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proved right. Some years later, he became Vice President of Exploration
in Chevron Overseas.

My visits to our overseas operations and the people there had
several results. Obviously, people appreciate someone coming from
corporate headquarters to visit their locations, see the situation there,
and listen to them. Hopefully, the visitor will carry problems and pos-
sible solutions back to the corporate headquarters where there’s author-
ity to institute changes. No one knows it all. One relies on his previous
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all I could about the facts applicable in each location. The facts might
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and mores, etc. No two locations are identical.

The approach that proved to be most useful for me was to al-
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“Dick, have you ever lived overseas?” and, “Do you have a family?” I
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born overseas.” The next question would usually be, “How long did
you live overseas?” I would reply, “Ten years.” The next question was
usually, “Where were you stationed?” I would reply, “Saudi Arabia.” I
then had instant respect, because Saudi Arabia was considered by most
expatriate employees to be the toughest location overseas.
The human problems I found at the local level required careful
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where tend to feel that their problems are unique. Suggesting an an-
swer to a problem too early in a visit might result in the answer being
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respect to the local situation and suggesting an answer that the local
manager might consider works far better. I hope my grandchildren will
take note of the above when they visit operations away from the head-
quarters of their organizations.

By the late spring of 1978, I could no longer tolerate working for

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