entire board had gone bananas, right?

Well, even though individual leaders may not (yet) have green “ESG-approved” labels placed on their foreheads, the reality is that consumers and investors are demanding that leaders prove their commitment to , even if doing so doesn’t materially change the way their company operates or the molecular structure of the product they sell.

And with EQT Corporation announcing this morning that the majority of its will be “certified” by the end of the year, it’s a good time to ask whether you—as either a CEO addressing mounting pressures or a job-seeker who feels more and more like a commodity—are getting full credit for the things you’re ALREADY doing and maximizing the value of the investments you’ve ALREADY made before wasting time and money pretending to be something you're not.

04/14/2021

“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how’d you like the play?”

Thanks to the actions of failed oilman John Wilkes Booth 156 years ago today, that joke has been used for decades to inject some laughter after a person experiences something unpleasant.

And considering the diverse ways (both positive and negative) that leaders have responded to the litany of “unpleasant interruptions” over the last year, today’s solemn anniversary is a fine time to ask yourself one question:

“How often am I unwittingly displaying a level of insensitivity, ignorance, or selfishness rivaling the fictitious question posed to Mary Lincoln?”

If your answer is “never,” congratulations!

But if you're being as truthful as Honest Abe, your answer is probably NOT "never," and you, therefore, may want to do the following:

1) recognize that months of layoffs, uncertainty, burnout, etc. has likely produced many more Mrs. Lincolns (...and Mr. Booths) among your stakeholders than you may have realized;

2) start looking for times when you’re unconsciously steering conversations back to your own self-interests; and

3) jot down a few practical ways you as a leader can better respond to the next inevitable “interruption."
..and for more information about John Wilkes Booth's ties to the oilfield (as if the industry isn't hated enough already!), the 'Dramatic Oil Company' he co-founded, and how the unsuccessful "shooting" of an oil well arguably led to Booth's shooting of our 16th president, check out the link below:

John Wilkes Booth and actor friends drilled for Pennsylvania oil in 1864 — and found it. After forming an oil company and drilling for “black gold” in booming northwestern Pennsylvania, the actor’s dreams of a petroleum fortune collapsed in June 1864. He then sought fame as a martyr to the C...

12/05/2020

“I never learn anything talking; I only learn things when I ask questions.” – Lou Holtz

With this quote in mind, and on the heels of Coach Holtz recently being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it’s a good time to revisit the lessons of another college football coach whose impact stretches well beyond the world of sports.

This coach, Bill Campbell, was well-known for asking challenging and productive questions of leaders throughout Silicon Valley, causing some of those leaders to award him the title of “Trillion Dollar Coach."

And in this episode of podcast, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 will figuratively don the hat of a coach trying to help your football team overcome a 2-touchdown halftime deficit…or of an industry leader trying to help your stakeholders overcome the “trillion dollar deficit” fueled by the chaos of 2020.

And throughout this conversation, you’ll ask whether your game plan is helping your team chip away at the deficit and emerge victorious…or whether you’re doing things that are more likely to have your star players checked out and thinking about the next game, the next season, or perhaps an entirely different sport.

By many measures, the energy industry is losing . It’s losing momentum, relevance, and plenty of money. And more importantly, it’s losing the current and future talent necessary to generate any meaningful and sustainable recovery . So the question for current energy leaders today isn’t merely ...