Jonathan Grammer

Your career has spanned both renewable energy and traditional oil and gas development. With over $1 billion worth of development projects and acquisitions advised through your company, how do you identify and capitalize on lucrative opportunities in the energy sector?  

I’ve been fortunate to observe how all the energy sources are interconnected.   Each of them have needs that require our services and many of the different sectors are more closely related to each other than people realize.  Because we dedicate so much effort towards researching first hand the needs of the industry, we’re usually able to capitalize on them and also avoid those areas that are not timely or not justified by true market conditions. 

As the founder of Grammer Land & Exploration Corp., how do you balance your entrepreneurial ventures with your responsibilities as a trial attorney and landman?  

I ask tons of questions in many different areas.  Being able to justify particular directions is predicated upon correctly understanding the markets.  With so much information being derived from the media and so much of it being misinformation or politically guided, I am constantly traveling and visiting with people in a host of different areas to determine what the actual market conditions are.  We can thus determine how best to allocate our time and resources. 

Did you always want to be an entrepreneur? 

The movement towards entrepreneurship began during my time practicing law twenty years ago full time.  I had the benefit of working at a firm that specialized in catastrophic injury cases in which, for the most part, the facts and the law were usually against us. I learned how to make a strong case, relying on very little to work with, thinking outside the box and having to formulate solutions to complicated issues sometimes with only a few hours of preparation.  Once you begin to look at situations that way it is very difficult to unsee them.  Thus, where most people see an obstacle the entrepreneur sees an opportunity. This is why for the most part, most of our best work and I think a large contingent of people in the energy sector, is done during the lowest times in the economy.  When the masses run out of the burning building, the entrepreneur runs in. 

You are very civic-minded, having served on the Board of Directors for the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and the Federal Bar Association’s Divisions on Energy and Natural Resources and Federal Litigation. What are some of the key leadership qualities you developed through these experiences and how have you employed them in your entrepreneurial pursuits? 

I would say the key leadership quality I have developed in myself and strongly encourage others to develop is the ability to handle difficult conversations and issues first, respectfully and honestly.  Inside every organization, company, political party and sometimes even a family there are one or two conversations that are usually not being had.  A bad leader can elicit loyalty by telling people what they want to hear.  A good leader can tell people what they don’t want to hear and elicit the same loyalty anyway.  That has proven to be an enormous problem in a lot of American institutions.  We have to be able to discuss the sometimes unpleasant and small leaks in our institutions. A small leak can sink a big ship. 

How do you define “excellence” in business?  

Excellence invokes a vision that all ships must rise with the tide, not just a handful, as a result of a businessman or businesswoman’s efforts.  It can’t be simply a celebration of the self, but rather a celebration of all things business and community. That means that the company, the people that work there, the community in which a business thrives and civic organizations all benefit from a business person’s efforts. You are raising all of these in your particular area, not just increasing your own revenue stream. 

With such a demanding career, how do you unwind, and what hobbies or interests do you pursue outside of work to maintain a healthy work-life balance?

All of the balance in my life comes from my wife Claire.  All of the pursuits that I have and the energy that I apply to different things come from within but knowing when and where to play my cards and when to hold them, knowing when to push harder and when to stop and listen for the most part requires a special calibration of the compass that is a gift I don’t have.  It’s one thing to know the path…it’s something entirely different to illuminate it and have the courage to follow it. That’s what she brings.