[ 00:00:00]

Becky Escott:

Build a plan that can be flexible and give yourself grace when the timelines change. The guardrails does give that opportunity for us to all get on the same page and see the business for what it is, not just for what our part of the business is. When we have a story to tell. And it's exciting and your leader believes in that.

Becky Escott:

[00:00:24] It's invaluable and it's a critical piece in being able to be successful.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:00:37] Ever wonder how a Barnett Shale insider turned six clashing logos into a Wall Street ready powerhouse? Meet Becky Escott, 20 year oil and gas communicator and brand architect of BKV. She merged upstream, midstream carbon capture and power units all under one banner. Proving straightforward energy can be investor catnip plateaus aren't in her vocabulary.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:00:59] Let's get started. Welcome to the podcast. We're really excited to have you on, and just to talk through your interpretation of Rethink Change and how it's impacted your world.

Becky Escott:

[00:01:10] Well, thank you guys so much for having me. Yes. It's been a long, fun, circuitous route for me with Pennebaker and for BK V with Pennebaker.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:01:19] Awesome. So why don't you start out by just telling us how you got to BKV .

Becky Escott:

[00:01:25] I have been in some form of communications, corporate communications, community relations, public affairs in the oil and gas industry for, going on 20 years. So since I was merely a child, I started and have seen this. Industry evolved from $14 an MCF gas to $0 MCF of gas and back just when things were getting a little tired in the Barnett Shale Devon, I was with Devon Energy at the time. The original pioneers of the Barnett Shale through George Mitchell was their predecessor, decided to sell their North Texas Barnett Shale based acreage, and the high bidder was. BKV corporation, which is based in Denver, but backed actually by a Thai traditional coal company and threw my name out there to go and start a new adventure in BKV.

Becky Escott:

[00:02:22] Brought me along and I started in the operations group doing community relations and public affairs, and building a brand for BKV. What we thought was building a brand for BKV in the community relations space as a new operator and. As marketing professionals often do. I had a lot of opinions about how we were communicating and how we were telling our story, and the CEO Chris, who's a big believer in marketing and in branding, and I said, what we need in this company is a corporate communications function. We actually need to build a brand. We're running under six different logos, one for each entity name. We don't know who we are or how to tell our story except for by business unit.

Becky Escott:

[00:03:06] Let's build a corporate communications function. Let's b rand, this company, and Becky, I want you to do it. And I wasn't sure that that's what I wanted. And actually the Penn eba ker team helps me believe that that's what I should want and how I should push myself. And so Chris and I and our leadership team at the time, linked arms with the Pennebaker team and built a brand for BKV and three and a half years ago we launched corporate communications and now we're a publicly traded company and help y'all are helping us talk to people like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and telling our story nationwide.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:03:40] BK V 's. Had this tremendous journey from startup to IPO and and under 10 years, how has your role changed or the perception of your role within the organiza tion ?

Becky Escott:

[00:03:50] My role, and I credit this to our leadership team, communications has a real seat at the at the proverbial table. We value internal communication as much as external communications, seeing our leadership team buy into the brand. Buy into the communications efforts and the investment that we're making in keeping BKV forefront the weight that people feel.

Becky Escott:

[00:04:17] You know, the pride that people feel in the brand. It's been a journey and it's not always easy, but. You get immediate respect when you have a seat at the table and they see the company not just investing in BRAC crews and and CCUS projects. Of course we're doing that. We're very active in the data center conversations and power, but we're also, we spend a lot of time nurturing the brand and telling the story, and I think that keeps people excited and bought in .

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:04:47] What were B KV’ s biggest struggles in the early days?

Becky Escott:

[00:04:50] I think Matt, our biggest struggle was we didn't know how to define who we were and what we were doing. Yes, we're a natural gas company, but we were different than our peers and we were approaching energy different than our peers were approaching energy and we didn't have a consistent voice.

Becky Escott:

[00:05:09] We didn't have a consistent identity. And, and that was the big challenge, was trying to put words to who we are, what do we do, and where are we headed? What do you believe in as a company? And it felt. Disjointed at best. And that that was the struggle from us, right, for the get go. And Chris wanted us to fix it and he wanted us to fix it now and start building that brand and that that was a jump and a leap for us as a company.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:05:36] And how did you go about doing that?

