A leadership motto can either gather dust in a slide deck or become the sentence people carry into hard decisions. We sit down with Dave to unpack how “Clear Leader” actually takes shape during the Chevron and Unocal integration, why he says he gets too much credit for it, and what happens when you swap a complicated corporate paragraph for a phrase people can remember and choose to live by. Along the way we look at why being “second best” quietly trains an organisation to accept less than it is capable of.

The surprising twist is that a small booklet nearly derails the whole effort. Borrowing a cue from Starbucks’ old green apron book, the team drafts a Clear Leader booklet, takes it to a focus group, and then hears the line that forces a complete rethink: “I find it comforting but not inspiring.” That moment becomes a masterclass in listening, psychological safety, and the difference between messaging that sounds nice and language that actually moves behaviour.

From there we shift into practical culture tools and high-stakes governance. We talk about e-colors, personal intervention, and simple cues that help people pause and choose a better response. Then we tackle WellSafe and functional governance: business unit pushback, the importance of independent assurance, why “exceptions” break systems, and how leaders keep standards alive through reorganisations. We finish on the sharp edge of leadership: compliers versus believers, what a blunt question in Thailand revealed, and why consistency and non-negotiables are the only way culture survives a change of boss.

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“They’re just like musk oxen.” That throwaway line turns into a sharp lens on leadership in Wells, drilling, and completions, and on what happens when smart teams get defensive instead of curious. We talk about why technical groups can circle the wagons, how that hurts decision-making, and what it looks like when leaders choose humility, learn the business, and stop optimising only for their own function.

We also get specific about leadership development in oil and gas: the bets you place on people, the heat you take when you promote someone “too early”, and why talent grows faster when you back it with real resources. We reflect on leaders who break the old narrative that Wells people lack business acumen, and on what changes when the expectation is clear: you have to know the business, not just the tools.

From there we go deep on the Leadership Essentials Programme, why leadership training often arrives too late, and why first-line supervisors can either do enormous damage or enormous good. We lay out what makes the programme stick: spaced sessions, experiential learning between modules, accountability partners, and leaders who protect the investment even during budget pressure.

Finally, we connect leadership to safety culture through business partnering and human performance. You’ll hear how asking partners “what do you expect from us?” can change the entire tenor of a business unit, how different approaches can be integrated rather than fought over, and why AERO became both a proud achievement and a lasting frustration when it stopped being used.

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A single decision can define your leadership: keep the work moving, or stop it because the risk is telling you something you do not want to hear. Dave joins us with 42 years in oil and gas, most of it around drilling rigs, including leadership roles in Wells performance and corporate Health, Safety and Environment. We get into the real-world moments where safety is not a poster, it is a choice that costs time, money, and sometimes popularity.

We unpack a tough story from early in Dave’s Wells role, when a fatality triggered a deeper look at a contractor’s safety systems and led to a call that senior leaders did not welcome. From there we explore a principle that shapes high performance without sacrificing people: we can risk finances to learn and innovate, but we do not risk lives, the environment, or reputation. That idea connects directly to learning culture, psychological safety, and why “don’t be afraid to fail” only works when failure is designed to be safe.

Post-Macondo, we talk about humility and the decision to learn from high reliability organisations outside oil and gas, including nuclear power and the submarine navy. The contrast is stark: procedure discipline, clarity of mission, and an honest acceptance that human error is normal. We also touch on “discipline or develop”, how intent changes the leadership response, and what COVID taught us about leading through uncertainty with calm, data, teamwork, and the ability to pivot.

If you care about safety leadership, HSE, high reliability, and building resilient operations, listen now, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation. What is the hardest safety call you have ever had to make?