Posted on 09/20/2019 6:13:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
The following message from T. Boone Pickens was written prior to his passing on September 11, 2019.
Mr. Pickens’ website and social media accounts are now being maintained by T. Boone Pickens Foundation team members.
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If you are reading this, I have passed on from this world — not as big a deal for you as it was for me.
In my final months, I came to the sad reality that my life really did have a fourth quarter and the clock really would run out on me. I took the time to convey some thoughts that reflect back on my rich and full life.
I was able to amass 1.9 million Linkedin followers. On Twitter, more than 145,000 (thanks, Drake). This is my goodbye to each of you.
One question I was asked time and again: What is it that you will leave behind?
That’s at the heart of one of my favorite poems, "Indispensable Man," which Saxon White Kessinger wrote in 1959. Here are a few stanzas that get to the heart of the matter:
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
You be the judge of how long the bucket remembers me.
I’ve long recognized the power of effective communication. That’s why in my later years I began to reflect on the many life lessons I learned along the way, and shared them with all who would listen.
Fortunately, I found the young have a thirst for this message. Many times over the years, I was fortunate enough to speak at student commencement ceremonies, and that gave me the chance to look out into a sea of the future and share some of these thoughts with young minds. My favorite of these speeches included my grandchildren in the audience.
What I would tell them was this Depression-era baby from tiny Holdenville, Oklahoma — that wide expanse where the pavement ends, the West begins, and the Rock Island crosses the Frisco — lived a pretty good life.
In those speeches, I’d always offer these future leaders a deal: I would trade them my wealth and success, my 68,000-acre ranch and private jet, in exchange for their seat in the audience. That way, I told them, I’d get the opportunity to start over, experience every opportunity America has to offer.
It’s your shot now.
If I had to single out one piece of advice that’s guided me through life, most likely it would be from my grandmother, Nellie Molonson. She always made a point of making sure I understood that on the road to success, there’s no point in blaming others when you fail.
Here’s how she put it:
“Sonny, I don’t care who you are. Some day you’re going to have to sit on your own bottom.”
After more than half a century in the energy business, her advice has proven itself to be spot-on time and time again. My failures? I never have any doubt whom they can be traced back to. My successes? Most likely the same guy.
Never forget where you come from. I was fortunate to receive the right kind of direction, leadership, and work ethic — first in Holdenville, then as a teen in Amarillo, Texas, and continuing in college at what became Oklahoma State University. I honored the values my family instilled in me, and was honored many times over by the success they allowed me to achieve.
I also long practiced what my mother preached to me throughout her life — be generous. Those values came into play throughout my career, but especially so as my philanthropic giving exceeded my substantial net worth in recent years.
For most of my adult life, I’ve believed that I was put on Earth to make money and be generous with it. I’ve never been a fan of inherited wealth. My family is taken care of, but I was far down this philanthropic road when, in 2010, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates asked me to take their Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world's wealthiest to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. I agreed immediately.
I liked knowing that I helped a lot of people. I received letters every day thanking me for what I did, the change I fostered in other people’s lives. Those people should know that I appreciated their letters.
My wealth was built through some key principles, including:
A good work ethic is critical. Don’t think competition is bad, but play by the rules. I loved to compete and win. I never wanted the other guy to do badly; I just wanted to do a little better than he did. Learn to analyze well. Assess the risks and the prospective rewards, and keep it simple. Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader: Avoid the “Ready-aim-aim-aim-aim” syndrome. You have to be willing to fire. Learn from mistakes. That’s not just a cliché. I sure made my share. Remember the doors that smashed your fingers the first time and be more careful the next trip through. Be humble. I always believed the higher a monkey climbs in the tree, the more people below can see his ass. You don’t have to be that monkey. Don’t look to government to solve problems — the strength of this country is in its people. Stay fit. You don’t want to get old and feel bad. You’ll also get a lot more accomplished and feel better about yourself if you stay fit. I didn’t make it to 91 by neglecting my health. Embrace change. Although older people are generally threatened by change, young people loved me because I embraced change rather than running from it. Change creates opportunity. Have faith, both in spiritual matters and in humanity, and in yourself. That faith will see you through the dark times we all navigate.
Over the years, my staff got used to hearing me in a meeting or on the phone asking, “Whaddya got?” That’s probably what my Maker is asking me about now.
Here’s my best answer.
I left an undying love for America, and the hope it presents for all. I left a passion for entrepreneurship, and the promise it sustains. I left the belief that future generations can and will do better than my own.