Becky Escott:

[00:05:37] We sat down w ith you and Matt and our leadership team in our first of several strategic guardrail sessions with you all. When I talked to Matt, really at the beginning of, okay, I think we need RFP process. Yes, you've helped us with some press releases and stuff in the past.

Becky Escott:

[00:05:56] We're talking to other agencies and we need to figure out who we are. We need a logo, and Matt said to me on a phone call once. Yes, you need a logo, but what you need is an identity, and what you need is to figure out who you are and let us help you with this strategic guardrail session. And it clicked that, yes, the logo was an output that we needed, and yes, you know, PowerPoint templates and letterhead and a website, these are outputs that we needed, but where we really needed to start was.

Becky Escott:

[00:06:28] Figuring out how we wanted to share our story and how we wanted to share our vision and that strategic guardrails. Two long days of the leadership team and I sitting down and putting pin to whiteboard on who are we and where we headed, and that allowed us then to build a story of who we are and figure out how we wanted to talk about ourselves. Then it's just natural from there on out, once you know what you're trying to say and who you're trying to say it to.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:07:00] And was there much pushback among, among anyone in the leadership team?

Becky Escott:

[00:07:04] You know, I'm, I'm lucky in that I work with the leadership team anchored by Chris Cowen, who believes in the power of storytelling and who believes in the power of branding. So not from him, and I will tell you not from the rest of the leadership team really because of his leadership. But yeah, of course there was. The expectations are high and the industry moves fast, and we run this energy company more like a tech startup in pace and in ambition. And so getting the leadership team to spend the time to say, yes, we need two days.

Becky Escott:

[00:07:43] Yes, you're gonna clear your calendars and spend this time with us. That, that was hard. I'll tell you, it's halfway through day one when they were all like, yes, we're here. How much longer do you need us? Let's, let's figure this out. And so we're, and I don't think there's been pushback on branding since that guardrail session helped them all understand and it clicked and yeah, their budget conversations and reality conversations of what's going on in the business and the industry and how do we execute it all with lean resources. But that strategic guardrail session not only helped us define who we are, but made them believers in what we are doing.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:08:22] You know, you get everybody in a room, and this was all in Denver. Were there any “ aha ” moments throughout the process? Because a lot of people have said, you know, will say, oh yeah, I've been through sessions like this before.

Becky Escott:

[00:08:33] Yeah. I, I would challenge if you haven't been through a Pennebaker S trategic G uardrail session. You haven't been through a session like this. We've all sat through Yes. Critical thinking and, and what's your why and what's your elevator pitch. But this was bigger than that. This was. What is your strategy? What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to accomplish it with? And forced you back really to the very heart of where we were going. And I would say the aha moments where we're all, when we thought we knew what the answer would be, and as the discussion we keep going, oh no, that's not what we all are, are at all. Yes, we want to be one of the largest natural gas producers. Country, but we are not just an upstream company. So how do we talk about that?

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:09:20] After you get everybody in a room and you've got alignment with the leadership team, how do you go about communicating to the rest of the organization, the rest of the staff who you are and you know where you're headed?

Becky Escott:

[00:09:31] Yeah, that's a good question, Matt, because you know I was a late joiner is hard. We we're celebrating 10 years at BKV this year. We joke that one year at BKV is like dog years. So we've accomplished 70 years worth of work in the last 10 years, and there were some very early joiners to the company who had this , a nd still have this incredible pride in who we were pre these major acquisitions, pre the acquisition of 125 employees and 6,000 wells of Devon and another 125 employees. And. Several thousand wells of XTO. But those that built from BKV as a fund to BKV as a corporation felt really strongly about who we were. And those advocates are so important to tell your story. So we had conversations with some of those early joiners, the, the unofficial leaders. You're not the morale leaders and employee, not spokespeople, but we all have those people that we work with. The people that can help you turn the tide that did grassroots advocates inside your company.

