He is head of one of Alberta’s energy giants, a guiding force in environmental issues, a mentor to many and one of Calgary’s most active volunteers.

So how does Charlie Fischer, the articulate and outspoken chief executive of Nexen Inc., find time for himself and his family?

Fischer laughs.

“Give up sleep,” he cracks.

David Lazarowych, Business Edge
Charlie Fischer believes in doing business with a high standard of values.

1. Growing up in Calgary, did you ever envision a future as head of a major energy company?

“I didn’t even think about it. I was probably a pretty normal kid. You go to school and try to figure out which of your buddies will be joining you to play hockey at the rink after school. I was busy as a kid. I delivered papers morning and evening. I also was a delivery boy for a drugstore. I think early on I wanted to study engineering. I was from fairly modest means, so the University of Calgary was a pretty logical place to go and it was a good school. And if you grow up in Calgary and you study engineering, summer jobs are in the oil industry and that’s when I got started.”

2. Who has had the greatest influence on your life?

“Originally, it was my mother (Erna) because she allowed me to be a very independent character. Probably the guy that has given me some of my greatest opportunities and challenges would be (oilpatch executive) Gerry Maier. I worked for Gerry three times and I guess if I had a mentor, that’s probably who it was. He gave me huge opportunities and didn’t always make them easy. You learn more going through tough times than you do going through good times.”

3. Describe your business philosophy?

“I think I’ve always been a big team player, so I’ve been able to participate on teams both as a participant and a leader. I get a lot of satisfaction in working with, encouraging and teaching other people. If you have some skills and you have some opportunities and you work with good people, you’re probably going to do alright. For me, it’s just fun to succeed, but not succeed at other people’s expense. It’s fun to have everyone succeed.”

4. How do you deal with stress?

“I don’t worry about things I don’t control. I work hard at things I do control. I guess it’s easier to balance the stresses if you take that attitude. I would say I’m an optimistic person. I don’t live at the bottom half of the cup. I live at the top half of the cup.”

5. Are you an independent thinker?

“Yeah, I’ve always been an independent thinker. Things have to make sense to me. If I have a point of view, I think I should have a right to express that view. As long as I’ve expressed the view, if somebody else is making the decision, they can choose whether they agree with me or not. If I don’t get the opportunity to make the argument, I’m not very happy about that. If I’ve made the argument and they still disagree with me, I can accept the decision because either they have more information than I do, or I haven’t done a very good job of selling my idea. So it’s really access and the opportunity to contribute that’s important.”

6. Describe your management style and the rapport you strive for with employees?

“Just through experience, you become much more comfortable and much more adept at knowing when to provide direction and knowing how to provide leadership and how to use coaching skills and encouragement. I think of (staff) as people I work with as opposed to people I work for or people who work for me. We’re either all successful or we’re not. I’m also a great one to believe that none of us are smart enough to know all the answers to the issues. The world’s too complex. When you put a good team of folks together with a breadth of knowledge, it’s much more likely they’re going to come up with a better idea. I think that in the working world, or probably the world in general, the biggest challenge is not necessarily solving the problems. It’s defining the problems to be solved.”

7. What has been the basis of your success?

“Probably, some of the brightest folks in my engineering class have had good careers, but not outstanding careers. If you gave them a problem, they could solve it. But they didn’t have the interpersonal skills or the ability to assess broadly the issues, so they can get down to what the fundamental problem is. So, I think a lot of my success relates to being able to integrate information, define basic problems and then set about finding solutions as opposed to just dealing with the surface issues.”

8. Is winning everything?

“No. How you play the game is pretty important to me as well. I like to win but, if I’ve played well and . . . I lose, say in a tennis match, I don’t come off the court frustrated that I’ve lost. I think: ‘I’ve played a good game and the other guy was better than I was.’ No, I don’t throw my racket. I get frustrated when I make mistakes. I don’t like making mistakes.”

9. So you don’t have to be a little ruthless to succeed in the oilpatch?

“No, I don’t believe that’s true. Before we (Nexen, then known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum) acquired Wascana Energy in 1997, we had developed a strategy which said that to initiate a hostile (bid) was probably not a good strategy, because we would probably not succeed in acquiring the company. But a better strategy was being prepared and waiting for someone else to initiate the hostile (move), and then basically reacting as the white knight. There was a hostile initiated by Talisman (Energy), but, at the end of the day, we were the successful bidder. We were able to do that in a very positive way. A story in the Regina Leader-Post likened Talisman to Jaws and us to Flipper. And Flipper won. And that’s not to say anything about Talisman as being ruthless. If you do your homework and you understand the dynamics in the drivers in business, I think you can maintain very high values and integrity and you can still be highly successful.”

10. Are those values emphasized at Nexen?

“I think one of the hallmarks of our corporate culture is having a high standard of values and a strong sense of social responsibility in places where we work. Internationally, the way we conduct our business is actually a strategic advantage for us. Part of that is treating people the way you’d like to be treated yourself. When you go into jurisdictions, understand what the drivers are for the local communities and get involved. You do it in a way that communities can benefit from your presence. You create jobs. You support schools. You do things that matter to people.”

11. You’ve also been a driving force in the Calgary community. How important is that?

“It’s very important. This city’s been great to me and my family and we’re all involved in the community. The focus of my volunteer community activities has been children’s charities and education. I’ve agreed to co-chair a capital campaign to raise $50 million for the new children’s hospital.”

