Energy Crue
Welcome to 'Energy Crüe', the podcast that dives deep into the heart of industry innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal growth. I'm your host, JP Warren, and each episode, we embark on a journey to uncover the passions and motivations that fuel industry leaders. We're not just talking business here; we're exploring the personal drives, the triumphs, and the challenges that shape today's pioneers. Alongside these inspiring conversations, I'll be sharing my own story - the battles with imposter syndrome, the pivotal mindset shifts, and the lessons learned throughout my entrepreneurial voyage. As a certified coach, my goal is to empower you, our listeners, to break free from the barriers holding you back. Join me as we navigate both the professional and personal landscapes, learning and growing together with 'Energy Crüe'
Energy Crue
From Military to Mesa: Trey Lawson's Leadership Journey
Trey Lawson shares the story behind Mesa Solutions' heritage connection to T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Petroleum and explains how the company is transforming power generation in the oil and gas industry through relationship-based innovation.
• Third-generation oil and gas professional raised in Midland during its transition from a small-town feel to today's boom environment
• Navy veteran who joined after 9/11, serving as an intelligence specialist before entering the oil and gas industry
• Transitioned from operations to sales despite initial reluctance, discovering the value of servant leadership in customer relationships
• Views true sales success as becoming an asset to customers rather than just selling products
• Believes the industry has become increasingly siloed between operators and service companies, limiting innovation
• Emphasizes that Mesa has evolved from selling generators to providing comprehensive power solutions
• Explains how their natural gas microgrids can match or beat utility pricing while offering scalability
• Advocates for decentralized leadership that empowers team members to make decisions aligned with strategic vision
• Hires for character traits (hungry, humble, smart) rather than experience
• Identifies the "we've always done it this way" mindset as a major industry bottleneck
If you're interested in learning more about power solutions or connecting with Trey, reach out through LinkedIn.
Everyone welcome to a new. I hate when the streamer does a thumbs up for me. Everyone welcome to a new. Energy Crew podcast Me, your host, jp Warren, and you know these podcasts are pretty much conversations about what's happening in the industry. Sometimes we'll fill you in on what happens, what operators are talking about at our crew club operator roundtables, and other times we have some industry leaders, some interesting people, as a guest on this podcast just to dive into more kind of like their background, their leadership style, what they see about this industry, different perspectives from industry leaders, and that's kind of what I'm excited about.
Speaker 1:Trey Lawson, the VP of sales and marketing for Mesa. We were actually before you started. That's why we started kind of recording this, because there was an interesting history behind Mesa Solutions, mesa Natural Gas Solutions. Now I want you to kind of clarify on kind of what the historical element is and what kid it kicked off that way, and then we'll dive into some other tangents I'm sure we'll dive into. So, trey, welcome to the show where you uh, you're obviously tuning in from from a microgrid right now on location. Great communication, great, I love it. Um, so how, where are you tuning in from today?
Speaker 2:uh, midland vector, you're you're still in midland, I am. Yeah, it's, that place is tough to get out of, uh, you know, at least till till fr afternoon, and then I head back to my home and that's in San Angelo. So just tell me.
Speaker 1:It's very tough to get out of past 830 at night. I think a good way to make money is someone charters flights from Monday to Thursday going to Houston and Dallas at 9 or 930 pm. Yeah, the moneymaker, you were just talking before we started recording and I want to dive into kind of your more personal life. But real quick, you know, we just did a training for y'all and you know, obviously talking about Mesa Solutions and all that stuff you were just talking about, first off, you like keeping things simple, but second off you started talking about the history, about giving homage to Team Boom Pickens and all that stuff. Dude, I didn't even know, walk me through this.
Speaker 2:Like that's very interesting. Yeah, yeah, the name behind the name. So we were part of one of the original funds behind BP Energy, which is Boone Pickens Energy. So the name Mesa obviously is paying homage to Mesa Petroleum and, if you'll notice, the Mesa Petroleum logo and the Mesa Solutions or Mesa Power Solutions logo is very, very, very similar to each other, and so Mr Pickens, you know, was more than gracious enough to allow us to use that logo and make it ours, and so it still resonates today throughout the industry still resonates today throughout the industry.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool to have some historical, just you know presence like that kind of as the backdrop of your company.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know he was a natural gas guy and that's what our power solutions are based around is using that clean fuel source as energy.
Speaker 1:I think you know it's kind of interesting. Since my wife got in the oil and gas industry about like a year ago, it's like now we're having like industry conversations. She's like what do you think about Europe relying on, you know, domestic energy and natural gas? It's like whoa babe, what kind of like. Why don't you come to a crew club table and lead us to it?
Speaker 2:High-level macro conversations. That's cool.
Speaker 1:I, he just did it. High-level macro conversations. That's cool. I know it's different conversations than what movie we're going to watch or what show we're going to start binge-watching. So, dude, give me a little background on yourself. I started snooping on your LinkedIn, as I normally do before people come on all this stuff, and you're from Midland, but you also went to the Navy, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So, born and raised in Midland.
Speaker 1:What was that like growing up in Midland back in the day? What was that like?
Speaker 2:It was a lot different than what Midland looks like now. What do you mean? It's just it was slower. I probably won't articulate this in a perfect way, but growing up in the and I'm third generational, I guess I think grandpa was in it, my dad was is still in it.
Speaker 1:Were they all in, were they all land? He's way out.
Speaker 2:Was that?
Speaker 1:so your third generation was your dad and your grandfather. Were they on land or were they offshore? Well, tell me their background.
Speaker 2:No, they were all in the Permian. Okay, so all in Midland Odessa prior to, like, the 2012, uh, shell boom, like most everything in the oil and gas industry with regards to, like the permian basin, was contained in the permian basin. So your workforce was in the permian basin, a lot of your operators were also me and basin operators, uh, and in 2012, you know, maybe 2014, maybe getting the year wrong but uh, that first initial, that first initial big show, but when it, when it came to the Permian, it really kind of changed everything, because it was such a massive boom that, uh, the, the labor force in Midland Odessa really just couldn't maintain it. And so that's when you started seeing a lot of rotational workers come in and uh, you know, and in my opinion, it changed the dynamic of the Permian basin. You also started getting a lot of majors coming into the area. They the dynamic of the Permian Basin.
