If EM can't drastically reinvent itself, the company will simply fade away over the next 20 years, like other once great companies which at one point in their history missed the opportunity to make the right turn (Kodak, Nokia, etc.). The “last survivor” strategy, even if successful in the short-term, is the path to a slow extinction.
___
I couldn't agree more. Copied from @cpo+1jDEExMM
4 replies (most recent on top)
The Executives with the power to make sweeping changes are the ones that successfully navigated and benefited from the toxic culture so see no need to change the culture.
If they focused on removing the LTA managers and overhauled the ranking system based on merit instead of demographics or popularity it might work
@OP In a a word, No.
The innovation train departed from the O&G industry a long time ago, and both the workforce and industry leaders tore up the tracks after it left.
Exxon, and and every other company of its kind, has chosen to to stifle innovation by doubling-down on antiquated (not to mention failed) business models, created a chronically destabilized workforce through perpetual restructuring, and locked-in a workforce consisting mostly of people over the age of 40, few of whom know anything about modern technology - or have any observable interest in learning or using it.
Again, the answer to your question is no, and always will be, for all of the reasons stated above and many more that I won’t bother discussing.
Unfortunately, fundamentally changing a doomed business-model when it's still possible is always risky, all the more so if it looks financially successful in the near-term.
It requires a vision, a good knowledge of the real drivers of the industry... and courage. EM upper management has none of this. They are clones of those who selected them, precisely because they won't “rock the boat”.
“Strategy” at EM is basically limited to
- cost-cutting, based on studies done by consulting firms who are excellent at guessing what their client wants to hear and put this in flashy PPT decks, and
- some greenwashing to pretend they are doing something and provide some “talking points” to the brass, when the heat gets a bit uncomfortable (no pun intended).
I'll be retired before the ship sinks, but those who are less than, say, 45, should get the he-l out of there.
Just my opinion. For what it's worth...