17/11/2012 Leading Questions

more for attacks when they hold senior positions. Now, it is time

for leading questions. For centuries, Aberdeen looked to

the North Sea for fishing and trading. Four decades ago, it began

a radical transformation. Well was discovered under the sea. One local

family firm spotted the opportunity to carve a niche in the new

industry under its young Chief Executive. Four decades later, the

company is a global leader in engineering services for oil and

gas fields. After all these years at the top, Sir Ian Wood has just

retired. Just before he stood down, he took time to reflect and told me

candidly about himself and how it all began.

At the back to 1969. The first major find of oil. You were in your

20s. One was in your mind? Had made a reasonably successful start in

the family business. I had no idea them, but enough interest to want

to understand the business. We were faced with fairly and patronising

Texas cowboys, which made us more motivated. I had no concept of what

might happen. I had a real eye- opening visit to Houston, when I

visited this completely different environment with acres of borewell

manufacturing and open stores and pipes. I remember coming back on

the plane and wondering how I would explain to my colleagues would we

had to do. That was the first time I realised my family business had

to change. He say the Americans irritated you a bit at that time.

Was that the case across Aberdeenshire? Some people in

Aberdeen did not want oil at all. I heard a really -- local people

really annoyed and I said, let's try and take some control. There is

still a dichotomy but now it is 90% positive and 10% negative. How did

you go about growing become -- company? People say, did you know

then what he would become? It was seeing the horizon change each year.

We started in a joint venture with the Weir Group. We bought a

shipyard in Aberdeen in 1972. There was a brave stab. People said, how

one of can a small company did this? We set up an oil field based

in Aberdeen. It was a bit of foresight. It turned out to be a

very good acquisition. My father said, did -- do you know what

you're doing? I did not really but I had enough confidence. I have

never been a risk-taking buccaneer. I have always taken a calculated

risks and thought things through carefully, mitigating the risks. I

think we could have grown a lot faster if we had been very

aggressive. There was going to ask you, what about the missed

opportunities? Do you have any regrets? There is a company that is

now a major public company and we could have bought it for about �2

million in 1976. We were in negotiations to buy it then and I

thought was too expensive. We made some mistakes. As chairman of a

company with 43,000 employees, it must require a lot of delegating.

Is that a top in to do? Not at all. -- a toff thing to do it. We have

quality people at all levels of the organisation. We try and get the

best people. We have had a really good team of people for a long time.

One of the most satisfying things is seeing how you do delegate and

how successful it is. And how you can delegate things to people who

do a lot better job than you would have. When you cease to be chairman,

how easy will it be to give up? big step was giving up the Chief

Executive's role. Giving up the chairman roar, the biggest change

there will be trying to get away from my mind so of thinking about

the company all the time. Is it emotionally wrenching? Yes. But I

have gotten used to work for a long period of time. I'm 70 years old, I

think it is good to move on when things are going well. I will have

a difficult period when I will have withdrawal symptoms. Looking at the

ore industry in north-east Scotland, what obstacles stand in the way of

its continued success? I guess one of the few regrets I have is the

complete failure of the rest of the country to realise what a major

impact this had. I think for as far back as you can remember, in terms

of contribution to UK industrial activity, oil and gas has been way

ahead then every other industry. We produce 41 billion barrels. We

could produce another 25 billion. At $100 a barrel, that is 2000 $500

billion. The figures are staggering. If you don't get it right, you will

produce about half of that. There is still a massive amount of

contribution to come, a huge prospects, and we really need the

UK government focused on maximising what is to come. There has been a

change and we have to ask, how do we get the industry to invest? If

the investment is delayed for ten years, what will happen? We can't

afford new infrastructure. We have talked before about the mindset

been too parochial. Why is it that for decades, it has been

underestimated, the importance of this? I think the context here is

that it has not affected people. People knew it as something that

was happening. I do not think there has been any real understanding of

how big an impact it has had. Generally, people do not like to be

associated with oil and gas and hydrocarbon. It is not necessarily

seen as environmentally sensitive. Right back over the years, big ore

was seen as bad. I hope they since the industry is paying more

attention to its image now, there might be a rethink. When you think

of the huge potential of shale gas opportunity in England, that is a

life-changing issue for the UK. The industry has to be understood and

able to engage with the local community. As it suffered from

being at the end of the line in Aberdeen? We have been out of the

way. We had a dreadful incident and the bad news is a massive

disproportionate impact over a long period of time. This concerns me

because it is important that the government understand the

importance of this industry. We need to get close to communities

and help them understand what we can do. When the pipeline blew up

in 1988, how much to that change the industry? Usually. -- it

changed it hugely. There was a shock. I don't think anyone believe

that kind of incident could happen. It was a dreadful time for the

industry. I visited 25 families. It was very tough. The result of that

with the inquiry was a complete rethink in change of attitude.

