Doug Foshee

In 2012, El Paso Corporation merged with Kinder Morgan in a $95 billion deal, one of the largest deals the Energy Industry has ever seen. Having worked for some of the biggest names in the industry, including Torch Energy, Nuevo Energy, Haliburton, and El Paso, how has your leadership style evolved over the course of your career? 

My experience has varied between industry subsegments (E&P;Midstream; Downstream; Service) within energy and some outside energy. The organizations I’ve been privileged to work for have been both large (over 100 thousand employees) and small (less than 500 employees) and both domestic, international, and in some cases Global. Each has their own characteristics, but I would say that I enjoyed working with smaller more entrepreneurial organizations early in my career and learning about the pace needed to succeed and how to evaluate risk and triage opportunities quickly.  

Later, it was more about “how do you turn a battleship”.  And how do you create an entrepreneurial mindset in a large organization. This required more intentionality regarding culture, where you acknowledge that you can’t touch and know 100 thousand people in 110 countries personally but you still need to champion and embody the culture that you aspire to for the entire organization. More attention is required to organizational design, the right people on the right seats in the bus, incentives (show me the incentive and I’ll show you the behavior), and decision rights (do you organize by geography, by product line, or in a matrix?).

I found all of this incredibly interesting and challenging. You have to recognize in larger organizations, especially ones that are public and in industries that are concentrated, that you have to be “on” all the time – at work, with customers and employees, with your Board, in your community – everyone is watching you 24/7/365 looking to see if you are living the values and culture that you espouse.  And finally you have to remember that “the first day you become CEO is the last day you hear the truth”, meaning that many people come to you with an agenda that is enhanced by telling you how smart you are.  It is enticing.  You have to resist, lest you stop taking input and getting honest feedback which leads to disaster.

After exiting El Paso Corporation, you founded Sallyport Investments. What was your motivation for starting your own business? 

When El Paso Corporation and Kinder Morgan merged, it was a very unsettling time for me personally. On the one hand I had no doubt about our decision to enter into the transaction, and now with ten years’ reflection I am even more convinced it was the right thing for our shareholders. At the same time though, I LOVED my job. I had a great board. I felt convicted about our Vision – to be The Place to Work The Neighbor to Have and the Company to Own and felt so lucky to get to work with my colleagues.  

I started Sallyport with the idea that I would spend half of my time in the non-profit world (split between Public Education Reform, Veterans and Homelessness) and the other half in the Private Equity/Venture Capital world. I knew that I might someday be lead to re-enter the world of being a Public Company CEO but didn’t want to let that necessarily define who I am as a person. Over the years I had discussions with companies, some fairly serious, but Sallyport began to succeed in ways I hadn’t imagined and here I am ten years later without a “real job”!  Oh, and very happy!

You founded two nonprofit organizations, NextOp Vets and Houstonians for Great Public Schools. Additionally, you serve on the board of several other civic and philanthropic groups. How does community leadership and service go hand in hand with business leadership?

I just don’t know how you can live in a community, have success, and not feel lead to give back.  I think it was Aristotle who said, “To not be involved in the affairs of one’s community is to be either a Pig or a God”. Well I know I’m not a God and I certainly don’t want to be a Pig!  Finally, the hours I spend in those endeavors are the most fulfilling hours of my day, and I feel that I’ve received much, much more than I’ve given at every turn.

How do you define “excellence” in business? 

Excellence in business is some combination of having an important and compelling Mission (at El Paso our job was to get you every molecule of natural gas you needed at your fingertips, on the hottest day of summer and on the coldest day of winter – 24/7/365 as an example); solving a legitimate need; with a meaningful set of Values that are lived out all the time by every employee; acting as true stewards of the investment provided by your owners; competing fairly; finding that delicate balance that accounts for all stakeholders appropriately; and under those conditions – winning!

You hold the unique distinction of being the first individual in the history of our organization to receive a Future Texas Business Legend Award and then later be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Having experienced the organization as a Scholar Alumni, a Director, and a Legend, how has TBHF impacted your entrepreneurial journey? 

I have been so fortunate to have had such a long and varied relationship with TBHF.  In the beginning, having the TBHF award on my resume gave me a leg up in my job search out of Business School without a doubt. And given that my wife and I had both made mid-career decisions to go back to school, the monetary value of the prize was not inconsequential.

Later, as a Board member and then Inductee, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with incredible business luminaries from across our great state. This has proved to be incredibly enriching. And along the way I have met hundreds of incredible TBHF Scholars & Veterans who are so impressive and give me great optimism about the future of our State and of the World.