“Purpose Never Retires” - Lewis Senior on Leadership, Safety and Life

Lewis Senior returns to Wind, Waves & Wells almost a year after his first appearance.

At 75, Lewis is still travelling, teaching, coaching and helping organisations understand the role personality plays in leadership, communication and safety.

Early in our conversation he sums up exactly why he has absolutely no intention of slowing down:

“Purpose never retires.”

We talk about how Equilibria has developed over the past year, the growing use of E Colours, upcoming work with Step Change in Safety and why understanding personality can influence something as important as whether someone actually feels comfortable stopping a job.

From there we get into leadership and culture offshore.

Why can you sometimes walk onto a vessel or installation and almost immediately sense what the culture is like?

What separates a genuinely good leader from a poor one?

And has the energy industry lost some of the community and camaraderie it once had?

We also get into human performance, the future role of HSE professionals and how AI could completely change a job that has traditionally involved huge amounts of paperwork.

Then Lewis decides to turn the tables on me.

He takes over the podcast and starts asking me the questions.

Why did I start Wind, Waves & Wells?

Where do I see my career going after nearly 15 years offshore?

Why am I moving towards HSE?

What role has my family played in everything I have done?

And where do I want to be five years from now?

It ended up being a very different conversation from the one I originally expected, but probably one of the most personal I have recorded.

A wide ranging conversation about leadership, safety, culture, personality, purpose and ultimately the people behind the energy industry.

Timestamps:

00:20 Lewis returns to Wind, Waves & Wells

00:47 What has changed at Equilibria over the last year?

02:21 A new leadership programme and the E Colours Playbook

03:39 Why are companies becoming more interested in personality and communication?

04:55 Lewis at 75 and why “purpose never retires”

06:31 Equilibria's role in the changing UK energy industry

07:44 Working with Step Change in Safety

09:16 Upcoming announcements and events

10:44 What would make this year a success for Lewis?

11:58 Keeping an open mind and having difficult conversations

12:26 I reflect on interviewing people I do not necessarily agree with

15:02 How attitudes towards different parts of the energy industry change

16:44 What does good leadership actually look like?

17:34 “If you think you're a leader and nobody is following you…”

18:21 Why an OIM and a head teacher have more in common than you might think

19:47 Leadership is 95 per cent about people

20:44 The difference between camaraderie and genuine community offshore

23:38 How job uncertainty can affect offshore culture

25:13 How personality can influence safety and risk

26:23 Are some personalities less likely to stop the job?

27:28 Why stop work authority does not come naturally to everyone

29:19 What companies misunderstand about human performance

30:50 Has the energy industry lost some of its pride and community?

31:21 Building culture before a rig even starts operating

34:32 My concerns about the growing human performance industry

37:47 Lewis takes over the podcast

38:16 Why I started Wind, Waves & Wells

39:57 Where do I see my career going?

41:40 How AI could completely change the role of HSE professionals

42:21 Why operational experience matters in HSE

43:29 The future of HSE could be far more about people than paperwork

45:05 Where do I want to be in five years?

46:35 Lewis asks why someone should take a chance on me

46:47 “If you don't risk anything, you risk everything”

47:42 Lewis reflects on my future

48:28 What does Lewis still want to achieve?

49:59 Why purpose keeps people going

50:37 Upcoming Step Change events and what's next

51:23 Closing thoughts