ConocoPhillips
Focus. You cannot go everywhere and do everything if you expect to perform well.
“I learned a powerful leadership secret when I was in the United States Marine Corps. It was called the Five Ps: Prior planning prevents poor performance.
“Whether in the military or in business, preparation is critical,” says Archie Dunham. “One reason why the Marines are so successful is the thoroughness with which they plan; they evaluate alternatives, they anticipate what can go wrong, and they provide for contingencies.
“When I participated in maneuvers as a young lieutenant, I kept a notebook where I logged every mistake and each area where we could improve. Then I shared the benefits of this ongoing education with the young lieutenants who followed me.
“I did the same thing in the business world as I rose in the corporate-ranks and had the opportunity to train our young, high-potential managers. Consequently, for the rest of my career, I almost never went to a meeting unprepared. Equally important, I had a management team behind me that was trained to think and act the same way.
“Prior planning always pays off—and never more so than when the time came to realize my long-time dream to make Conoco an independent company again. Conoco had merged with DuPont in 1981 to avoid a hostile takeover. By 1998, the original justification for the merger had evaporated, and there were compelling reasons for us to break free of DuPont.
“But regaining independence was a massive undertaking that required meticulous planning. That we succeeded in realizing the objective was due entirely to our attention to detail.
“We had to marshal compelling arguments to persuade DuPont’s board that it was in the shareholders’ best interest for us to separate. That meant extensive in-house planning and research.
“We didn’t trust our own brainpower alone. We brought in outside investment bankers and financial experts—first, to help us make the case to our board, and then to lay the groundwork for the initial public offering (IPO). We also hired our own legal counsel to help us negotiate our way through the transition, rather than relying on DuPont’s legal department. Extensive planning pervaded every step in the process.
“In the end, the planning was rewarded even beyond our fondest expectations. When the Conoco stock began trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on October 22, 1998, the IPO was greatly oversubscribed. In fact, at $4.4 billion, it was the largest IPO in U.S. history up to that time.
“The first quality of effective leadership is focus. You cannot go everywhere and do everything if you expect to perform well. You have to focus your attention on your most important priorities each day.
“Being effective doesn’t depend on how much effort you expend or how many hours you work. Being effective means focusing on what really matters.
“Successful leaders concentrate on their most important priorities. Most failures are caused by a lack of focus.”