Becky Escott:

[00:10:41] So we had early conversations with them to start getting buy-in, and then we launched the brand. Like a launch party almost of a movie. It made it an exciting event for all of our employees to build this buzz and to create this sense of pride. It felt like a giant movie premiere meets pep rally with balloons and a hype video and swag.

Becky Escott:

[00:11:07] We love swag. Give me the new logo on all the coffee cups and polo shirts and trucker hats and everything, and that excitement and hearing our hearing. Our very passionate leaders talk about how the brand encapsulated us, and then handing everybody a. A book of brand guidelines that isn't just like, please use this font and do not stretch the logo, but hold the story in a captivating way of who we are and why we're choosing to share our story with these words. And then these typefaces. And it made people get excited and made people feel heard about what they were doing and seen and how they were impacting the industry, and excited to be a part of where BKV was going. And that buzz is contagious.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:11:55] A lot of times you'll have a big ta-da where you, uh, unveil a new brand and over time it just kind of trickles down to be kind of a uhhuh. Yeah, we got a new brand. How did you keep it fresh and and alive?

Becky Escott:

[00:12:08] We've done a couple of things, ward, and it's letting the brand evolve with us. Yes. Yet the type is the same and the colors in the logo are the same, but the way we talk about our business. Stays exciting and how we feature people. Our people in the communications materials and their faces are on the intranet. Their words are seen and heard and translated in our website copy and in our sustainability report copy. But we're not just using words that I wrote in a room we talk about. Ourselves and our journey using our employees words, and they have become our advocates of the brand.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:12:49] Throughout our tenure together, we've actually had several different G uardrails workshops. So how do you know that you need to go through something like that? At what point?

Becky Escott:

[00:12:58] Yeah, so we've done. Gosh, Matt and War d , I think we've done three three or four D four 'cause you, we built BKV as a brand. We did kind of a mini, uh, guardrails and defined who we wanted to be culturally when we built our values.

Becky Escott:

[00:13:16] Then we've talked carbon capture and we've talked carbon credits. So if that doesn't show again that we believe in the process, just once again, we're showing by doubling down and saying we believe in the strategic guardrails. And so when we get into a place, we realize, not just from a branding perspective necessarily even, but we have come to a point in our company where we know we wanna do something. How do we talk about it? How do we sell it? How do we internally or externally, how do we wrap our head around what's next? Who's the audience? Who's the potential customer? What are we gonna say? It's made its way past a corporate communications and branding exercise and become just a strategic part of how we define the next part of our journey.

Becky Escott:

[00:14:09] And that's really what we did in the carbon, in the CCUS session as well as the carbon credit session. It wasn't about a new logo or refreshed copy. It was about how are we gonna talk about this new product? That's when we know, we know when we're looking at something and we feel like right on the cusp of having something great that it's time for a strategic guardrail session with the Penn ebaker team, so we can figure out how we talk about it.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:14:36] If you're at a party talking to a friend, how would you be able to determine whether or not they need to go some through something like this?

Becky Escott:

[00:14:43] You know, I think if I had a friend. They were talking about their next big idea and they couldn't quite find the words, or they couldn't quite articulate, or don't you think this is a good idea, but. When they get to that. But for me it's like, well, you should call Ward and Matt Pennebaker because you have an idea and a strategic guardrail session can help you figure out what's next. And that's where I think they need, and maybe the answer is they do need a marketing program or maybe it's that they need a business plan or that they need, who knows what t hey need. That's when they, that's when I know I would recommend a strategic guardrail for anybody that I feel like is on the cusp or trying to figure out what's next for their next idea.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:15:30] What would you tell that person w hat G uardrails is?

Becky Escott:

[00:15:34] I would use a lot of words like guardrails is hard work. It's a heart searching, soul searching, reckoning time for a business plan, but it is a stress test to make sure you're ready and then to determine the best next steps for success. It's like bootcamp for good ideas that are almost there.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:15:56] Everybody who has been in these sessions has been in these strategic type sessions before and people come in who haven't been through it, are skeptical this is any different. How would you describe this as different from what they may have been through?

