I'm Listening, Pods

Coots (blue coveralls) was a great teacher. He always listened and when he'd make a change in the plan, a little tweak here and there, he'd still make you feel like it was your idea and he was behind you 100%. He could delegate authority, but keep you safe, knowing that is how you learned. He wanted you to learn. There isn't too much of that sort of thing anymore in the oilfield; todays leaders often feel threatened by initiative.

"Pods," by the way, was sort of Coots slang for pardnor and when he took to calling you that, it was a good sign. It meant you had reached a certain level of respect with Coots.

Great leaders, great men are not often very free with their terms of endearment. I had the privilege of spending a good bit of time with the legendary, Roy Emerson, a 28 time Grand Slam winner in tennis; when he got to be fond of you, he would call you Blue. It was very special and something you cherished.

So it was with Coots, and his term of endearment, pods.

To be a hand in my oilfield requires a lot of hard work and no bellyaching, no whining. I want to see that you are using your brain, that you care about your work because it is a reflection of who you are as a man. I use the term sparingly; if I do, you have earned it.

If in the dark, we're washing up in the headlights of our pickups, exhausted, and I were to say to you, you did big work today, hand...that's about the best you can expect from me.