12. Is that the community project that is closest to your heart?

“Yes. When that hospital is built, I’m going to feel pretty good because I spend a lot of time working with governments to make sure they share the vision. And we’re going to get there. We’re about 80 per cent to our target. This will be the first stand-alone children’s hospital built in Canada in over 25 years.”

13. How do you manage to balance business and family life?

“For me, family is a priority. I decided long time ago that I could find a job a lot easier than I could find a new family.”

14. How many hours a week do you work?

“I probably work at least 60 hours a week, excluding time for travel, and I probably spend about 10 or 15 hours a week as a volunteer.”

15. What are your views on the controversial Kyoto Protocol on climate change?

“The problem I have with Kyoto is that we’re moving to ratification as a country without understanding the costs of ratification. I think that if they ratify it, they’ve got to know what the costs are to the country, they ought to know how they’re going to raise the funds or earn the credits to meet the obligations and there ought to be a framework of rules so the rest of us involved in this process can participate constructively. On my part, there’s frustration at having worked hard at trying to be constructive in the process and find ways and means that we could participate and do things that would advance the reduction of emissions. Why would you sign an agreement, or a blank cheque, without knowing what the obligations are and how you’re going to get there? To me, that’s not rational.”

16. How much time do you spend on climate-change issues?

“I probably spend a day a week on climate-change issues. I spend that time now because I think decisions are imminent and I think that it’s important that as much information as possible is provided to governments so they can make an informed decision as opposed to biased decisions on lack of information.”

17. What’s your vision for Nexen?

“Clearly, I would like to see Nexen thrive, not only nationally, but internationally. We’re a bit unique because not only do we hold assets internationally, but we physically operate them and I think we do that very well. I think that’s a competitive advantage. It’s our objective to grow our business internationally, but also to dramatically expand our operations in North America, both in Western Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. In Western Canada, we’ve put together a venture to use some proprietary technology to develop bitumen and to upgrade that bitumen to light, sweet crude oil.”

18. What’s your outlook for commodity prices for the next year?

“I’m probably reasonably bullish around oil prices. I believe that OPEC will be able to manage the supply through the recession and once the world-wide economy starts to pick up the demand for oil to rise. I think in the short-term we’re going to see prices under $20 (US) but our view is that we’ll see prices in the low $20s this year and gravitating to the mid-$20s over the next half dozen years. On the (natural gas) side, there’s a huge imbalance on gas here in the short-term, so gas prices are going to be very soft for the next half year, but, in the medium term, my view is that we’ll see gas prices in the $3 range (US per thousand square feet).”

19. Ideally, how long would you want to remain as CEO of Nexen?

“I don’t put time around it. I’m not a person that’s going to stay forever. I’ll stay as long as I feel I’m making a real contribution and enjoy doing it. All of us can only bring so much in terms of innovation and new thought and new direction and, once you’ve done that, it’s very hard for people to remake themselves over and over again. You stay as long as you have a positive influence and, when the influence stagnates or isn’t moving the company forward, you’ve got to have the wisdom to say: ‘It’s time for me to go.’ Hopefully, I’m smart enough to see it when that time comes.”

20. What are you most proud of in business and life?

“I’m proud of the people that I’ve worked with. And I’m proud of my family. I’m proud of what Joanne does (as a volunteer). My kids are successful in their own right. My daughter in university (Kate) finished her first year with a 4.0 grade-point average. I’m very proud of that. She also volunteers helping disabled kids or kids with learning disabilities learn how to read. My youngest daughter (Lindsay) is also an ‘A’ student. I get more fun out of watching other people succeed and helping them succeed. I don’t need to be driving the bus all the time.”

IN PROFILE: Charlie Fischer

* Born/raised/age: Saskatoon, Sask., Calgary; 51.

* Title: President/CEO, Nexen Inc.

* Education: University of Calgary, Bachelor of Science, chemical engineering (1971), Masters of Business Administration, Finance (1982).

* Family: Wife Joanne Cuthbertson; daughters Lindsay, 13, and Kate, 19.

* Career: Fischer was appointed CEO of Nexen in June 2001, after serving as executive vice-president and chief operating officer. He joined Nexen in 1994 as senior vice-president of North American exploration and production. During a 30-year career, Fischer has also worked for Encor (president/CEO), TransCanada Pipe Lines (president, upstream oil and gas), Bow Valley Industries (VP, planning and development), Hudson Bay Oil and Gas (corporate planning) and Dome Petroleum (natural gas processing engineer).

* Business and community involvement: Fischer is co-chairman of Climate Change Central, a former chairman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, chairman of the Hull Child and Family Foundation, co-chairman of the capital campaign for the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation and sits on the University of Calgary’s faculty of medicine Dean's Advisory Committee.

* Passions: Powder skiing, tennis, golf.

THE COMPANY: Nexen Inc.

(Formerly Canadian Occidental Petroleum)

* Brass: Charlie Fischer, president/CEO; Marvin Romanow, executive VP, CFO.

* Profile: Nexen is an international oil, gas and chemicals company whose core business activities include the exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and natural gas in Canada, the U.S., Yemen, Nigeria, Australia, Colombia and Indonesia. Through its chemical operations, the company is one of North America's top three manufacturers of sodium chlorate.

* Recent stock price/year range (NXY-TSE): $30.50 ($28.10-$41.50).

* Web site: www.nexeninc.com

* Address: 801 7th Ave. S.W., Calgary, AB., T2P 3P7.

* Phone: 403-699-4000.