Diversity as a motivator

Difference is an engine for creating things to happen,” said Robert W. Pease, President of Shell Trading (US) Company and alumni of Rose-Hulman. On Monday at 4:30 p.m., Pease spoke to a full house of students, faculty, administration, and community members, in the Myers presentation room about “Working in Global Markets: the value of difference.” The talk was sponsored by the Diversity Council.

Pease received his technical training from Rose-Hulman and graduated in 1980 with a degree in chemical engineering. He then hired on with Texaco as a process engineer, working with eliminating inefficiencies in a refinery to optimize the unit’s performance. In 1989, he became a crude oil trader with the company. Pease continued to learn about business while changing jobs between technical and non-technical fields. He moved into management in the latter part of his career and has since enjoyed the cultural challenges working in joint ventures. The rapidly changing scenery in the oil business has given Pease work with Texaco, Star Enterprise, Equilon, Motiva, and his current position with Shell Trading.

Pease began his talk by sharing a story of his first international business trip. Through the sharing of his experiences, he illustrated that “[there is] incredible diversity in the...global community.” The purpose of Pease’s talk was to emphasize the importance of communicating, understanding, and relating to individuals from around the world in this time of global economy, and the problems and difficulties that difference can create for a global business.

Pease compared diversity to an iceberg, saying that the visible traits of difference were only a small part of all of the factors that make an individual or country unique, in Pease’s words, there are a “tremendous number of factors below ‘the waterline.’” These elements are at the core of understanding how to best work with other cultures.

As a global company expands, Pease explained, it will (generally) need to hire a workforce in its new branch. However, while hiring a new workforce is a necessity, a native workforce probably will not respond in the same manner to certain situations as the original office. Pease listed major aspects of a culture that make them unique, including how the demographic responded to uncertainty (risk) and how that culture handled interactions, both professional and personal. He explained that by understanding these differences, interactions with certain offices around the world could be tailored to better communication and business relationships.

Throughout the talk, Pease emphasized a few main points, most notably that an understanding of difference and an ability to interact intelligently and take those differences into account, is essential in a global marketplace. Pease especially emphasized that corporate cultural differences can be divisive, and working through those differences, even when dealing with individuals from the same demographic, can be difficult, but is certainly essential.

After a brief intermission, Pease concluded the talk by proposing various real-world scenarios to the audience and asking for feedback. When finished with the audience participation segment, he opened the floor for questions, many of which pertained to his career with Shell. Pease concluded by encouraging the growth of the diversity of the institute and reminding students that, “in almost any path you choose, you can learn a great deal from those around you.”