Becky Escott:

[00:16:11] I think anybody can help you ride an elevator pitch. Any marketing company worth their salt can help you ride an elevator pitch. What a strategic guardrails does for you though builds a whole business. Essentially our business vision statements plus your audiences and your actions, it, it's all of that. Plus is what I would say. Yes, you can call a marketing firm and say, help me come up with five talking points in an elevator pitch. But if you wanna know that that is. Stress tested and match aligns with where you're headed and helps identify your audiences and also helps you know what you're not. That's a key difference to me, is that not only do you identify who you are and where you're headed and how you talk about it. You also identify who you aren't, where you don't wanna go. And that's a real difference maker. 'cause you're not floundering at the end of a G uardrails. There are actionable plans put in place.

Becky Escott:

[00:17:10] There are words on paper. There are different scenarios of. If I was asked this question, how would I go back to it? It, it's full service. It's like getting a car wash versus getting car detail.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:17:23] In every organization you go through something like this, and particularly with leadership, it's easy for a leader to come in and say, well, that's real good, but here's what I'm gonna say. This is, this is what I think is important. And how do you wrangle them back into the, the fold or does that happen?

Becky Escott:

[00:17:38] I would say sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. They all get there by the end. And it's interesting to see each of the different personalities at the leadership table have their own reckoning with what, how the process is working and do they believe it. It does happen and in some way, you know, an energy company is a great example 'cause our leadership team is a kind of a cast of characters, right? You have head of engineers and then you have the head of operations. And there's gotta be a finance guy. Then there's the visionary, CEO, the attorney's keeping us all wrangled, throwing a geoscientist and a communications person, and we're really like the cast of a loony reality show.

Becky Escott:

[00:18:20] And at the end of the day, the guardrails does give that opportunity for us to all get on the same page and see the business for what it is, not just for what our part of the business is. I wanna see it for just the branding and communications. What is our story and how we're gonna tell it? And the ops guys wanna make sure we're telling midstream story the same as upstreams, the same as CCUS, the same as power.

Becky Escott:

[00:18:47] And the engineers are gonna get very technical. And why aren't we, aren't there 17 more pages of words than there should be? And our attorneys are saying, you can and can't say that. And the guardrails is a time where everybody's vision comes together. We're all thinking like CEO storytellers.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:19:05] One of the things that is truly different about BKV is this focus on being the first energy company to be carbon neutral, and that's a tough story to tell. How have you done that?

Becky Escott:

[00:19:18] You know, I think the trick is. To believe what you're saying, ward, I think when you're talking about an energy company with a net zero journey or a carbon, a decarbonized energy future, and that we wanna provide decarb energy solutions that can feel really greenwashing really fast, especially if the political administration is leading that way, and it was for a while.

Becky Escott:

[00:19:45] But we're putting our actions where our words are. We're not just saying things. We don't say things really until we're doing them. And so showing the credibility. I think makes all the difference when we say things like, we're going to accomplish this by 2030s and here's what we've already done and here's what we're doing. And I think that's the difference. It's not just here's a, here's a goal and it's 50 years from now and we'll get there. We're doing it. We're doing it now. And here's, here's the proof in the pudding. So believe us, we also don't get high brow about it. We say things like it's on. And we get a little, the, the Earth doesn't have a snooze bar. We're tired, cut the bs. It's very real, and I think that makes it relatable too.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:20:33] Now, given the the, the current political climate where sustainability is really moving to the back burner, literally and figuratively, is there still that commitment within BKV and how is that being communicated?

Becky Escott:

[00:20:49] The commitment, the commitment remains and we, we tell our people and we're telling external audiences that we're doubling down.

Becky Escott:

[00:20:56] That our energy model, our business model is political party agnostic. We work, it doesn't matter who's, who's in the White House or who's in the state, in whatever state that we're operating in at that. Time, Texas, Pennsylvania, wherever we head next, we are doing it because we wanna be a force for good and because we believe in what we're doing regardless of political party and sticking to it. And I think that gives a lot of validity to the words too. 'cause we're not changing our course just because. November went in one direction or another.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:21:33] When you started, you were upstream natural gas, exploration and production. Yes. And over time, you've gone to midstream. You've gone to downstream. In terms of the the carbon sequestration, and how have you managed to build a cohesive message as the company has evolved in these new areas.

