A budding executive today would no doubt scoff at the prospect of spending 35 years with the same company.

But Tim Faithfull does no such thing when asked about his remarkable longevity with the Shell Group, which has culminated in his current role as chief executive officer.

Had anyone suggested he would be with the energy firm for more than three decades, “I think I probably would have said: ‘Well, if I could get the right kind of job, that (longevity) is a good thing, and it’s possible,’ ” says the English-born Faithfull, who cut his teeth as a marketing rep with Shell’s parent company in Manchester, England, 35 years ago.

Indeed, the 59-year-old Faithfull has been rewarded for his loyalty with the right kind of job. He has been president and CEO of Shell Canada since 1999.

1. While in Oxford University, to what career did you aspire?

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Results-oriented Shell executive Tim Faithfull says responsibility for corporate integrity ultimately rests with the CEO.

“I thought more about doing something like law, but I think was influenced by spending a year in the U.S. on a scholarship (at age 16) because the father of the family I lived with was a CEO of a reasonably sized corporation. I could see that attitudes towards business were totally different from those of England in the 1960s. There was much more of a sense of enterprise and the positive role that business can play, and much more excitement about it. So, that influenced my choice.

“While at university, I probably for a while thought about trying to pursue an academic career, but I think I realized that you have to be really outstanding academically to succeed in that, or at least to succeed at the level I would have wanted to succeed. So I thought I’d be better off to go into business, and I think the experience of living in the U.S. really gave me a strong interest in working for an international business.”

2. What do you recall about your first day at Shell 35 years ago?

“I can remember within a couple of days of my first day making my first sale of antifreeze in the middle of summer to a disgruntled garage operator in the middle of Manchester. When I’d done it, I told him (it was the first sale) and he said: ‘Aye, lad, but I made you sweat.’ That was actually a very good job because you really learned early on about dealing with the dealers and direct customers, and you also learned the importance of collecting the money.”

3. How do you explain your longevity with the company?

“I think I’m the sort of person who is very results oriented. And I’ve kind of thrived on the opportunities Shell has given me to work in different places with different groups of people, and I’ve learned a lot from that. I’ve always found that, when you looked at different times to see if you could do better somewhere else, there were always good opportunities here. I think I’ve always benefited from getting to run an operation very early on, and I think before globalization really ground into world business during the ’90s, the decentralized structure of Shell with lots of operating companies gave you a
lot of opportunities in general management.”

4. Do you try to instil the same type of loyalty in your employees to which you have subscribed?

“I think you’ve got to reflect the total change in attitudes and structures. I think it’s no longer the case that a predominant number of people in the company look to that kind of long-term career, and you’ve got to adjust to that. And you’re better off adjusting to it because then you can bring in people with experience, and I think it leads to a more mature relationship between the company
and its employees. But I think that loyalty when you’re working for the company is very important and that’s not something you can extract from people.”

5. How do you instil loyalty?

“It’s something where the company has to earn their respect and support. In Shell Canada, I think the focus on employee motivation and attitude is really leading edge in terms of the Shell Group. I think it’s loyalty in the sense of a feeling of ownership by the employees in which they feel they can really make a difference and they feel aligned with what the company is doing. It reflects the difference in society from the late ’60s to today.”

6. Have you at times had the urge to move to another company?

“In my case, the opportunities came up pretty well, and when I was at a point where I was thinking, ‘Maybe I can do better elsewhere,’ the opportunities were right on the horizon. Shell was pretty good at letting you know where they (opportunities) were. I think that’s an important issue for employee development. I think employees need coaching and they need an idea of what the opportunities are. And they need feedback. I think we now try and give a lot more feedback and I think supervisors have to take feedback, and that didn’t use to happen. I think we’ve benefited from the greater levels of candour that you now see.”

7. What’s it like being a CEO of a major corporation these days with so many corporate scandals and so much scrutiny on CEOs?

