Page 194 - Adobe Photoshop PDF

plan or one closely similar or the Saudi Arab government will revoke
our oil concession. In that event, your companies will lose hundreds of
PLOOLRQV RI GROODUV RI SUR¿W WKDW \RX DUH HDFK UHFHLYLQJ HDFK \HDU 7KH
choice is yours.” The change in attitude was remarkable. George Brit-
ton returned to San Francisco and the Chevron management decided to
support the adoption of the Saudi pension plan. It was never mentioned
to me that my assessment of the situation had been accurate.

I was impressed that the average Chevron professional employee
was somewhat better than the average one we had in Aramco. However,
WKH &KHYURQ RSHUDWLRQV ZHUH ULGGOHG ZLWK MHDORXVLHV DQG SHWW\ ¿HIGRPV
The leadership and the way they worked together was below what we
had known in Aramco.

Several months after I started working at Chevron, I was invited
to speak to the Berkeley Rotary Club regarding developments in Saudi
Arabia. I delivered a talk to a couple of hundred Rotarians, which was
ZHOO UHFHLYHG $ IHZ GD\V ODWHU , ZDV FDOOHG E\ DQ R൶FHU RI WKH 8QL-
versity of California Berkeley and asked if I would give a similar talk
to their group. This group was a University of California administrative
VWD൵ DQG SURIHVVRUV ZKR PHW PRQWKO\ IRU EUHDNIDVW %HFDXVH VXFK D WDON

would get me to work a couple of hours late, I stalled accepting until I
KDG QRWL¿HG *HRUJH %ULWWRQ WKDW , ZRXOG PLVV SDUW RI D PRUQLQJ RI ZRUN

When I told him of the invitation, Mr. Britton immediately said that I
was violating a Chevron policy by not having cleared such a speech
ZLWK WKH FRPSDQ\ ¿UVW +H VHW XS DQ DSSRLQWPHQW IRU PH WR VSHDN WR

WKH PDQDJHU RI WKH IRUHLJQ VWD൵ , KDG D SOHDVDQW WDON ZLWK KLP DQG UH-
called having met him during one of his visits to Saudi Arabia. Shortly
DIWHU P\ UHWXUQ WR P\ R൶FH , ZDV LQIRUPHG E\ *HRUJH %ULWWRQ WKDW WKH

company did not wish me to engage in such talks before public groups.
Some years later, I found that Britton’s statement was a complete lie. He
had been jealous and had wanted to squash any recognition that I might
UHFHLYH ,Q WXUQ , ZDV PLVWDNHQ LQ QRW SUHVVLQJ WR ¿QG RXW ZK\ P\ WDONV

were considered undesirable. I was new to the organization and had
respected leadership in the previous organizations of which I had been
a part. Had I challenged the matter, and George Britton’s lie have been
H[SRVHG WKLQJV PLJKW KDYH EHHQ PXFK GL൵HUHQW , WKLQN , HUUHG LQ QRW

190