Speaker 2:You also started getting a lot of majors coming into the area. They had always been there. You've always had your Chevrons and stuff, uh, and your Exxons, but uh, yeah, I think the whole dynamic of of what Midland Odessa was changed with that oil boom and uh, I'm not saying it's bad now, it's just different uh, than than when it was when I grew up you know, growing up in, granted, I grew up in the eighties and nineties there, graduated high school in 2000. Um, you know, there's still 110, 115,000 folks there, uh, but you knew a lot of them. It was a, it was a fair size city, but it felt small, small enough that I would jump on my bike on a Saturday morning and disappear for 12 hours. You know, come home for supper. Can't do that, can't do that, can't do that Probably not many, probably not many kids doing that anymore in Midland Odessa.
Speaker 2:So yeah, just a different dynamic, different oil field honestly from from the early 2000s to where it is now.
Speaker 1:How did you feel? Okay, let me ask you a question what do you feel has changed? You know, obviously you know we got the M&As. Obviously, you know we got the M&As. I feel that you know there's more super majors out there in the permian. We don't have to stick to just permian too, but, like, how do you feel? Like you know, I feel the shift too.
Speaker 2:I felt that there's been like three or four shifts in this industry in my career.
Speaker 1:I've been in the industry for about 20 years when have you seen it kind of like kind of shift like from those you know early, you know 2010, to 2012, when you first kind of got in to kind?
Speaker 2:of where we're at today. What have you seen driving these shifts, these changes? That's a really, that is a really broad question. I think that you do what you want to do with it, buddy, I toss it, you, you, you, you talk, you, you created. Well, I'll tell you what. I'm kind of on the hills of the crew club. I'll go down this rabbit hole with with ships in the industry. Okay, watching my grandfather and watching my dad navigate this business, and they've always been on the service side for most of their careers.
Speaker 2:It was very relationship based in the oil and gas industry large industry, but also small. At the same time. I feel like and I don't know where, but I feel like the industry has shifted. From that there's been and I think you're bridging this. So kudos to you with the crew club, because that was a phenomenal event that we had on Tuesday evening and you are bridging that gap.
Speaker 2:But there's a gap between relationships and the gap in communication from operator to the OFS sector, and I don't mean you know this is on a broad spectrum I know there are people out there with great relationships, they communicate well, but I feel like those two segments of the business are siloed to some extent, are siloed to some extent. So the operators have their issues that they face, the service companies have their issues that they're facing and they're trying to find solutions to the operators' issues. But a lot of times they don't know what the true issue is, what that true pain point is. And we can go into a whole other conversation about business development, managers or sales, like finding what that true pain point is, but a lot of times times it's just simple collaboration, communication. That would break down those silos, build relationships and I think the industry would be a lot better for it, including, you know, innovation, right, because the service companies are who innovates and the operators benefit from that.
Speaker 1:I kind of want to go, I want to put a pin in that because I definitely want to go down that, because I think that's such an important piece of where this industry is at and kind of what again, challenges, and again, through just conversations we can overcome those challenges. But when you say relationship, you know I feel like you know it's been such a long time in this industry since it's been relationship based and I remember what it was like being relationship based, but but I feel that's kind of turning into like this folklore, this buzzword, this, this, you know, like this, this industry jargon of like, oh, let's move past transactional relationship. But like what? When you saw it being relationship back, back and back and back, you know, years ago, and all that stuff, what did that truly mean? Like, what was the feeling of of that for you personally? Because I know it was like on my perspective, on my side of the table, and just kind of seeing people working, you know, hand in hand, like it wasn't so cutthroat, it wasn't so uh, you know I don't want to mess, I don't want to bring this up to my customer. I don't want to bring this up because I don't want to mean friendship, like you work with your buddies or good old boys club. Nothing like that. It was that you became friends through work. You became friends through these open conversations, the time spent with each other, learning about each other's businesses, and that's kind of what I saw the benefit of having a relationship where, at the end of the day, price was important. Price will always be important. It's a business.
Speaker 1:However, for me, I love how I'm just answering the question I asked you. I'm giving you time to think about it, but for me it was like you saw a lot more productive conversations happen in this industry. I mean, I think that's where you saw such rapid advancements. You know whether it's through, you know the, you know slick water fracking when it comes to shale play, all that stuff that came through collaboration conversations and um, it's, it's. And again, unfortunately, maybe for how the service companies are approaching operators or maybe for how operators have built walls around themselves, silos, as you said. But for me I saw those real benefits and just kind of um and not just, you know, not just business, not just operations, efficiency, but also just the enjoyment of our industry. You know it was a lot more fun just because you were there. You got to meet, make more productive friendships, if that makes sense. But so that was my perspective and I think things changed. I'll explain why. But what did you see when you say relationship? It was more relationship industry. What does that mean to?
Speaker 2:you. Yeah, I mean, it's really exactly what you just explained. It's, it's uh, it's it's deeper than friendships, you know, like cause a lot of times, um, you know, you don't necessarily have to be friends with somebody, but you do have a strong bond and that and that relationship is forged through, yeah, successes, but also through failures. Um, you know, some of our tightest relationships with our customers have been forged through some, some failures on on both sides and some really really tough conversations, some failures on both sides and some really really tough conversations. But those conversations, you know, iron sharpens iron and that creates a really really tight bond that goes beyond pricing. I despise that word.
Speaker 1:I really hate talking about pricing.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you know, I think, when you can get to a level in a relationship with your, with your customer or with your vendors, uh, where you could sit down and have some hard conversations and people kind of check their egos and check their emotions at the door, that's where you see productivity and innovation and things like that.
Speaker 1:I dig that. So, going from, so you, you joined the, uh, the Navy, right yeah, going back.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I uh I actually had a really uh had a two year stint um up in Lubbock at Texas Tech. Um, my uh sophomore year fall semester of my sophomore year 9-11 happened Okay, and so I uh finished out my sophomore year and then I enlisted that fall semester in the Navy and then the spring semester. Once it completed so this was 2002, I called my parents. I was like hey, leaving school and I am going to bootcamp in July, on July 22nd 2002.
