The phrase “many hands make light work” was first recorded in the early 1300s in a knightly romance known as “Sir Bevis of Hampton,” but I’m sure you already knew that. This phrase was also uttered by Cameron Poe (played by Nicolas Cage) to Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom (played by John Malkovich) in the bombastic and farcical 1997 “prisoners take over an airplane” action movie “Con Air.”
In essence, “many hands make light work” conveys that large tasks become small when divided among several people. As a trade association, this philosophy guides everything we do, everything we hope to do and, sometimes frustratingly, everything we cannot do. We are a small but mighty team that has grown — say hello to our newest hire Eden Newell in her brief profile in this edition, and then do so in real life! — but we are only as strong and effective as the participation level of our members.
We know you have plenty to do in your own career, and we’re not seeking major lifts to add to your load. But in the spirit of making large tasks much more conquerable, we will ask you to consider your engagement with UPA. Could you increase your membership level? Could you contribute to a sponsorship opportunity? Could you get engaged with one of our committees? Could you talk to your vendors, suppliers, consultants, law firms and anyone else you work with about joining UPA? Their business obviously benefits from a healthy oil and gas industry here in Utah, and a healthy oil and gas industry is our number one goal.
The best part about this is that you don’t even have to invent these opportunities out of whole cloth yourself. We’re more than happy to set the table for you; all you need to do is sit down. The sponsorship opportunities, higher membership levels and committee opportunities already exist. The quicker you’re able to say yes to these opportunities, the sooner we’re able to multiply and supercharge our efforts in fighting federal overreach, getting out in the community, educating our elected officials and donating to worthy causes. You’ll read about our current efforts in this issue, which we’re extremely proud of. But there’s always more we could be doing.
Chaining out this thought about how many hands make light work, here’s another angle on it. Why not use our events as an opportunity to build strategic relationships? Utah is still more friendly to our industry than many of our neighbors — *ahem* looking most strongly at you, Colorado — but things can and do change rapidly. How our industry operates, what it looks like to the general public, how it is regulated, and continued strong in-migration means we shouldn’t take anything for granted.
That’s why we frequently tout the axiom, “When you need a friend, you can’t make a friend.” Support is earned during times of non-crisis. That’s why we encourage you to be proactive in identifying key relationships and stakeholders. Invite them to our events to get to better know them in a casual and fun environment while also supporting your colleagues and the terrific nonprofit organizations we support.
Don’t be fooled into complacency and think just because things are good now, that they’ll be good forever. Winds shift, tides change, and the world you thought you knew becomes unrecognizable. It really wasn’t that long ago that horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing wasn’t even widely practiced yet, but it’s hard to imagine our industry today without them.
This concept of “Then and Now” is one that we will be threading through various engagements this year. We hosted a legislative tour with the Division of Oil, Gas & Mining recently and spoke to how we have gone from being entirely dependent on imported frac sand to developing it nearly entirely in-basin. At the DOGM Collaborative meeting in July, we discussed the evolution of how we address water management and water recycling. And in September, we’ll take a broader look at the industry “Then and Now” at the Uintah Basin Energy Summit. This theme will carry through for quite awhile.
It’s said that the best time to enact a change is yesterday. The second best time is today. So consider this a friendly push to level up within Utah Petroleum Association. If we all work together, the work itself becomes a lot easier. Sir Bevis of Hampton knew it. So did “Con Air”’s Cameron Poe. Will you?
Enjoy the issue.
