| |  | | | | Photograph by Barchfield Photography | SLS views future leadership of SEG with optimism By Chris Posey A leader is a person who defines and articulates vision; this sentiment, posed by Jon Finstuen, Chevron, Global Earth Science Functional Sponsor, embodied the spirit of the SEG Chevron Student Leadership Symposium (SLS) which took place at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists International Exposition and 80th Annual Meeting, 16 and 17 October 2010 in Denver, Colorado, USA. The event, now enjoying its fourth year as a key element of the SEG Annual Meeting, is designed to foster and promote leadership among geosciences students worldwide. In doing so, 53 students from 31 different countries were welcomed at this year’s symposium. In addition to these student attendees, the symposium welcomed Catherine Thibault, geophysist at Chevron, SEG President Steve Hill, and Jon Finstuen of Chevron, as well as a number of SEG directors, leaders, and senior staff. The event was led by Melissa Brown, SEG University & Student Programs Coordinator, and Candice Chinsethagid, SEG University & Student Programs Manager. The symposium opened with welcome addresses, followed by the first leadership session and group activity, led by Greg Robinson, Ph.D. As the fulcrum to the Challenge Quest, Robinson asserted that “leadership is changing, and approaches focusing on flexibility, collaboration, crossing boundaries and collective leadership are expected to become a high priority.” His objective in the morning’s activity: determine what collaboration is and why it is so important, and determine how best to solve problems collaboratively. Over the course of the activity, Robinson isolated two important paradoxes pertaining to collaboration: - Understand that collaboration is an emotional shift more than an intellectual shift.
- The critical leverage point to create collaboration is self, not others.
Robinson concluded the activity with a challenge to students: Get the job done while equipping and growing the maturity of others. Six student representatives from around the world were selected to present Best Practices Presentations. These students included: - Aurelian Roser-Freie Universitaet, Berlin, Germany
- Christine Kaharmen, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia
- Piotr Kurnik, AGH University, Poland
- Dineo Florence, University of Botswana, Botswana
- Alexandra Ricu, University of Bucharest, Romania
- Roderick Perez, University of Oklahoma, USA
Each presenter shared projects in which his or her student chapter participated, as well as successes and challenges faced by student chapters. Lunchtime ensued. Students had the opportunity to share a meal with SEG leaders. This afforded a great opportunity for students to ask questions and share stories in a less formal atmosphere. Following lunch, SEG President Steve Hill spoke, admonishing students to rejuvenate their curiosity. Hill encouraged students to determine which questions to ask as they continue through their pursuit of knowledge. This understanding, said Hill, comes from the aforementioned rejuvenation of curiosity. Hill continued in his address, emphasizing the importance of persistence. In an effort to bring the point home, he shared with the students anecdotes of one of his own academic accomplishments: the earning of a PhD, not in geophysics, but in astrophysics. Hill ended his address with a final challenge to students: Follow your passion. Hill encouraged students to step out of their safety zones and not to be concerned about “zigzags” in their geophysical career. In a perfect transition into the following address, Hill commented that a person’s value to a company rests in that person’s ability to influence others in the company. Jon Finstuen followed Hill with comments on leadership, specifically within a commercial/organizational geosciences context. Finstuen implored students first to demystify the role geophysics plays in oil companies, reminding students that, beyond geophysical academia, oil companies are businesses. With this in mind, Finstuen promoted the following in order to exhibit strong leadership in commercial geophysics environments: - Risk management and good decision-making;
- Consideration of the non-subsurface areas (e.g. operational aspects);
- Peers, Wall Street, return on investment, and the like.
Finstuen went on to point out the irony of the oil company “treadmill”: the faster oil companies produce hydrocarbons, the faster their asset base declines. Geophysics, he continued, helps replenish these assets and helps oil companies make good decisions based on provided data. These decisions enable oil companies to accomplish growth organically, inorganically, and through asset development. As Finstuen continued on in his speech, he reaffirmed the theme of this year’s Annual Meeting: Imaging the Future. He saw this theme as an optimistic glance into the future leadership of commercial geosciences—a future that explicitly includes the very students he was addressing that afternoon. Finstuen articulated three core values he hoped students would embrace: integrity, partnership, and innovation. He encouraged students to excel in technical expertise, then, to broaden their knowledge base, and finally to use their knowledge in a supervisory role with a strategic focus. Following these addresses, students split up into groups to participate in a Strategic Problem Session with SEG ExComm. During this activity, students and SEG Executive Committee members and senior staff conferred together for the remainder of the afternoon about the following challenges facing SEG student members: As you begin to prepare for graduation and begin thinking about becoming a young professional member of SEG, what existing SEG programs or services will be most important to you? What kinds of new programs, services, or products could SEG help develop for Young Professionals groups that would empower them in supporting their members to achieve their professional goals? Should SEG invest in a new Student Chapter Excellence Program? If so, why? What would the benefit be? As SEG Student Chapter members, what would you like to see as the main focus for this new program? How should this program better serve our SEG Student Chapters? How can SEG incentivize chapters to continue to grow and remain active? What key components should be required of all student chapters, (i.e., community service, participation in SEG sponsored programs, Challenge Bowls, etc.)? On Sunday, 17 October, SLS participants ventured out, enjoying a luncheon at the Wynkoop Brewery in downtown Denver, followed by a second Challenge Quest: the Great Marble run. During this activity, participants worked in groups to pass marbles through a network of tubing in a way that emulated challenges faced in geophysical surveys. In looking back on the SLS, one is reminded of Jon Finstuen’s concluding remarks from Saturday’s address, in which he noted that leadership is not an affair of the head, but an affair of the heart. His final exhortation to the international crowd of students was: “love what you do.” No doubt, this group participating in the SEG Chevron Student Leadership Symposium will continue on in the field of geosciences doing just that. Click here for event photos Related Annual Meeting News: |