Becky Escott:

[00:21:54] Yeah. And, and now we have power generation too. So we're really a full, full cycle, comprehensive approach to energy. Our messaging hasn't changed and that we see the full, the value in the full cycle towards delivering decarbonized energy, and I think we've just doubled down. Have been able to double down on that by showing well, we'll just be in it in every aspect.

Becky Escott:

[00:22:20] We will help own and trace that decarbonized molecule from the wellhead to the light switch. So we'll produce it in our upstream natural gas. We'll transport it through our midstream operations, natural gas midstream operations. We're gonna decarbonize it through our own carbon capture and sequestration activities. And then we're gonna take that decarbonized natural gas and create a decarbonized electron to fuel natural gas fired power plants. And then we'll sell it to you through our retail power operations. So really believing in the story and believing in the mission of sustainable domestic decarbonized energy.

Becky Escott:

[00:23:06] Enough that we will invest in every piece of the cycle. It's one of these another. We're not just going to say, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it, and we're gonna show you how we do it. And I think that's why our model works. It's a winning combination to. Really have our hand in every part of the process of delivering decarbonized energy.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:23:27] When you launched your new messaging and new positioning, so internally you got buy-in pretty early on. What about in the marketplace?

Becky Escott:

[00:23:35] You know yes and no. Yes. They're the early believers in you who think, gosh, this is fun, and you're saying it more directly and kind of snappy and we're gonna follow . Be cause we wanna see if you can really do what you say you're going to do. Now we have it switched to a, oh wow, you're doing what you said you would do, and what's next? So I think our early believers have been with us and then there were some more skeptical, and now I think we're winning them along.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:24:07] T he organization's gone through a ton of change over the last 10 years. Can you talk a little bit about the challenges from a communication standpoint that you dealt with pre IPO to the challenges that you're facing now that you're a public company going forward?

Becky Escott:

[00:24:22] Yes. Silent periods. It is hard to be an emerging company with a lot of ideas. It changes fast. The evolution of this company in the almost five years I've been here is just incredible, and that's been keeping the story fresh and caught up with what we're doing today has been a challenge because we get an idea. And it is entrepreneurial and it is fast-paced and it's a failed fast culture where you have an idea, let's try it, and if it doesn't work, we'll move forward. Keeping the story fresh to how fast that is moving can be hard. Then you layer in an IPO, you're very limited in what you can say publicly, and it has to match every SEC file documents.

Becky Escott:

[00:25:10] You're in a place where you can't be doing anything. Market too, markety too much to sell BK V . And you're in that for a year and a half and then all of a sudden it's unleashed and the company has grown a ton. And it was just a refreshing of perspectives. And I think the guardrails is like the North Star in this whole scenario.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:25:34] Many companies who were at the position that you all were before going public are thinking about going public. They understand what it takes with a financial analyst and they go through all the financial hoops, but they're not always thinking about what they have to do to get ready for the marketplace.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:25:54] What advice would you give leaders of companies that are considering going public?

Becky Escott:

[00:25:59] Don't underestimate the importance of your PR plan. Don't do it if you, you can seem attractive to. The New York Stock Exchange and to financial institutions that are potential investors. And that's great, but it won't get you all the way there. And if you don't layer that and what we had was so great 'cause we had built this trust from these guardrail sessions, truly is when it started between all the teams and the finance team saw the importance in the marketing and the branding and the corporate communications effort. And our CEO saw the importance in that, and they were so married together that we came out really swinging, not just with a financial story or a, Hey, we're a good investment story, but hey market, Hey world, here's BKV.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:26:50] The process of going public is something that very few people have been, you know, in the driver's seat like you were. Is there anything that you'd do differently or any kind of lessons learned that you, you could give somebody else advice about?

