David Schneider
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Early in his career, David Schneider was entrusted with leading a veteran group of reservoir engineers on a pivotal project. Under his leadership, the team drilled a successful deep-water development well and negotiated a high-value acquisition, all while navigating a complex merger process. This experience served as an extension of David's academic background in mechanical engineering and business administration, imparting invaluable lessons in active listening and the importance of maintaining a positive attitude to ensure a team's success during challenging times.
What qualities do you think are necessary to be a good leader in the oil and gas industry?
The best leaders ask the best questions and get to the heart of a problem very quickly. They also show genuine care and respect for their coworkers. I have been fortunate in my career to never have a bad boss, and I attribute that to working with people that have the qualities listed above. I do my best to emulate those characteristics in my day-to-day work.
How have you exercised leadership to help shape your company?
Leadership for me is probably different than most of the Forty Under 40 honorees, as I am an individual contributor, not a supervisor. LLOG has a relatively flat organizational structure, where the technical staff is encouraged to take an entrepreneurial approach to the business. As a reservoir engineer, my main goal is to do what I can to ensure all disciplines are moving in the right direction on our projects and provide the best possible information so we as a company can make correct decisions. So, to me, leadership is about building momentum and consensus among my peers, while maintaining high expectations of myself and my work.
What keeps you motivated and passionate about working in the oil and gas industry?
At a high level, it is rewarding to work in an industry that supplies people with a relatively inexpensive source of energy.
At LLOG, I get to experience a wide variety in my daily responsibilities that keeps things fresh and challenging. It is helpful to be around self-motivated individuals that enjoy their jobs, so I make sure to do my part in that regard.
What advice would you give other young professionals?
Build a strong technical foundation in your discipline. There is nothing wrong with leadership aspirations, but I would encourage anybody with those goals to first learn how to get into the weeds. The best decision I made in my career was where I took a perceived step back that ultimately made me a much more valuable part of the team.
What do you think young industry members as a group have to offer that is unique to them?
I think it is our responsibility to keep the next generation interested in oil and gas as a career choice. Much of what turns people off to oil and gas is the ups and downs of the business, but I think it’s obvious now that no industry is immune to cycles. If you’re good at math and you like problem solving, oil and gas is a fantastic career choice.
Take a look at the rest of the Forty Under 40 2024 winners.