Speaker 1:So this was a call. I mean, so you, you were just kind of like called to action through nine, 11, or was this kind of like?
Speaker 2:yeah, it really was. I mean, to me that was like a really defining moment in my life. Um, college was great and I ended up finishing my degree. Uh, later on in life, um, but you know it, just it. It's probably youthful ignorance and youthful pride. Um, I don't regret it for one second. It's one of my life's greatest privileges and honors to serve. But, uh, but, yeah, I mean, I mean, I can remember.
Speaker 2:I remember as a kid listening to my grandparents talk about, well, you know, I remember exactly where I was whenever JFK was assassinated, these defining moments in our life, and I remember thinking how the heck did you possibly know where you were? I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing that morning and how I felt, and I've never forgot that feeling. And so, yeah, I just it was a no-brainer, it required a little thought and a little prayer, and that was it. I went down and and you know, did what I thought was right and the rest is kind of kind of history. But it worked out perfect, cause I met my wife in, uh, california, where my life's due to say she was, she was going to school at San Diego state there, and and then I brought her back to West Texas.
Speaker 1:I brought her back to West Texas. That's very similar environments I mean Southern California and Midland very similar.
Speaker 2:And Jimbo yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean so, were you the, were you a first generation, like a person that was, you know, in the in the armed forces?
Speaker 2:In your, in your family. I'm sorry, I cut out a little bit.
Speaker 1:Were you first generation. I think that's such an interesting path to take. You're in college. You're sheltered at some certain level university student, all that stuff, shelter. Next thing you know you're kind of pulling yourself out of this environment. You grew up in Midland. You're going to Lubbock what was that? Two, three hours away. You're in this circle. You're going to Lubbock. You know what was that? Two, three hours away. You're in this circle, you're in this bubble. And next thing you know you're joining the Navy to kind of get out there and kind of see the world and kind of inspired by the attacks on America back then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, actually I have a very rich tradition of military service in my family my grandfather, my several uncles it dates back for for several generations. Um, a lot of friends, too, as well that joined Trey at a high school. Uh, and I use those guys as kind of, uh, sounding boards and mentors with my decision. Um, really, the Navy like the choice for the Navy was just like they were the better sales people. Uh, when it came to like you know my job, like you have to take an ASVAB test when you go in enlisted, um, you take this test, and they're like, hey, dude, you're really smart, which isn't true. Uh, you like chat GPT is like you're so smart, right, you are so sexy. Yeah, so, um, it was like it was like you are super smart, you, it was like you are super smart.
Speaker 2:There's this job called an intelligence specialist and it's like James Bond stuff and I'm like, yeah, I'm all over this. Yeah, not really the case. It's cool, it was a neat job and I loved it and I got to do some good work, some effective and productive work, but, yeah, there was no human intelligence type missions where I was out there like doing anything cool. I was usually locked in a skiff with a security clearance. That sounded cool, but you know, I don't know any state secrets.
Speaker 1:So it was a perception. Perception is often true, so it sounds cool. Yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, yeah. So coming in the oil field, you went over SLB orumberger, as we used to call it back in the day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So when I got out of the military I called my dad and was like hey time to get into the business. You know he was like all right. Well, this was right when the Eagleford was actually in its infancy and my wife was from Lake Tahoe originally and so she was like I'm not moving to West Texas, there's no trees, there's nothing out there. So I said I think this is great. San Antonio and just South San Antonio there's, you know, the old fields kicking off down there.
Speaker 2:I actually didn't start with Slumber Day, it was the small company called E&P Wireline. So I basically started off excuse me, on the wireline on the completion side of the business, running a wireline truck. I started on the back of a truck for about a year, learned the business, learned the trade, and then ran a wireline truck, started off doing logging jobs, case hold, bond logs and compensated neutron logs, stuff like that, and then eventually it turned into stage work on the completion side. Just plug and perf, plug and perf all day long, great experience and great company. Ewireline, who now is a company, basically the same leadership over there as a company called Dynasty Wireline Okay, clay Bomer and a bunch of those guys Great company, guys, great company. We were so good that Smith International bought us out and then eventually Slumber J bought Smith. So that's how I ended up at Slumber J.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:How long were you over there for before moving on? Goodness, I think I left Slumber J in 2015. And that's actually where my sales career began was after Slumber J. I had a buddy who worked for a service company and it was like dude, I think you enjoy sales and business development and and uh, when I left slumber jay, I was an operations manager on the wireline side and I was like dude, I hate selfie why?
Speaker 1:okay, so question why, why, what? Why? What was that stereotype that you had your mind and why? What was the yeah?
Speaker 2:great question um pitching right like it wasn't relationship based, it was. It was very transactional and it still is today. There's a lot of salespeople out there. It's very transactional.
Speaker 1:I think that's a black eye for the trade have a whole, because I think the barrier to entry, sales, barrier of entry to sales is so low, but the true performers that really drive it's, it's really is. I'm not just doing all this stuff, but like there are skills. I mean, just like being an engineer, just like being an architect, there are skills that are required. But you're right, I mean that's why there's such a stereotype against you know, that's why sales people all group together yeah, yeah, thousand percent.
Speaker 2:It's not. It's not exclusive to the oil and gas industry, it's everywhere. I mean, you could see it in the guy who's trying to sell you a security system for your house. It's very transactional, yeah, and it is a skillset and that's kind of what it blows my mind and kind of go off on a tangent here, but it blows my mind that people in that line of work don't practice and refine that skill set.
Speaker 2:You know, I think I think it's critical for salespeople, business development managers, whatever you want to call them, to constantly be refining that with themselves, with them teammates, with their leadership, with peers across the industry. Like, hey, how are you doing? And I think that's a lot of what? So you know some of the things that you provide with with the training um that you did for our team super valuable Um, even in, even in club crew. Like I know there's a lot of operators there and there's a lot of great technical talk and a lot of uh, you know in-depth industry talk. But there's also, you know, a lot of mentorship and leadership in that room as well, a lot of experience in those rooms. So I think it sells people, man. Just start start pulling from different things that you see. Start refining your craft and get out of that transactional phase. Because that's as an operations manager at the time that's why I hated salespeople. They just want to sell me something and move on at its very surface level.