“I think I’ve always felt in Shell a great sense of responsibility for the company’s reputation and my own personal reputation. And I think it’s very sad to see what’s been happening. It’s frustrating for business leaders because, although there are a great number of instances (of CEO misconduct), I think they’re still very limited compared to the vast majority of companies that have excellent records and very straightforward approaches to . . . what they do. I can remember at Shell a set of business principles that were brought out in 1976, and they haven’t substantially changed. I remember thinking when they came out that it summed up what we’ve been doing. I think they’re increasingly important, and we’ve gotten a lot better at Shell at ensuring that we’re having compliance with those principles and recognizing that you need to be able to demonstrate to the outside world that you are complying with them. The outside world no longer trusts you. It used to be a trust-me world and now it’s a show-me world.”

8. What must CEOs do to convince investors that their
business principles are sound?

“At the end of a strong stock market, you get excesses coming out and, understandably, you get a very, very negative reaction, so I think it just underlines the responsibility that CEOs have got to ensure – absolutely – the integrity of what’s going on in their companies and the integrity of the reporting. I think it’s absolutely critical. Businesses have got to sustain general competence and shouldn’t feel embarrassed or nervous about doing that. You’ve got to ensure that competence is sustained.”

9. Describe your business philosophy?

“I’m very suspicious about the concept of a business philosophy. Somewhat glibly, I’d say it’s an enlightened shareholder value creation. I say enlightened because I think in our business you have to take a long-term view. One of our business principles is, for example, contributing to sustainable development, and for us that’s absolutely critical. Although the best indicator of value is still whether you’re making a profit, you have to focus on the economic, the environmental and the social. For us, that’s a very good test of what we’re doing and it supports our licence to operate, but it also makes us more innovative and forces us to focus on efficiency, and I think it’s a very good support to the basic value of the
company for its shareholders.”

10. What was your main priority when you became CEO in 1999?

“Shell Canada faced some real challenges in the mid-’90s. We were not making anything like a sufficient level of profitability. The aim was set at achieving leadership and profitability in terms of capital employed. We made tremendous progress on that during the ’90s with a very tough period of downsizing, disposing of certain businesses, really focusing on the basics and generating a very strong culture of accountability. So my priority when I came in was to ensure a seamless transition from what we were doing, continuing that and taking that process of operational excellence further. But to add to that, there was a priority of the successful delivery of growth projects – the Sable Natural Gas Project offshore Nova Scotia and the Athabasca Oil Sands Project.”

11. Are you concerned by the escalating costs of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project?

“Yes. It’s very disappointing to see that. We are dealing with two world-scale production construction sites and that presents considerable challenges. But we’ve not been able to achieve the level of productivity we had sought. We had difficulties last year because of the tremendous pressure on the workforce availability because Suncor was ahead of us and absorbing a lot of labour. But we’ve also not been able to achieve as much as we’d wanted to in the spring of this year and that, plus some engineering problems, have given us the latest (cost) increase. But I now believe that we’ve fully framed what needs to be done.”

12. What’s the key to success in Shell’s resources business?

“We are very conscious of the ability of the market to absorb the additional resources that we hope to have on offer. We never take it as a given that the market is there. I think there is a risk sometimes when people overlook the challenges for the market, certainly for synthetic crude oil in the U.S. With natural gas, I think there are some signs that supply in the U.S. is continuing to disappoint and, over the longer term, people believe that’s going to be quite a challenge. . . . But we shouldn’t underestimate the ability of the market to react to higher prices and of people to look at alternatives . . . and also potential for other sources of gas to compete at the margin. Having said all that, I still feel positive about natural gas and about the prospect for synthetic crude.”

