"Growing up, I loved to hear Dad tell stories about the company. He loved his job and made business sound fun and exciting. I remember telling Lea in high school that my plan was to go to school back East and return to Tulsa to work for Helmerich & Payne, Inc." Unlike his father, he had never wanted to do anything else.
Two lessons learned from the family's dinner table talks stood out: never compromise your integrity, and people are the company's most important asset.
Hans Helmerich came to his new job immersed in the lore and experience of more than 50 years of company business. He had seen the waning years of the industry boom and knew and admired the people and management policies that had built Helmerich & Payne. At the same time, Hans knew that the world had changed, and that the new environment demanded new skills and ways of doing business. Just as his father had done in the Fifties, Hans Helmerich began to build a new team that could take the company forward through the hard years of the Eighties.
Early on, Hans Helmerich hired Steve Shaw to head up Helmerich & Payne Production. Shaw brought to his post a unique combination of major company training at Amoco and experience with smaller independents. Like Hans, he understood the importance of team building, and assembled a competent staff needed for the challenging times.
The three-pronged strategy for exploration and production - exploration, exploitation, acquisition - capitalized on Helmerich & Payne's financial strength in the midst of the industry crisis.
The result? In a time of plunging commodity prices, the company was able to maintain its reserve base and increase production