What's Ahead - Column from David Vaucher, 2014 TWA editor-in-chief.
The “corporate ladder” still exists, but does anyone want to climb it anymore? It seems every day there is news about the latest startup to go public, and these tales of huge success have led to a new aspiration: No longer is it enough to climb the corporate ladder, you have to build your own!
That’s quite a dream: building something tangible, working on your own terms, and maybe even reaping much greater financial rewards than if you were to work for someone else. It certainly sounds appealing, doesn’t it?
Many of the most famous startup success stories come from Silicon Valley in the United States, in the technology sector, which makes sense: There is an established culture of collaboration, plenty of people looking to invest their capital, and the cost of developing an “app” can be relatively low.
Contrast that with oil and gas, and differences emerge: Projects take years to complete, tend to be capital-intensive, and have costs that can run into the billions of dollars, so companies are wary of committing to a new project unless they are as close to 100% certain as they can possibly be that their investment will create a return. In fact, the uncertain returns and enormous costs do seem to imply that the culture in oil and gas is inherently skewed away from risk.
When you think about it, any entrepreneurial endeavor inherently involves risk, so does this mean that “entrepreneurship” and “oil and gas” are mutually exclusive?
Absolutely not!