13. What’s your outlook for the oil and natural gas markets?

“I think there are uncertainties about the general economic situation in North America. Canada itself – and we in our business – are obviously totally exposed to what happens in the U.S. economy, and it’s very difficult to see how that’s going to develop. I think what we will see, particularly in our downstream business, is continuing volatility for a number of structural reasons to do with the degree of utilization of refining capacity, and also very much driven by what happens to OPEC policies and practice. If you want to say politics, I guess that’s the key word there. You can’t predict that. I think that’s going to make for a pretty bumpy ride.”

14. What’s your view of how the industry is doing in terms of the issue of greenhouse-gas emissions?

“I think there are some companies that are doing a pretty good job and there are companies that we can certainly learn from. I think the leading companies are making good progress, but I’m not sure it’s really spread throughout industry the way you would want.”

15. What’s your position on the Kyoto Accord?

“Our position is that we believe that action is needed on climate change and we think there is sufficient evidence of a human impact. That’s why we’ve set targets (for lowering emissions) in our own business, and we will continue to pursue those targets. What we haven’t so far seen, in the case of Canada, is comprehensive analysis of both the macro and the micro level that really brings out the impact of what the (federal) government is proposing. Until we see that, I think it’s impossible to take a position on whether ratification should or should not be pursued by Canada. One really needs to get a better understanding of how the mechanism proposed would work . . .”

16. To what do you attribute the success you’ve enjoyed in your career?

“I think the focus I have on accountability and being able to motivate the people I’m leading, to explain to them my goals and to get their support and input from them. I think it’s very important to take feedback without being totally driven by it. You’ve got to look at feedback in terms of what you’re trying to achieve. I think that’s at the core of what any successful CEO has to do.”

17. What advice would you offer your youngest son Joe (a business student in England)?

“It’s to get the combination right between being happy and working hard while in university. He is the best critic I’ve got and certainly the hardest critic on any kind of media appearance I do."

18. Ideally, how long would you want to remain CEO of Shell Canada?

“I’d like to stay and see what Shell Canada’s like many, many years from now, but I mean that’s something which is in the hands of other people. But I think this is the sort of job that requires a pretty good period of time. My predecessor (Charles Wilson) was in the job for six years.”

19. Would that be a suitable time frame for you?

“I think it’s a great company and a good environment with good opportunities and a lot of challenges. I want to keep going whilst I can deliver a good result for everybody. That sort of period of time (five or six years) I think would be sufficient to do that.”

20. Are you as keen as ever?

“Yeah, I think so. I still get out of bed in the morning firing on all cylinders and clear about what I’m going to do that day.”

IN PROFILE: Tim Faithfull
* Title: President/CEO, Shell Canada.
* Born/raised/age: Winchester, England; 59.
* Education: Oxford University (England), MA degree (philosophy, politics and economics).
* Career: Faithfull has spent his entire career with the Shell Group of companies, beginning in 1967 as a marketing rep with Shell International Petroleum Company based in England. After holding various positions based in the United Kingdom, France, Laos, Cyprus and Kenya, Faithfull became Shell’s area co-ordinator for the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico in 1989. In 1993, he became vice-president of Crude Oil Trading and in 1996 he assumed the role of chairman and CEO of Shell Companies in Singapore. He was appointed president and CEO of Shell Canada in 1999. He is a director of the Calgary Performing Arts Centre.
* Passions: Golf, cross-country skiing, sailing.

THE COMPANY: Shell Canada
* Brass: Tim Faithfull, president/CEO; Steinar Stotvig, chief financial officer; Raymond Woods, senior operating
officer, resources.
* Profile: Shell is an integrated petro-leum company operating principally in resources, oil products and oilsands. The company produces natural gas, natural gas liquids, bitumen and sulphur and is also a manufacturer, distributor and marketer of refined petroleum
products. Shell is leading the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, the largest investment in the company's history.
n Recent Stock Price (SHC-TSX): $47.10 (year range, $38.76-$58.99).
* Website: www.shell.ca
* Address: #400 4th Ave. S.W., Calgary, AB T2P OJ4.
* Phone: 403-691-3111.