Charles Davis
“I didn’t realize that Petroleum Geoscientists would have to present their ideas to management like a salesman – a skill just as important as being a good scientist.”
This is response from an interview with a technical advisor for ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures with over 31 years of experience, Mr. David Mitchell. Regardless of the career path that the reader is on, being proficient in written and oral communication is an important skill. An uncommon thought when a person thinks about a career in the STEM field. However, it turns out that the idea of marketing products and enhancing one’s communication abilities in even scientific fields is important. Mr. Mitchell explains this, and more, in the following question and answer section of this blog.
What is your professional history including your timeline and roles?
“I began my career after graduating from the University of Western Kentucky as a petroleum geologist/geophysicist as an associate production geologist as a summer intern with Exxon Production Company in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1985. I then received a promotion to become a exploration geologist where I spent time in New Orleans to look for natural gas and oil prospects in the cretaceous play of onshore Gulf coast. In 1993 I received another promotion to Technical Team Lead for the East China Sea exploration team in which I led a team of geoscientists looking for oil fields in offshore China near the Wenchang and Pear river mouth basins. I returned to the America in 1997 as a near field wildcat advisor in south Texas. Wildcat drilling is the process of making educated guesses of where oil is in recently purchased locations. After that in 2001 I was the Technical Team Lead in charge of a geoscience team developing the super-giant Zafiro oil field in an area of Africa known as Equtorial Guinea. Following that in 2007 I was Team Lead in developing new discoveries in the offshore area of Africa known as Angola for ExxonMobil Development Company. In 2009 I was the Africa/Asia Pacific/Middle-east regional geoscience coordinator in ExxonMobil Production company. As part of this position I coordinated the work of asset teams in the southern hemisphere and assisted the regional manager. In 2010 I was part of the Nigeria OBO Technical Team as lead, which made me responsible to influence partner oil companies in developing oil and natural gas fields in offshore Nigeria. In 2013 I began my current position as a Technical Advisor of ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures where I evaluate possible oil and gas field acquisitions.
What writing advice do you have for professional communicators?
“It is important to be concise, but still provide all relevant information, so the reader or decision maker can understand content and key messages that are presented to them.”
What is your one pet peeve when it comes to professional writing?
“Writing important communications in a format similar to text messages all lower case, poor grammar, and abbreviations. It makes the person who writes them seem unprofessional, or that they did not do enough research.”
What kind of business reports did he read and compose regularly?
“I primarily compose technical reports such as drill well approvals, post-drill results, technical evaluation reports/summaries, regional study reports and contractor reports.”
What are your writing suggestions to make those types of reports successful?
“A report should have logical flow and organization with the inclusion of data tables, and results followed by a descriptive summary that is factual and honest. Writing the report is just as important as the information being reported on.”
What speaking advice do you have for professional communicators?
“Always prepare for a presentation, order the material in logical manner, practice the presentation before the review, note key messages on each slide, bring appropriate backup material, anticipate possible questions, relax and stay confident but never try to answer questions you don’t know the answer to.”
What one thing he wished he had known about business communication prior to his professional career?
“I didn’t realize that Petroleum Geoscientists would have to present their ideas to management like a salesman – a skill just as important as being a good scientist.”
After assessing the Burning Glass list of Baseline Skills (2016), which skills not in the top 5 would you move into the top 5…and why?
“I would move analytical skills, time management, teamwork, presentation skills, and positive disposition to the top 5. For Petroleum Geoscientists and Engineers, it is more important to have an efficient team that can work together to solve problems.”
What team skills do you feel young professionals need the most?
“It depends on the field you are working in, however for Petroleum Geoscientists and Engineers, the most important skills are analytical skills, time management, teamwork, presentation skills, and positive disposition. However, organizational skills could be substituted for time management.”
Key Takeaways
David Mitchell’s responses concerning the Burning Glass List of Baseline Skills conflicted with the primary skills an engineer should have. Mr. Mitchell thought that all 5 of the top baseline skills in engineering were while important, had too much emphasis on them for the career that he is in. For example, David Mitchell includes positive disposition which is number 36 for engineering as his number 5. This is due to people having different values while in the workplace. Similar to how the Burning Glass data table has each skill placed differently depending on the career area, but on even more narrow scale. With this information the possibility that if more interviews were done with people, even in the same career area such as engineering listed their top 5, it is likely that their list would conflict with another within the same occupation. Therefore, a person seeking to become the diamond in the rough among their peers should aim to strengthen all the skills listed on the Burning Glass data table instead of sacrificing ones lower on the list in favor of the top 5.
The advice that David Mitchell gave for written and oral communication works for any field of employment. For example, information used in a report should follow a logical order and requires credible sources backing it. While most of the reports he creates, and reads are similar to what one in a STEM field will see this advice is useful for those in different careers as well. The primary reason being that credible sources, and research are a staple of any business report. Speaking in public is a skill that requires practice, and with enough practice even a person who loathes public speech will gain confidence. However, just as it is important to have strong sources backing a written report an oral requires perhaps more. The more informed the presenter is on the subject the easier it is to react to questions presented by the audience. However, while presenting if one receives a question that they are unaware of the answer to it is important to stay honest. This final piece of information can help ease even the most nervous of public speakers because there is always new information to learn on any subject.
Biography
David Mitchell is a Technical Advisor for ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures. He began working with the company 31 years ago as a Geoscientist and received multiple promotions. He has his masters in Geoscience which he received from the university of Purdue after graduating from the university of Western Kentucky in 1985. He currently lives in Kingswood, Texas. As proof of his experience being Technical Team Lead on seven large scale projects during his career along with being a Technical Advisor for the Upstream Research company. If the reader at the end of this blog has questions for Mr. David Mitchell contact him on his Facebook. The information that gained from this interview showed that in any career that taken a person will have to use their business communication skills in some capacity. Therefore, it is important to be proficient in all skills listed on Burning Glass because most people differ in perspective on which ones are the most important.
Charles Davis is a sophomore at the university of Southern Indiana, his major is computer science. He enjoys in software development along with machine learning. Charles has moderate proficiency in java, python and C#.
