Survive, Revive, Thrive: Chapter 11—Flank Speed

Either move or be moved. - Ezra Pound, American poet, 1885–1972 Flank Speed (a ship’s maximum speed) Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. - Helen Keller, American author, 1880–1968 (she was blind and deaf from birth) I will be uncharacteristically brief: if there were ever a time for operating at maximum capacity/capability, then this is it. I ask that everyone reading this column think of 10 tasks/ideas/concepts that they can perform right now that will change their trajectory (and hopefully SPE’s as well), distill those 10 tasks to three, and commit like your life depends on it to performing at least one of those tasks in the next 6–12 months. Call it homework if you want, but every person reading this column can create, innovate, and deliver some task/idea/concept that will significantly benefit our industry. Don’t say you have more important things to do—this is your profession and your passion. Get started, push directly to flank speed, and get it done. Then move to the next idea on your list. SPE needs its member contributions as never before. SPE and You Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems. - Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian, 1892–1971 It is very easy to sit on the fence, but sooner or later the post will hurt you where it counts. You must do something constructive in this life to be alive. More simply, in the words of the British clergyman John Henry Newman, “Growth is the only evidence of life.” SPE must grow its missions, but its missions must also include what we do now to prepare for the foreseeable future. Energy transition is not a fad; it is a critical path we as an industry and as a professional society must pursue to provide energy for all. Oil and gas are simultaneously our most secure energy resources, as well as our “battery backup” for situations where renewable options are either unavailable or impractical. Energy sustainability will evolve (I guarantee it), but let’s never forget what will pave the way to that sustainable and renewable energy future—oil and gas. Every conceivable product that is part of the energy transition is either fueled by or dependent on oil and gas as raw materials. Regardless of how you feel about SPE as a professional organization, it cannot and will not grow into what it must become without your volunteerism and your engagement. I understand that “change=pain,” but we are in a different world now. We can choose to be patient (wait and see what happens), pause (basically be in a state of paralysis), or we can pivot, which is to say that we can push or change/evolve to another path. It is complicated, because in the last year on an individual basis most if not all, of us have done all three.