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Growing up in the UK Mike studied to be a Civil Engineer. In the midst of finishing up his degree he decided he did not want to work as a Civil Engineer but perhaps a different Engineering role. As a senior in college he came across a big poster that said “free beer” hosted by Schlumberger, he had no idea who Schlumberger was, he was attracted to the post for the free alcohol and decided to give it a go. The recruiter at the time captivated Mike and he knew from that moment he wanted to work in oil and gas for Schlumberger. 

His first job in the oilfield was as a Mud Logger field engineer. Mike is color blind and every time he would identify the mud samples they were always “grey” to him. The company man one day walked into his trailer and said “ what have you been drinking all week? Every sample you give me is the same color! This doesn’t make sense”. At this moment they decided he could not be a Mud Logger and instead got a promotion to become an offshore MWD engineer. From then on Schlumberger sent him around the world and Mike continued to grow his oilfield career through several management roles.

Mike talks about his struggles as a young entrepreneur and immersing himself into his career. At this time he lacked self-awareness on work life balance. Being an entrepreneur it is very easy to find yourself  lost in your work and turn into a workaholic. He learned early on that he would have to make a change in order to keep his close relationships and continue to be successful in his career. He gives insight on how to deal with work life balance, at the end of the day you have a choice to make. 

He has made a total of 7 acquisitions in creating Rubicon, this brought on a multitude of different cultures he had to bring together into one. As Mike and his Partners built Rubicon they did a round table discussion to build a structure around the culture that they wanted to create for Rubicon. They built and described this through their “Intolerables”. He explains these intolerables and how it shaped Rubicon into a successful international business.

Check Out Rubicon’s Culture and top 10 intolerables : https://www.rubicon-oilfield.com/who-we-are/culture/

Another key point Mike discusses is the expectation that you have to be right all the time as a CEO, which is completely unrealistic. Being more vulnerable and open when being a CEO allows you to have open discussions within the organization, which is vital to having the leadership team that you want ,and strive for, within the organization.  With the intention of a global business Mike wanted the leadership team to represent this vision. He strategically placed his team to represent the countries they worked in, it was vital to Mike to represent diversity to show employees that Rubicon has all intentions to have a diverse and inclusive workforce. Mike gives advice on how to break the mold of gender specific roles and bring more representation at the board level to show diversity matters.

Mike talks about the changes happening with online buying behavior and the adaptations that are needed for the industry to survive. He believes oil and gas has a place in society but we need to let go of the past to embrace the future. 

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