Speaker 1:So so, what was so? When did you finally kind of, first off, consider taking that plunge and, second off, when did you start kind of having this realization that it is does require skills and it's, I mean, you do have to be tactical and strategic and intelligent, uh, to perform in sales yeah, I think, um, early on, I learned that early on, you know.
Speaker 2:Honestly, um, I don't know where it came from, I'm sure I hijacked it from somebody, but early on, when I kind of got into sales, I remember thinking, gosh, this is such a mistake, Like I'm going to suck at this, this is going to be horrible, Really Okay, yeah, I'm not typically like and you can ask the guys on my team Like I'm not like the most like when people think of sales guys. That's not me, Like I'm, I'm not like the most like when people think of sales guys, uh, that's not me, Like I'm there. I all I want to do and this is from an early like early on in my sales career I just want to help the customer, I just want to give them a solution to a problem. I I like to me like servant leadership, servant sales, uh is has always been, I guess, my methodology. Okay, Because I truly do want to help.
Speaker 2:I personally think intent has a smell as well and people understand when you're out there to sell something because you're on commission-based or whatever. They know. But they also know when you're genuine and they have that feeling. That's an instinct that everybody gets. I picked up on like, hey, there's, I've got to get better at this and there's little little ways to, to, to refine and get better. And I don't know where it came from, necessarily, Uh, and where, where that maybe it's just intuitive, I don't know. But, uh, that that pursuit of perfection right For me it's, it's always been.
Speaker 2:I like to watch, I like to watch leaders around me, I like to watch professionals. I like to go on sales calls with my guys. They don't let me get in front of customers too often anymore. They usually keep me doing other things here at Mesa. But I have a, I have a group of outstanding sales professionals and I like watching them and them and just learning from them. I think you can learn up the chain of command and you can learn down the chain of command as well. So, yeah, the pursuit of perfection and never stop learning. It's kind of corny, but it's true.
Speaker 1:So at what point, how long are you into your role and what were some? Once you started your role, what were some of the biggest uncomfortable situations you've been in? You know, because I think that's where you come in growth and when did you realize like, yeah, this is, I'm assuming, because the team that's around you and the group that you're with, that you probably love what you're doing and that's an assumption, just obviously. You know we, you love what you're doing, but there's also, you know, pros and cons of everything. You know it doesn't matter, but I would assume. So when did you actually kind of like you know what this is, kind of I like this stuff, I like what I'm doing, I like providing solutions and I kind of like the servant, uh, the service servant, uh, customer approach. Where did this kind of like?
Speaker 2:when did it kind of like dawn on you, like, okay, this is it, this is my groove. No, yeah, um, I had, uh, a consultant that I worked with. He was like my very first customer down in south texas. Um, his name was todd dolan. He's he's since passed and and uh, but he was a great man, very fair and honest, but he was also extremely hard.
Speaker 2:Um, and I love those individuals because you always know where you stand um, and he, he did not like sales guys, um, for that same reason that everybody, you know, doesn't like salespeople, um, but I, I, I got in, I, you know, took my lashings, I started building a relationship and, uh, I became an asset to him. So, like you know, at the time I worked for select energy and we did water transfer and water hauling and stuff like that. It was my first sales show, but I made it a point to know other sales professionals and one day he needed a service. I don't really recall what the service was, but he needed a service and I said I know a guy who does that and, uh, you with me I'm with you, I'm picking, I'm tracking, yeah no, you there I got you can you?
Speaker 2:hear me, yeah, I got you. Sorry, I don't know what's going on. It's it's, it's midland internet, yeah, um, anyways. Uh, he needed a service and I said, hey, I we don't provide that, but I know a guy who does. And he was like, oh man, that's awesome. So I called up, we got what he needed and from that day on he started viewing me as more of an asset and not a sales guy, and he would introduce me as just hey, this is Trey Lawson with Select. Like he started introducing me to his inner circle other operators in the area of South Texas, and that just slowly grew. And I think that was that moment that clicked for me. Like, okay, you need to be an asset to these people. Like, even if I don't, even if it doesn't serve me in any purpose, I need to be able to help them. And yeah, that was the defining moment for me. That's when it finally clicked.
Speaker 1:Is that what you attribute your success to? Kind of like you know, I feel like everyone's got their own little like hey, let's you know, meet with mentors, be surrounded by aspirants. What would be your kind of if you had to give yourself advice back in the day or anyone kind of entering in? What would be your kind of um, a tip, trick or uh advice? You would have to kind of uh for people out there.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a big question too. I've had a lot of advice. Most of it I didn't take, and I should have.
Speaker 1:I'm in the same boat. I'm trying to practice what I preach when I can.
Speaker 2:I mean, I get daily advice that I'm taking that's still beneficial. Yeah, I don't know if I could pinpoint something. I mean that was a moment that I remember. This was actually recently, I think. This was like three or four years ago. So I had my time with Mace. I've been with Mace at eight years now, but three or four years ago so I had my time with Mace. I've been with Mace at eight years now, but three or four years ago, three years ago, when I took this role you talk about imposter syndrome right Like when our CEO, scott, said, hey, trey, we want you to be our new VP my first kind of reaction was like, oh man, I am not, you know, qualified, not capable, all the things that start going on in your head, yep, um, and he, he, he had these, this words of advice, and it was hey, look, you always need to be in a position where you're reaching for that next run.
Speaker 2:I'm basically saying you need to be in a position that is uncomfortable, okay, like basically saying you need to be in a position that is uncomfortable where you're stretching yourself, where you're pushing yourself, and that, at that moment one, it calmed me and said okay, well, I feel extremely uncomfortable right now, so I guess I'm in the right spot. Uh, but two like it helped me get used to being uncomfortable and and intentionally putting myself in uncomfortable situations such as this podcast right, yeah, not a very outwardly facing um professional, you know, but here I am doing a podcast with with jp warrens, the number one oil and gas podcast globally.
