Loving Work

May/10

23

Communities of Leadership: Peter Voser’s Royal Dutch Shell

No comments · Posted by Scott in Case Studies

I wanted to put an international oil company on the list of interesting communities of leadership, but it was hard to know which one to choose.   Petro China is the largest by market value at $333.8 billion (figures from the Forbes 2000 list), but I was looking for a true international.   Exxon is the biggest by profits at $19.3 billion, but I have to admit that the whole Exxon Valdez affair has left me feeling at best ambivalent about them.

Shell (Peter Voser, CEO) is narrowly the largest international by sales, at $278.2. It’s the only one of the international majors to make the list of the world’s 50 most innovative.  It was number 50. Shell had profits as per Forbes of $12.5 billion and a market value of $168.6 billion.  It is indeed international, taking 41.0% of its revenue from outside of Europe and the U.S.

I do also have a special regard for Shell because over the years the company provided a home to two holistic corporate thinkers I particularly respect, Arie de Geus and Joseph Jaworski.  It’s hard to know how much of that thinking is still alive at the company.

Reading Shell’s annual report and online profile, I have to say I come away with an image of an oil and gas company focusing on oil and gas.   I don’t get much insight into a company thinking about an energy future post-petroleum or trans-petroleum. I found that disappointing.  Even the discussion of innovation was about innovative ways to get the most from petroleum reserves and petroleum products.

Here are a few things Shell says about its values: “Shell employees share a set of core values – honesty, integrity and respect for people. We also firmly believe in the fundamental importance of trust,openness, teamwork and professionalism, and pride in what we do.”

I expect all the big oil companies will have a challenging ride over the coming years.  On the face of it, their core assets in the form of oil and gas reserves should be continually rising in value, as demand for these finite resources increases.  However, I believe they will also face the continuing challenge to lead (or not) in a sustainable trans-petroleum energy future, and in a world economy that can respond affirmatively to climate change.   I will be interested to see if Shell and others take this challenge on, or simply decide to get as much milk as possible out of their cash cow.  I hope for everyone’s sake that no company has to tackle a challenge like Exxon Valdez or BP’s current Gulf of Mexico spill, but should it happen, I wonder how Shell would respond?
The growing list of Interesting Communities of Leadership is at http://lovingwork.org/interesting-communities-of-leadership

Scott is scott@lovingwork.org and @scottdowns3 on Twitter.

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