Cody Sutton
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Cody Sutton always knew he wanted to be in business for himself “someday.” That “someday” arrived sooner than expected when he was 33 and founded Guide Energy Solutions. “An opportunity presented itself and, like most good things in life, you must seize the moment and time the market right,” he says. “We founded Guide in April 2019 and we were cash flow positive in our second quarter as a company. That cash flow remained positive until two quarters post-COVID, but it was Covid that ultimately spurred Guide to grow out of Oklahoma and into the Permian Basin, where we support a large amount of our business today.”
What qualities do you think are necessary to be a good leader in the oil and gas industry?
Our industry is volatile, so we know we must prepare and diversify for the inevitable next turn in the market. Given this fact, I believe a leader in our space must be able to have vision for what is to come and be able to communicate to their team why we must do certain things when times are good, to make ourselves ready for when things might be less optimal. Staying disciplined in this regard takes a leader that is relentless, and they must be able to motivate their team to share in the same discipline. They must lead in a way that evokes compassion amongst the team, helping each other serve their clients, their communities and their co-workers well in everything that they do. Summarizing into a few words: vision, communication, discipline and service to others.
What keeps you motivated and passionate about working in the oil and gas industry?
I am passionate about what we do to create chemistry and the deliverability of that chemistry to the reservoir to make a difference in our industry, but I’m even more passionate about enabling the people on our team who are executing these things. I believe motivation to keep those passions burning comes down to setting meaningful short-term and long-term goals and revisiting them often with others!
I stay passionate because I set goals that serve others. I believe my purpose for being on this earth is to serve others, and if I am earnestly seeking that purpose, I will find ample opportunities provided to me. If I am setting goals that have me doing something for others, I know that if I missed my goals, I didn’t help someone else achieve theirs. To me, there are very few more motivating forces in this world than the feeling of letting someone else down. This has always driven me in sports, in my family and in my faith. I remain self-aware that what I am doing will impact others and my desire is to be one of the positive contributors that helped others.
What advice would you give other young professionals?
Find ways to build accountability into your life. This often starts with writing your goals, dreams and ambitions, but it takes hold by having others in your life that you can trust to hold each other accountable to the things that you both committed to. Knowing you are accountable to something and/or someone reinforces your drive and your will to achieve your goals.
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