Thank you. It’s time we all move on.
This message from T. Boone Pickens was written prior to his passing on September 11, 2019. "Have faith, both in spiritual matters and in humanity, and in yourself. That faith will see you through the dark times we all navigate." #RememberingBoone
All that failed. Later I saw him say in response to a question that his plan failed because he didn't anticipate the importance of fracking.
I've never understood how a successful oilman with his experience and inside view could have been so mistaken.
that is a lamentable omission, but I’m hopeful that since he mentioned optimism in spiritual matters that he had some clarity personally in that regard
yes
we would like to see, love your neighbor, and follow (indeed cling to) Christ
but
it is still a great statement by a great American....and a true Texan :)
well.....it might be as simple as this
he grew up in the TX Panhandle
Anyone who grew up there has wind embedded in their DNA. You are left thinking, can’t we do something good with this?
it is a bit seductive b/c the wind out there is truly surreal
I’m not a big fan of “wind energy”. But I can sure see how it appeals to some. Also, Boone thought it would be the thing that made us energy independent (back to not anticipating fracking.....)
That’s sort of between T Boone and God, don’t you think.
My favorite quote from T came in 1984, after he teed up Gulf Oil for takeover and then was outbid by Chevron. “Aw shucks, lost again.” he told BusinessWeek. This was after he had made similar failed but profitable takeover raids on Cities Service and General American Oil, then later Phillips Petroleum and Unocal. His Mesa Petroleum made about $760 million on Gulf at the time.
Apparently the enviro whack-jobs convinced him that oil was on the way out and ‘renewable’ energy was the future.
He bought into their claptrap...................
Yep.
You can’t buy your way into heaven. The most generous person without confessing Christ as Lord and following Him is on the way to destruction.
T. Boone has always been generous.
He’ll find the gate is open...
Maybe he just kept his religious musings to himself, figuring that at that point, he’d be in a position to discuss them with the Ultimate Expert.
Maybe they weren’t worth mentioning? Sad. Then again, he may have rewarded them in his last will and testament.
PING, great post Red Badger. I attended a luncheon in Boston decades ago where he was the keynote speaker.
Don’t have the foggiest memory of what the spoke about, but the “change agent” theme of his message was memorable.
He left a few ripples in that pail of water.
But he did mention God in his reference to his “Maker”.
Easy. It was taken as a given that you could never link up enough of the pore spaces in shale to get the oil and gas to flow out of it. Tunnel vision is another factor. Pickens was also given to playing angles and wind power was a tax encouraged angle he could not resist. His other angle was trying to tie up all the water rights he could find in the Texas Panhandle. On his ranch he has just about drained the Ogalla Aquifer to create game plot oasis in that waste land of Canadian River breaks. Boone gave away a lot of money but Boone took good care of himself. Fine though, it was his money to do with as he saw fit.
When I first learned to read logs I looked at the porosity curve of the Wolfcamp shale an marveled. The porosity, the percentage of pore space in the rock was at least three times that of the reservoir rock we were looking for. I innocently asked why we could not produce such a huge volume of pore space with no apparent salt water. The answer, “Look at the Gamma Ray, that’s shale. Everybody knows you can’t produce shale boy.” And so, with that I too became one of those taken by conventional wisdom.
Others had tried mind you but it was early in the days of Nitro. That did not work. The Devonian Shale in Appalachia made companies like Dominion Resources but nobody ever asked, until George Mitchell in the Fort Worthless Basin, what made that different?
It turns out though that the shale really isn’t just shale but shale and a bunch of cracks and crappy rock with some permeability that are linked up by hydraulic fracturing. If it were just shale alone the decline curve would produce uneconomic wells in just a few months.
It has always amazes me how compartmentalized knowledge is. How something commonly done in one place remains unrecognized for the opportunities it offers with just a little tweaking or adaptation in another place.
Physics is physics and people are people. There is nothing new under the sun. Only things that have been done and forgotten, tried and failed for the wrong reasons or for which connections and recombination of the principles have not been discovered yet.
Philanthropy does not equal charity.
Matt.7. [1] Judge not, that ye be not judged. [2] For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. [3] And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
But I guess a saintly fellow such as you is above all that, right?
We are all fortunate to have such a devout and perfect, nearly “God-like” person like you to point out all our failings!
Take your damned sanctimonious attitude and shove it!
If you say so.
Pretty sure He doesn’t really care about buying a college football stadium. So yeah, I say so.
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