Speaker 2:By the way, I will say that number one globally.
Speaker 1:How was that transition because I think there's a with m&a going on, with people kind of like doing more with less, taking all these new roles and all that stuff what was that transition like for you, going from you know the sales person out there, you know, on the streets, meeting with customers, to taking more of this leadership role? And what? What did you have in mind when you thought, okay, well, I'm going to start leading now? I mean, how did you cause that is obviously that's a huge skill set that you know degrees are given, you know it's studied and all that stuff what, I guess, when you had your idea of leadership, stepping in that leadership role as the new VP at Mesa, what was that like for you? And kind of, what did you, I guess, want to achieve and how did you? Does that make sense? Like, how did you level up to that leadership role?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. You know, uh, reflecting back um in my from my military career to I mean, actually you know high school sports to to present day, um, I have a very good um of what bad leaders look like and what good leaders look like and what great leaders look like, and you can pull from all of those um to. I'm fortunate that at Mesa we have an exceptional pool of leaders and I don't mean that just to say it on a podcast like our executive team are some of the finest leaders I've ever met in my entire life. My peers and even people that you know just, are on the front lines of our operations. We pour a lot of resources into leadership training. We make sure that leadership reverberates throughout our culture, so I've had a lot of really good mentors with regards to leadership.
Speaker 2:You know one piece of you know advice that Fred, our COOO, gave me when I took this role and I've heard him say it numerous times since was you know if you ever, if you get to a point where you think you've arrived as a leader, when you think you've got it figured out, it's time for you to go? Um, and so I, I I always remember that because I'm constantly trying to improve as a leader. Um, I want to, uh, and my and my team deserves that right. They don't need me being stagnant.
Speaker 2:The transition, uh, that was difficult, right, because being in sales is a very tactical, um, kind of operation. Like you're, you're out there and you're doing things that are affecting you, uh, today and tomorrow, and you're doing things that are affecting you today and tomorrow and six months down the road being in this leadership role. It was a tough transition to get out of that tactical mindset and really get into that strategic mindset of how can I set my team up and how can I set this company up for success. Three years down the road and five years down the road.
Speaker 1:How did you reposition your mindset? Because you know you're right, you know the teams that are out there in front of customers. It's very operational and you measure your success based on whatever metrics you have personally, whether it's meetings, jobs, whatever that is right. Once you get in that leadership role, you're no longer in the front. So you know what I mean. You're no longer in front of your customers, your operators, your frust I call them frustumers friends that are customers. So how do you actually deal with that mentally? Because I know there's a lot of people that get promoted to leadership. It's like kind of a battlefield promotion. Next thing, you know they're micromanaging, they want to be in the front lines, they want to meddle with their teams and all that stuff. So how did you actually effectively healthy, separate yourself and start measuring, I guess kind of like how effective you are as as a leadership role, I guess different, like KPI, personal KPIs for you? Does that make sense? Yeah, it does, it does.
Speaker 2:It's there's a well, there's a lot to that. It's it's relationship based right. So what's helped me get from the tactical to the strategic is my leadership, providing mentorship and advice and guidance and counsel, but it's also my team, so I have a very strong relationship with each and every one of my team members. We're a tight-knit group. It's free to course high throughout the team. And before I moved into this current role, I made sure that I had a guy who was prepared and ready to take my role Okay, that self-manager role and you've met Kyle. So that's the individual that I spent time mentoring and helping get ready so that when I promoted, I was able to pull him up. So that, when I promoted, I was able to pull him up. Well, now I got a guy in that role who's handling more of the tactical, day-to-day team management driving the team, pushing the team towards our KPIs, towards our goals no-transcript.
Speaker 1:A lot of people, especially when they're transitioning to positions right Like you lose control. You don't feel like your fingers on the poles, et cetera. So I battle that constantly, the feeling of control and delegation, all that stuff. How did you start feeling comfortable, I guess, and when did you realize you had to start?
Speaker 2:delegating. It goes back to relationships. Well, I can tell you, when I realized I had to get better at delegation is when I was just in the weeds, just grounding, trying to balance everything. But it didn't last too long because, again, I go back to those relationships and from those relationships there's a lot of trust and that's the key component is trust and communication, just like in a marriage. And so you know I trust Kyle and our team. They have a very clear understanding of what our strategic guidance is and every decision they make.
Speaker 2:That's one great thing about our organization and our culture. We're very decentralized in our decision-making process. Everybody understands our strategic mission and our strategic vision and where we're headed as a company, and so every decision that is made is based with that frame of reference, and so that helps guide decisions. That also helps leaders have comfort that their team knows what to do and know how to do it. So we give them a task, a job like hey, here's where we want to be at the end of the year.
Speaker 2:You go do it and you figure out your own way to do it, like, as long as it's not unethical and moral or illegal, like, get after it right, we're here to serve our customers. We're here to provide solutions and what that looks like and if it gets us to this steady state over here, then then they have that latitude to go make those decisions. So that helped that with. That really was a huge help for for that transition from from kind of the tactical sales role to more of this. You know, vp, whatever the strategic leadership role that I'm in now you hate titles, I love it, I was.
Speaker 1:I was very impressed and I'm not just saying this but like I loved like what. You told me something during the training that you know let's talk about the effectiveness of the team and and you know I'm a crew club We've had a lot of conversations. Kate Hyken led a conversation about human engineering pretty much don't have to micromanage so they make the best decisions for the company and themselves and all that stuff, and kind of you just summarize that pretty quick um, right there. So you are giving them the why, you're giving them the, the, the, the direction of the company, where you want the company to be, and you're kind of letting them carve their own path. You know, kind of get to that end goal their own way. And I think that was something that a lot of people are touching on right now in leadership positions is communicating your why, what's the Mesa's why and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:But you said something that I was impressed with. I mean, you know we're in this room and we had various people from various backgrounds experience all that stuff and you know I asked you I was like, how do you hire, how do you select your team, you know, and you said, hey, listen, at the end of the day, and this brought me back to my old previous company, pinergy, and it's like listen, at the end of the day we're high, we want the right people on the bus because we're going in a good direction we don't want, you know, we're not looking for the positions, we're looking for the people, and I thought that was just such an insightful peek into kind of the culture over there at Mason.
