What You Probably Do Not Know About BP

Hard to imagine pairing these two words together:  corporation and integrity.  Or how about this - a giant corporation learning to create three profit lines:  People, Environment, Shareholders.  Which profit line must come first to create the best bottom line profit?  Smart person that you are - yes, it's people.

I intended to write this post several weeks ago, when I first read what I share below.  Another good intention bites the dust, as I allow life and work to consume me.  Overdue?  Yes.  Still relevant?  Yes.

Now for some context.  I've been reading what I consider a brilliant book on the next level of human evolution - The Translucent Revolution, by Arjuna Ardagh.  Bare-bones definition - "translucence" allows us, if we choose, to awaken out of the ego-based trance of fear, doubt, and anxiety.

People become translucent when they wake up from their contracted self-preoccupation and feel themselves bigger than their personal story.  They discover they are both no one in particular and at the same time part of everything around them.  From this recognition of connectedness, translucent  people become more humorous, more honest, and less fearful.  Their lives get reorganized around service and contribution.

Imagine this . . . organizations that display translucent qualities, moving from a focus on fear, lack, and profit at all costs, to one of creativity, inspiration, honesty.  Organizations that reorganize around service and contribution, to their employees, to society and the environment, and to their shareholders.

Ardagh's book discusses in detail companies that have begun reorienting around translucent qualities.  He contends that there are thousands of conscious businesses throughout the US and Europe who "compete well with the global giants, because they offer something that economies of scale can never purchase on the cheap:  heartfelt integrity."

Imagine my shock when I read that BP was included in this group.  This same BP that recently created the worst environmental disaster in history through negligence and focus on profit at all costs.

Okay, let's back up a minute here.  The book I reference above was published in 2005.  The work cited that BP did began in 1997, back when it was still British Petroleum.  It's fascinating to learn of the change process BP underwent.  And to wonder what happened to the culture since that change process began that led to the oil disaster that occurred this past spring and still continues as of this date.

Rewind to thirteen years ago when stress levels at BP were so high that company performance was dropping.  Bruce Cryer, CEO of HeartMath, was called in to bring in the HeartMath approach.  Briefly defined, HeartMath offers simple techniques and technologies (such as biofeedback) to reduce stress and improve health and performance by shifting attention from mind to heart.  Shifting attention from mind to heart alters perceptions and behavior away from fear and distrust.

Love overcomes fear. . . Increasingly, science demonstrates that coming from a place of love, appreciation, and kindness in business significantly improves performance rather than coming from a place of fear and lack and scarcity.  That's very powerful.  - Anders Ferguson

In 1997 the entire board of BP went through the HeartMath program, and from there it rolled down the ranks over the next three years.  Over time BP began to see the connection between individual well-being and sustainable organizational performance. 

But really, how can we be expected to believe that oil companies that plunder land and sea for obscene profits embrace translucent ideas that put people first?

So wondered CEO Cryer of HeartMath.  And even he was surprised at the level of benevolence tucked inside BP:

In fact, there are good people everywhere, dealing with the same pressures and anxieties and personal-growth challenges in oil companies as anywhere else.  They aren't necessarily only interested in digging black stuff out of the earth.  That's been an important part of our approach, to recognize the humanity, the goodness in people everywhere, to recognize that people are the sum total of what they've learned.  Obviously, as a planet we've got to learn some new stuff, some new intelligence and new ways of thinking and being and feeling.

What concrete actions ensued from BP's work with HeartMath?  This question would best be answered by an insider!  Since I don't have access to that info, I offer the following.  The Translucent Revolution briefly mentions the following:  They changed their name to BP, with the slogan, "Beyond Petroleum."  They powered all their European-based gas stations, as well as office buildings and refineries, with solar roof panels, making them the largest user of solar energy in the world.  They also initiated wind projects in Europe, and are actively exploring the use of hydrogen.

Interestingly, the book goes on to note how honest and responsible BP's "Sustainability Report" for 2003  was: BP acknowledges how it is still a major contributor to world pollution and lists the damage it creates, along with a road map away from the role of polluter and damager, and offers a vision of energy sustainability.

I googled BP CEOs and discover that a number of them have come and gone since bringing HeartMath into BP back in 1997-2000.  I wonder how much of that change initiative remains within the organization.  I hope for our sakes that key individuals who embody the change remain to influence BP towards integrity.

I wonder how true to their word BP remains when the clean up costs and lost employment continue beyond the first $20 billion escrowed.  I wonder if we dare give BP the benefit of the doubt.  The alternative is to continue to demonize them. 

Am I hopelessly naive to expect such integrity in this disaster recovery effort?  Can BP keep their "spirit in gear" and do the right thing?  If you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who works at high levels at BP, tell them we're counting on them to hold the vision and DO THE RIGHT THING.

Comments

[Lon]

It would be nice to hear people say "Okay, you've made a mess, now how can we help you to clean it up?"

[Deb Call]

Lon, what a novel idea - to expect the best of people, give them the benefit of the doubt, and lend a helping hand. Organizations are made up of good people who make human mistakes, sometimes bad and costly mistakes. Do we choose to look forward with them, as you ask "how can we help you ..." or do we look back and beat them down?

[Dan]

This is a wonderful post, Debbie. There's no point in demonizing the whole company. I had an experience with a big tobacco company one time. It was very much the same deal. The people were fine, the corporation in its institutional imperatives was so-so-so problematic and lost. I think you are asking a very powerful question -- what's happening, what has happened, inside the real below the water-line BP organization and what's the next move? Will it be a public relations approach or will it be right action at the costs required?

[Deb Call]

Dan . . . I wonder how the questions raised in the post get answered down the road. I'm putting out an expectation of hope that this crisis will move the right people within BP to move BP in the right direction.

[Bruce B.]

Debbie, very interesting points on BP. Many of the items you discuss have not been mentioned in the main stream media. Thanks for bringing these to light. We can only hope that BP follows through and does the right thing in the gulf.

[Deb Call]

Bruce, it seems that the media do not give us the full or accurate picture of events. "Truth" has many sides!

[Debra Estep]

Deb, Very interesting reading indeed. Thanks for sticking with your idea and
following through to write it. :) Curious, what led you to the book
in the first place ?

I agree with Bruce's comment about this information NOT being mentioned
in main stream media.

From this link below, you can read about John Browne who became Group Chief Executive on 10 June 1995.
It seems from the article that he was responsible for the attempt to 'green' things up
at BP.

It's mind bending to think of a company as large as BP and then to equate how corporate
responsibility verses bottom line trickles down through each and every department.

John Browne:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Browne,_Baron_Browne_of_Madingley

[Deb Call]

Deb, I found the book, The Translucent Revolution, in a bookstore and was immediately attracted to it. You know that feeling when a book calls your name and you just have to buy it!

Thanks for the additional link to BP's "green" era. BP is a conglomerate - one of those big corporate entities. This entire Gulf Coast oil spill and clean up certainly puts a face on a company and highlights that even conglomerates are composed of human beings!