 "Photo: Kari Rosenfeld/The Daily Texan")
For James Mulva, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, passion is everything.
“My work is so important to me that it becomes intoxicating,” he said.
As a speaker for the McCombs School of Business Leadership Forum, Mulva participated in a question-and-answer session with former McCombs dean George Gau Thursday evening. Mulva spoke about ethics in the business field and his experiences in the oil industry.
“If you don’t have a good reputation and integrity, you don’t have a lot to offer to people,” he said.
Mulva has worked in the oil industry for 36 years. After graduating from UT in 1968 and earning a master’s degree in business administration finance in 1969, Mulva joined the Navy. He began working for Phillips Petroleum Company in 1973 and served as chairman and CEO from 1999 to 2002.
When the company merged with Conoco, he served as president from 2002 to 2004.
“I underestimated the challenge of putting two companies together, but I learned not to stop every day to re-invent the wheel,” Mulva said. “You have to stick to a plan and make sure everything fits it. There’s a thrill in growing and developing a company.”
Mulva also said that the key to being successful is having a team of key people, not just with intelligence and money.
“In one of my classes, we learned about the law of inner circle from ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’ and it was exactly what [Mulva] described,” said finance junior Ruchi Bhambhani. “I agreed with his main point about being passionate for your work.”
Business senior Ilya Keperman appreciated the practicality of Mulva’s advice.
“It’s easy to learn about ethics in class, but who really knows how to apply it?” Keperman said. “Listening to [Mulva’s] experiences helped us see how ethics works in the business field.”
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Woman: What is it?
Jerry: Mulva...
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Jerry: Loleola?
Jerry: Oh! Oh! *Delores*!