Folks are asking why we went from being a great company to where we are now. Here's the answer.
1) BoD chose who they thought would be a Great Leader rather than JJ's chosen. Instead we got a weak indecisive good old boy who has let his reports run wild and act inconsistently. There was a reason for previous consistent company policy.
2) Leadership Team has more in common with academia rather than common sense.
3) Leadership thinks incrementally from status quo rather than transformationally as a true E&P independent. This is why the COST and ECO efforts have failed.
4) Nepotism and Incest have let ignorant and arrogant leadership spend huge amounts of money on non-value-adding projects.
5) Those chosen to lead the company post-split were not "chosen" originally. They have to demonstrate their brilliance. So they don't listen.
6) Prices collapsed. But our leadership thought they could "scenario plan" rather than implement what truly needed to be done.
7) Arrogant leadership thought previous management was too focused on costs. So they ignored costs.
8) Executive "Leadership" decided they were better than us. Rules did not apply. SPIRIT values became inconsistent under them. Employees saw this hypocrisy and productivity collapsed.
9) Rampant chronism continues. If you have an asset that should be sold or a project you want to do, you "shade" the analysis to keep your empire.
10) Exploration remains incompetent and corrupt. The same folks are here.
11). Post-split the same bureaucratic processes remain. All reporting and work processes are embarssingly unproductive.
12) Lower levels know that speaking the truth will be penalized. So they parrot company propaganda to get promoted and recognized.
13) The company spends 90% of our effort forecasting financial plans, but is at the bottom zero percentile for net cash flow and balance sheet analysis. So each quarter actually closes with a surprise.
14) This will never be time-sheeted properly, but the company spends more time putting together the annual LRP/Budget/Analyst Meeting rather than creating value for stockholders.
15) Leadership decided the Finance function was incompetent. So they promoted someone outside the discipline who did not know the difference between a Canadian Dillar and a British Pound. Etc.
In summary, the vainglory inmates have taken over, and are clueless on how to truly lead this once-great company.