Speaker 2:That's something I just anyway. I just wanted to kind of plug that because I thought that was just an impressive comment and kind of outlook on how to build a team. Yeah, and that's, that's not. That is not just me, that's our, our whole company. So we ideal team players, kind of what we base our recruiting methods on, and that's hiring people who are hungry, humble and smart. You know, your resume can look pretty but we don't really care and honestly, in some positions we don't even care about your experience. A lot of the sales guys on my team have zero sales experience. But if you're humble, you have the right attitude and you're ready to get after it, you can teach people to do just about anything. If they taught me how to run a case-to whole wireline truck or how to be a sales guy, like anybody can learn those, those traits. So yeah, I mean, I think, hire for hire for character, hire for cultural fits, and you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1:There's something that I see, you know I work with. I deal with a lot of companies. I see a lot of companies, I work with a lot of companies and all that stuff. There's something that I pick up from y'all and maybe you can kind of dive into this more. I don't feel like you're a VP of sales and marketing at just a company. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I feel that you and everyone else in the group in the room and all that stuff, you're very prideful about what y'all do and it's very um, it's, it's very prevalent. You know it's very obvious that what y'all are doing, there's a lot of pride behind it, because there's a lot of purpose, right. So when you're stepping up to the plate as a VP of sales, market and Mason, all that stuff like, what, like, what comes? What comes to that? Like, why are you here? Why is Mesa here? Why are y'all here? I mean it's not just running generators. You know what I mean. You can do that at lowe's if you want all that stuff like what I mean. But seriously, there's a lot of pride, there's a lot of structure. There's it's so, for example, another company that I respect.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna give you time to think about this while I'm talking, like, for example, aes, that's not just a fluids company there, it's a very structured, scientific, like technology, forward thinking, just like your company. I remember talking. You're like yeah, we just built a microgrid and you met. It was like mind-boggling. So what again? Without? I don't want to plug, I don't want to pitch or anything like that, but it is a truly unique company and approach and I guess can you shine some light on why are y'all here in the space in the first place? You know, I mean, that's why. Why are you structured? Why do y'all structure so much different layers of stuff? Just like you know aes, or just like you know diamondback, is doing all these extra things. Like, why are you doing all these extra stuff if you're providing power to locations? Like, why, why, why, why are y'all the, the yankees?
Speaker 2:well, uh, I mean again it's it's to serve, it's to provide our customers, whether that's in the oil and gas space, in the commercial industrial space or in the manufacturing space, people who are looking to purchase engines and package those in their own generators. The why is to provide our customers and our industries that we operate in a solution to their power needs, and that's a little bit pitchy, but it also is the core truth. So we got into this business on the oil and gas side, we realized that you know, this was back in 2014, that everything was being powered with diesel generators and we were able to look at this and say we could do this better, cleaner, more efficient. And our whole mantra is we can do it responsibly and reliably. And so that's kind of what we based it. There you go, responsible, reliable power. Based there you go, responsible, reliable power. Um, so yeah, it is to, to serve an industry and to provide a solution where there isn't one. And so it's more from generators, uh, to.
Speaker 2:We don't longer care necessarily about the generators. The generators are a means to an end, it's power solutions and everything in between. So it's the, the distribution gear, it's the switch gear, it's the turnkey solutions that we provide to our customers. So somewhat acting as an ECP with regards to these setups, that's both in the oil field and outside of the oil field. So we, we could buy generators and we could buy distribution gear and buy all this stuff from all these different people. But what we found is, when we build it ourselves, we can build it with the customer in mind and not the features. The features, you can add those, but it's the benefits from us building it ourselves, us listening to the customers I mean, that's how a lot of our equipment has been built is the customer saying man, it'd be great if you could help us with this problem. Oh, we can't because we build it. And so, yeah, we make those changes, we engineer those changes, we build it to solve that problem, and away we go.
Speaker 1:How much. I feel like so y'all were kind of the first, not the first movers, but I feel like lately, in the last couple of years, the conversation of power generation and power demand has really kind of surfaced right. It's kind of there's a lot of people, more people talking about it right now than I think ever happened before in this industry, whether it's an influx of population, whether it's the grid, whether it's remote power in remote places, you know wherever y'all operate and all that stuff. Are you seeing a lot more operators discuss power generation, power demand with y'all, with, I guess, in the industry?
Speaker 2:It is, yeah, specifically speaking of the oil and gas, it has changed. It is yeah, specifically speaking of the oil and gas, it has changed. Used to generators were just surface equipment rentals, right, yeah, that is morphing into. Now we are starting to be seen by the oil and gas industry, by our customers, operators is a critical infrastructure in their assets, just the same as utilities would be For a lot of customers.
Speaker 2:They are building distributed power locations where we're setting up microgrids and they're running distribution to their locations and so instead of just having side-by-side power, we can kind of optimize their power needs, throw it all on a single location and and not only do you get that optimization which brings down your, your cost for kilowatt hour, uh, for for electricity, but it also creates a a large amount of reliability or resiliency in that as well. So when you have a microgrid, you can have one or two of our modules, of our generators go down and that microgrid, the other generators out there will carry or share that load and keep the site up and running. So yeah, it's kind of evolving from that archaic site-by-site diesel generator to more of a decentralized microgrids well, I mean, it's literally the heart of any location out there I mean if that goes down and the everything's not working out there, unless you're powering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to have electricity just a couple, just a couple questions, kind of wrap this up. I don't want to take up too much of your morning chat for 45 minutes. What are some? So I think when it comes to you know, power generation, power demand and all that stuff, I've been at some crew club tables. We have some, you know some. I mean I think you're, you, might contribute to this. So I'm actually asking about this.