There was not in the single huge thing that led to it, it was just a

whole lot of slackness but it led to a huge rethink. Lord Cullen came

along with some very firm recommendations. Safety is court to

everything we do in the industry. Let's go back to where you got

started. You had a first-class degree in psychology and was about

to become -- were about to become a lecturer. How important was that

psychology training? It is very difficult to discern. The wisdom of

hindsight, I guess and interesting people has always been a prime

injured -- interest of mine. I have an intense interest in people and

getting teams to give fans walk -- supporting them. That is what I

have done over the years. I can't tell you to what extent that

interest has driven me. I think what psychology dollars is that it

gives a good insight into yourself and into what the people's

No regrets about not becoming an academic? That would have been

disastrous. As a young person you think you know what your strengths

and weaknesses are. So there was the family firm and there was

pressure to conform. My father had a small fishing business. His

father had been a fisherman. He seemed to have done pretty well. He

was not enjoying the best of health. I said to him and my mother, I

would like to come in for three months and see if I can help a bit.

When it came to the end of the three months, it was not difficult

to improve the business. The simple thing was to put a secret code in

all catch the same fishers and share information. I said to my

mother, I hate to tell you this, but I would like to leave. That is

not what she wanted to hear. She wanted a lawyer and a professor.

She was a lovely lady. She did not apply pressure often. She wanted

her son to become a professional. It was a difficult time for a

couple of months after that. remain very much rooted in academia.

You are very passionate about Aberdeen as well. Do you think it

is underrated? Let me correct you. It is a different company. A

different business. I am not sure people know what a global business

it is. A global business does not have a star business model. It does

not have tentacles. It is a matrix. Scotland does not completely

understand what globalisation is. I am a British Cristobal, but her

love Scotland. -- Brit, first of all, but I love Scotland. We spend

too much time and analysing it. We create too many internal

disagreements. We should be looking to move ahead. If you look at the

real competition, it is over there, not over here. In regards to the

question of Aberdeen, my real concern about Aberdeen, and I

wasn't the right place at the right time and had some of the right

skills, my concern is how it is managed. I mean in about 30 years'

time. My father and his father and his father lived here. The last

thing I would like to see his future generations looking back and

saying, they did very nice for themselves. That is the great

danger. Aberdeen has a massive number of advantages. It is in

enterprising City. Cosmopolitan. A good quality of life. Two great

universities. But it has a major Achilles heel. It is involved in a

single depleting industry. Without over dramatising that, I believed

that we could not be in shape in 30 years' time. We must not wait for

25 years' time when it starts to go down. We need to invest in Aberdeen

in the next five, 10, 15 years. pretty much and the standard you

have become fabulously rich. You are worth over �5.2 billion. People

will be cynical about my answers. My primary interest his business

achievement. I am going to spend a lot of time in the next two years

giving away money. I will give people satisfaction and achievement

from that. The whole approach revive the Prix has been as a

business. I want to get people together and opportunity together.

You are also famous for the way the to spend your money. 70 years old.

I am careful. I do not like seeing money spent poor relief. -- chorale.

You are focusing on sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda, Tanzania. Is that

appropriate for a teetotaller? philanthropy came about, it is

difficult to explain this. People can be very cynical. I cannot tell

you exactly where the interest came from. I have been incredibly lucky

in making money. Secondly, as I went around the world, we have the

benefits of being a global company. We are a global company with the

benefits of that. You cannot not see the kind of black holes of

poverty and despair and inequality that exist. I fundamentally believe

that if you are getting the benefits of being a global citizens,

you also have a responsibility. The second point, which people say is

even more corny, I do not know how it came about. Just look around the

world. We are privileged to be here. I think part of that is handing

over something better then you have. Reading into how you are going

about, building tea marketing businesses in Africa, you approach

it in quite a distinctive style. You are a businessman and Engineer

getting into development. We do not give money. We invest money to help

people build themselves. We look at what we can do to significantly

improve productivity, yield, quality, price as ticket for the

tea. A lot of them operate in a monopoly environment. How can we

work constructively to persuade them it is in their interest to

give more help to small farmers. It is a business approach. Coming back

to Aberdeen. A lot of success and get out and go built around gas.

You have also dealt with development across the Scottish

economy. Why is it so poor across international standards? I do not

want to run down Scotland. As a global citizens, Scotland is one of

the nicest place in the world. The second thing I'll say is that

Scotland and Scottish industry is a thousand miles better than it was

20 years ago. In terms of identifying companies and its

entire approach and attitude. The problem Scotland has is that far

too much of the economy is focused on the public sector. We can point

to a lot of areas where there is a lot of improvement needed. But it

has improved vastly. We are still seen as, not identified as a

successful nation in the world. I believe that oil and gas is an

exception to that. Do you think the prospect of independence could

helped or hindered Scotland? might help or hinder? Might use and

independence, it is incredibly political. I would like to see a

lot more rationality apply to this. Junior when attempts made to look

at the benefits of continuing with the union for the benefits of

independence. What we must ensure is that if you take a business like

mine but the uncertainty caused by the debate does not cause a pause

and investment. If you start talking about how you divide up the

reserves between England and Scotland, the new tax regime that

we might have, my plea to both sides would be to police have this

debate in such a way they to do not cause a pause and investment. It is

an important decision for Scotland. I would really like it focused away

from the emotion and on the rational. It is a massive impact on