Leading with energy

I have a secret to tell: executive search consultants do have favorites. Yes, we’re human. Since I am one of those species as well, I’ll tell you about one of my favorites.

It’s the energy industry. Yes, I know, not the geeky but fancy tech brother we should all talk about. That is my second favorite. Energy industry is a traditional, currently undergoing a significant transformation. The fact that it has history, it impacts geopolitical context, it brings together customers but also innovation, suppliers and tech. What more should one want? Of course I chose as my favorite industry one that is complex and has some history aspects to it.

You should be warned by now that I might drop some buzzwords. Is not intentional, but there is no way around them. So sustainability might be in the works, innovation, customer first, ethical, leadership. But don’t get phased by them, it will make sense by the end of the article. And I am sure already the leaders who want to be part of this industry will understand the cruciality of these points.

The future is green. Really? Yes, I'm starting this list with one overly used catchphrases. As mentioned before, there is no way to avoid it. Actually you can but then there would not be much to talk about. Although speaking about the future usually entails careers and such, on this specific topic it’s a lot about legislative initiatives. Especially at European level, there are more and more regulations for reducing the environmental impact of energy production and promoting green technologies.

The fun part is that is not only for the energy industry - this has to be present in every single corporate strategy in any company, but the energy sector must lead the way. The real jam is that few people actually talk about the very fine line between green energy and actually sustainable one. And this jam will be on the bread & butter of said leaders for the next few decades.

Although it's not that obvious, customer is king. By customer I mean the end users of the value chain. And, do we have a long value chain in energy! This sector serves communities and industries so its impact is huge - we've all witnessed that in Europe, at least, in the last couple of years. It can be a fierce battle out there, and the energy sector can be quite the enemy. In these times, the customer feels cornered like a challenger of the title in a match that usually favors the already entitled champion.

We’re speaking in metaphors but we should tell it as it is, that people cannot afford to pay the bills or business number will drop under the break due to the energy costs. The companies have the chance to make the opponent feel more as a sparring partner. To be as one team, at this point might seem full utopian. So, leaders will have to stay close to the communities and to clients, constantly communicate with them and address their concerns. Not through PR, and customer service (speaking of which, is on a roll again), but actually talk to actual living customers. Yes, I know!

Adopt new tech and innovate. I mentioned me being torn between two of my favorite sectors since I am in the search business: tech & energy. My personal take is that the energy market overall is 5-7 years behind the telco one, and closer to financial industry, kind of 3-5 years behind. Unfortunately, in the past years the gap has only increased. Telco did work on catching up with tech (that is for another topic), but energy sometimes lags behind with a kind of apathy (ironic, I know).

I will explain. Innovation in energy can be more complicated. We’re talking about super specific technology, a lot of legacy and the vastness of it, requires large investments. Still, that is not an excuse, the large energy companies should really dose their energy drink and get to work. That would be putting a higher focus on start-ups in their sector, help them grow and scale. This is still the easiest way to innovate and upgrade the entire industry.

Bottom line, leaders in the industry will have to accept at some point that technological innovation will come more from the outside rather than from within. They have a strong point in legacy and could capitalize more on it, but when it comes to shiny techy stuff, go look outside.

Ethical leadership. Now, let’s invite the hippo & the elephant in the room for some dancing tea around that fine china. Being exposed, working with the public sector, something the energy companies are not spared of, means becoming almost part of it. Which comes with some drawbacks.

The big one is being highly impacted by the political landscape (usually for the worst). And as high as that impact might be, it surely is felt at any level within the organization. I think we’ve all experienced this one way or another. So leaders will have to ask themselves a big question, actually two, and not rhetorical: how can I stop making compromises and how I can lessen those already made by my predecessor? With a good answer to both of these, the world might really be a better place.

Risk and crisis management. We’re ending on such a high note, but wait there’s more. The Three Gorges Dam in China, one of modern man’s wonders, one of huge economical importance while it functions and with a huge impact, if that said dam were to stop existing. It is said that if the Three Gorges Dam would be destroyed by a foreign element, it would be the equivalent of chaos being cast upon us all, similar to a nuclear war. How about that?

The energy sector is kinda similar. It has a global impact and comes with a huge risk. You know, when one uses the forces of nature to produce energy, one also gets a lot of that same nature’s hazards and happenings of all sorts. That alone is a fundamental source of risks. Then you get to commercial, financial, strategic, geopolitical and so on. It might be that the overall risk models will soon need quantum computing to process. Therefore, leaders will not need to add “risk mindset” and “crisis management skills” to their CV, they will need to make it part of their being.

For most of the leaders out there looking at this list (exposed very briefly), might be that they’re steer away from the industry. And that is great. As the task will be really for those who are seeing this not only as a challenge but as a huge pivotal moment they can contribute to. And that’s exactly the kind of energy someone needs to lead…energy, really.