Speaker 1:There seems to be like it's everyone knows, it's a necessity, everyone knows the importance of, everyone knows this, everyone knows understanding and all that stuff. Like, what are some common misconceptions about whenever you are having these conversations? Because I feel, like, whether you're talking to a customer as, like people want to know like they, people act like they know what they're talking about. Oh yeah, one kilowatt per, you know, I see that happen a lot and I see a lot of people around the table like nod their heads. Then after I'll have private conversations, like that sounds interesting as hell, but I have no idea what the hell that kill watts or whatever. Like, what are some common misconceptions that you wish that you know people, not just customers also, but maybe the industry would understand when it comes to power generation, power, uh, power demand, uh, when you're having these conversations, yeah, there's several uh misconceptions, you know. I think one of the biggest ones I I could start big and work my way in.
Speaker 2:But when you're having these conversations, yeah, there's several misconceptions, you know. I think one of the biggest ones I could start big and work my way in, but one of the biggest ones is like, hey, line power is cheaper and line power is more reliable. That's not always the case, especially in these microgrid solutions that we provide. A lot of times we're very competitive with line power rates. That includes the fuel that's being consumed as well, especially in the Permian, where natural gas, a lot of times Wahaul, is like trading at negative numbers and zero, so gas has very little value in some locations. But even with gas at a dollar or two in MCF, we can still be extremely competitive, if not beat, line power. The great thing about our solutions is we're highly scalable, and so you know when you, when you build out infrastructure to power a location that's going to be powering whatever eight ESPs that's a lot of power and a lot of infrastructure you're bringing into that versus what happens. You know whatever 18, 24 months from there, when you switch over to to gas lift or rod pump or something like that, and you don't, you don't need all that infrastructure that you built out. So it's it's, it's, it's, it's we. We talked to operators and try to get them to look at yeah, today you need this power, we can handle that, but we're also scalable. We can add, you know, we can subtract from our solutions to give you that exact power that you need. That's one of the biggest misconceptions, I would say.
Speaker 2:Another one is just um, not not all like people look at generators and again they go back to that. You know, equipment rental, surface rental, yeah, yeah, certain skills and, uh, not all generators are created equal, right, I? I mean, yes, they have an engine, yes, they have a gen in them. It's a service that follows. Those is what separates. And you know, not everybody honestly can go turn a wrench and fix generators and not everybody can string these things together and make 10, 15, 20 megawatts worth of power out of these generators. So there's a high level of engineering, there's a high level of expertise that goes behind at least the packages that we build, lease and sell. And when we set up a microgrid for a customer, we're not just bringing generators out, hooking them up and starting them up. These solutions have been designed, engineered and also validated by our staff engineers, electrical engineers so that before we take them out there. It is a safe and reliable package that we deliver to our customers.
Speaker 1:It's mind-boggling too. I mean the fact that this industry right now is so risk-adverse, you know, it's so like every decision matters and all that stuff. So it's one of those things where it's like, whenever you are having conversations about power, whether you are having conversations about plugs or whatever it is, to not have conversations with operators or clients, whoever, whether it's oil and gas, whatever it is, to not have these conversations to better understand. So, for example, you know, five years ago I would have thought I needed, you know, 15 generators. I had to run this and reality probably need this and maybe this, and it's not as cumbersome as I thought. So the fact is to make less risk adverse decisions for operation.
Speaker 1:I think now it's like there's there's not a lot of room for error right now. In my opinion, this industry, yeah, and that's just one one of those things. So how do you stay, I guess, whenever things are going on, whenever you're dealing with commodity prices, customer, how do you stay grounded to your team and kind of keep your team inspired to keep moving forward? How do you separate yourself from the BS to be an effective leader for your team? What do you do for yourself?
Speaker 2:I mean, look, at the end of the day, me and the team and our company as a whole, we can only affect what we can affect Right. And so if you approach every day like that, like, look, I'm going to go into this day, our customers are going to make the decision that they make. We are going to provide a lot of guidance, we're going to ask some very hard questions, but, at the end of the day, it's our job to separate ourselves from our competitors and people who do somewhat a similar service that we provide. And that's really where the benefits, the how, the why and that cost conversation comes into play, because there's a lot of cost savings when it comes to you know, your power, uh out in the field, like down downtime, not good, uh, response time, what does that look like? Uh, so really quantifying that for the customer providing data like that's?
Speaker 2:That's one thing that uh noticed from operators is they are, they have been, they not, they're, not, are, but they, they have been and are continuing to be very, very data driven. Uh. And to the you know third decimal point and and so really, you know, helping them out with that data, providing data through our telemetry, showing them what this looks like, showing them what they're getting, uh, down to the penny uh per kilowatt hour. Kilowatt hour equivalent is extremely valuable to them, and I think we have to help them get them as much data as they can when they're making these decisions. Because, you're right, like $63 oil, yeah, there's a lot of pressure on our operators, right, yeah, and that pressure goes downhill.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of pressure on service companies right now as well, and so, yeah, affect what you can affect, provide our customers with a high level of service and have those tough, candid conversations with them. Ai, automation, power demand, power generation, all that stuff what skill sets, what things do you see bottleneck in this industry, overall industry challenges, and where do you see those opportunities kind of coming down the line? I know right, that's the question. Yeah, that's, if we had those answers, we wouldn't be where we're at.
Speaker 2:We'd be sitting in the middle. I'm kidding. That's the ending question to this, wow.
Speaker 1:I'll say this I'm kidding. That's the ending question to this. Wow, I'll say this, I'll chime in and give you time to think. I think one of the biggest gaps in our industry is how people I think it's going to be an over-reliance on decisions made through AI and again, I love AI. I'm not knocking AI, but I think there is true potential.
Speaker 1:For example, we just had that Curry Club event. We were sitting around the table. Is true potential. For example, we just had that curriculum event and we're sitting around the table and you know operators, you start noticing operators aren't conversing with other operators on best practices, on best ways to kind of overcome challenges. But not only that. There was very interesting too.
Speaker 1:Like we're sitting around the table, I'm kind of we're observing this, I'm observing this and all these challenges that we're talking about, and this happens all the time. It's not just you know in Midland event, but all these other. It's like have y'all are there? Are there any conversations with service companies happening about this? Because, again, as we're talking about innovation, as we're talking about creativity, that just comes through conversations. You're not going to get creative through AI, through reliance on software, data or anything like that. There's magic that comes through conversation and that has to be done through kind of connection, rapport, all that.
Speaker 1:I see the big bottleneck is people not getting together with operator, operator, operator, service, service to service. I see the lack of developing these relationships, not even relationships, but the lack of having these conversations will be a bottleneck. And I see one of the biggest areas to make advances in this industry, to be successful in the industry, is having more collaborative conversations across the aisle, kind of with everyone beginning of your operations or even through the operations, because that's when you, that's when SimOps comes up, that's when QuadFrac comes up, that's when XYZ comes up, that's when microgrids come up. I remember in the train it was such a cool story there was one customer I'm not going to say who or where, but they were talking about adding on. You're like, yeah, we could throw down 30 generators on this site, make some cash, but that doesn't make sense because they're trying to do X, y and Z. Let's just make it. It's just pushing this industry and companies in the industry forward. But without those conversations it's just guesswork and there's good. There's going to be no advancement in ideas or creativeness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that that answer is going to be hard to follow up.
Speaker 1:Jake, I know You're talking about what we were talking about earlier.
Speaker 2:Good job that you're talking exactly what we were talking about earlier with regards to relationships and those silos between the OFS side and the operator side. I don't think I can top that answer. I will say that one bottleneck that I see and there are companies out there who do it differently, so again, this isn't a broad stroke over everybody. Uh, one of the one of my pet peeves is uh, when people tell me, well, we've always done it this way, or it's always been done this way, or you can't do that, Uh, those, those are, those are death blows to you know, your personal attitude, your personal progress, and the same towards your organization and your company. If that mindset is in your culture, we we do not have that. We've pushed back against that very strongly. So there is no, we've always done it this way. It's how are we going to do it next? And it's not, we can't do it, it's how do we do it? And that's a tough stretch for engineers, because engineers are very black and white right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but also engineers like engineers also like looking at challenges and Problem solvers and problem solvers yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely yeah. So, anyway, trey, any last thoughts that you want to, that you want to share with us and all that stuff, everyone, if you're out there listening to Trey again, this is Trey Lawson, the VP of sales and marketing at Mesa solutions. Obviously, find them on LinkedIn. All that fun stuff. But what are, what are some final thoughts that you have for us?
Speaker 2:Some you want to leave the millions of download listeners we have on this podcast. Lord, I hope nobody takes my advice. Yeah, look, I just appreciate the opportunity. Sometimes they push back on me and I appreciate that. That's the relationship part where they're like, hey, trey, you're jacked up right now, fix it. And I welcome that. But, yeah, I just appreciate you having me on, appreciate my team forcing me to do this. Um, that's them forcing me to get out of my comfort zone. Um, I, I, I value what you're doing in the industry, jp.
Speaker 2:Uh, not to, not to, not to pitch your stuff, but man, the, the crew club, that, that with that right there is. One of the single most valuable things that's going on in the industry right now is bridging that side and the operator side to have some very candid conversations. I think that's a great, great progress for our industry. And then you know the trainings you offer as well super solid, I will say. You know going forward as an industry, it's constant innovation. That's the only way we're going to get better. That's the only way we're going to move forward.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, as inventory and things like that get tighter in the permian as more m&a happens, the only the strongest are going to survive. So, uh, you know, at mesa we're setting ourselves up to, to to be a power power provider for years to come, not just in the oil and gas space, but our commercial, industrial space, our cell space, our power cores. Everyone needs power, everybody needs power, and the growth that's going on in Texas in and out of the oil and gas space is astronomical. So dispatchable power is extremely important, transmission is important, but getting all those things done takes time, money and energy. You know, dispatchable power is extremely important, transmission is important, uh, but getting all those things done takes time, money and energy, and a lot of people need power right now. So that's, that's where we've made our business.
Speaker 1:I mean that's the spot you're in right now. It's such a cool spot to be in because, again, it's, it's, it's. People are talking about it, more people understanding that, hey, yeah, you know you generate all this stuff, but you need reliable power. You really do like I'm not trying to plug it all so, but you really do need reliable power. I mean, it really is the heartbeat of locations out there when that goes down. Man, you're, you're facing a lot and listen, shit happens in oil field when it goes down. Obviously it goes down, but it's how, but it's what you can do about that, how quick you can back that up.
Speaker 1:So, honestly, try, I just, I appreciate you and honestly, like there's there's, there's companies in this industry that always that admire, you know, and that's always it comes through sick. You know, it's always cyclical, you know, back in the day, old anadarko, you know, but diamondback right now, uh, mesa, you know you see a lot of companies that, like that, invest in their people, invest in their team, that are here beyond, just listen, we're all here to obviously make money and all this stuff. And I agree, advancement won't be about squash and price. There's no margins anymore. So now the true advancement in this industry will be through innovation, that will be through collaboration. That's putting a lot of people in the room thinking, hey, how do we do this better? What new approach can we have about this? So, yeah, I think companies like y'all who that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think you know companies like y'all who that, again, being around y'all it was a great experience for me, just because being around good people inspires me. That's what I'm here for, you know, that's what. That's what keeps me going and just haven't been a part of that room when we're doing that in Loveland, colorado. It was just it was. It was a great and I just love seeing the continued output by your team, just the collaboration on their part, just the optimism man, you don't have a lot of optimism in this industry right now and the fact that I guess y'all's team just inspires optimism in a lot of people. I just want to say hats off to you for what you're building and the group that you have there. And, buddy, I just want to say I'm looking forward to kind of continuing our relationship and our conversation. Thanks for taking the time out. We're at 57 minutes now and we're under an hour. Good job, buddy.
Speaker 2:Man, that was fun. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I appreciate your time. You have a good weekend right now. Everyone, this is Trey Lawson, the VP of Sales Market of Amazes Solutions. Check him out. He'll send you a free mug, a coffee mug, like you sent me, and again like you sent me. And uh, again, you want to talk about anything? Power and power is one of those confusing subjects A lot of people think that they know, but might not, and he's just a great resource to connect with, uh, shoot the bull with and also just geek out about power or have an intro to to to any power conversation that you have. So, trey, you keep it real. Have a great, uh, safe trip back home. Enjoy your weekend with the family and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks, amigo. Energy Crew signing off.
Speaker 2:Thank you.