Becky Escott:

[00:27:05] I would love a crystal ball next time, Matt, on how the world is going to be working in high financial markets are going to be working. Here's what I tell people. Be flexible. And build your plan, but make it executable at any time. Just because we had a plan didn't mean that the stock market agreed, or that global geopolitics, we were so close one time and literally a war. A war in the Middle East stopped us. Who would predict that? And so I would say go for it, but build a plan that can be flexible and give yourself grace when the timelines change.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:27:44] When you have acquired companies in the past, and I'm sure you're gonna be acquiring companies and and businesses in the future, there's always the big question of, should we call it BKV? Should we let 'em keep their names, let 'em keep their logos? How are you going to address that? Or how have you addressed that?

Becky Escott:

[00:28:02] We will be BK V we are one BK V . And I think you know, ward, you and I had a very specific conversation with Chris about monolithic branding strategies and the power behind a monolithic branding strategy. And because of that rallying cry and the comradery that comes from knowing the identity and knowing the message, and knowing who you are, we will o perate as BKV. The brand we build is something that we believe in as a company and our employees can believe in, and we're gonna lean in there hard. It's why our number one value is B one BKV. 'cause we roll as one tide out there. We're just one. It's about teamwork. It's about rallying behind this shared mission and this shared vision. And so for that very reason, we'll operate as.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:28:58] You guys have been growing exponentially, like you had said a lot of times through acquisition, through an IPO, and now that you're public, I would assume that that AC growth through acquisition will probably continue. And so a question for you is how do you really manage getting everybody aligned, all the employees aligned on the same page of who BKV is?

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:29:17] How do you get them to buy into this notion of the company that you are?

Becky Escott:

[00:29:21] This is such a clear. Point where the, the acquisition and the integration of employees where internal communications are as important as your external communications, because building the grassroots advocates internally, those are the people telling your brand story at Sunday school and at the little league baseball fields and at the gas pump and everywhere.

Becky Escott:

[00:29:43] Who is BKV? It's making sure that enthusiasm rings true for them too. If you're the employee that's been for sale, and I've done that, I've been that the Barnett was for sale, we kept thinking it was gonna happen. I kept feel feeling like the ride whose groom wasn't showing up. Oh look, we're about to sell, and then we didn't, and somebody comes in and speaks this enthusiasm and we're so excited to have you on board and here's the company, and then living those values.

Becky Escott:

[00:30:10] It's hard not to get excited about it, but that's where the guardrails back to. It just has to be genuine to who you are. And then when new people see that, it's hard not to drink the Kool-Aid and come right along with you.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:30:23] And I and Matt know how important executive leadership buy-in is. Having, uh, Chris Cowen, who's a believer, and could you just address that, the importance of that buy-in and support and how these initiatives would probably fail if we didn't have that?

Becky Escott:

[00:30:42] I tell people all the time who ask about BK V, w orking for a leader like Chris Cowen, who believes in branding and who believes in communication and is a true advocate for what we're doing it, it makes the biggest difference. Communications and branding is an investment. It's an investment of internal resources.

Becky Escott:

[00:31:04] It's an investment of time, of money. But when we have a story to tell and it's exciting and your leader believes in that and gives you their time, it's invaluable and it's a critical piece in being able to be successful. I have worked for other companies where they, they believe in the government relations and they believe in the investor relations, but corporate communications is almost something that just has to ha a necessary evil.

Becky Escott:

[00:31:33] So it's happening, but they don't feel the passion behind it. I think it comes through the products they deliver and then it comes through in their website and you see it in their pictures and it just feels like we did this 'cause we had to, and I'm so thankful for Chris's. Not just belief in what we do, but his passion behind it is a huge difference maker, and he is brought his whole leadership team along with him.

Becky Escott:

[00:31:57] It's given me the seat at the table. It's given Penn and Baker a seat at our table. They value what we do. It allows you to be so much more effective. 'cause a critical piece is having Chris help tell our story internally and externally when he tells it externally. We're making believers out of reporters and readers in the general public, and when he tells it internally, we're building , w ell, today, a 365 person, strong brand team that's out there telling our story, and it's because Chris feels passionately about it.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:32:30] What would you tell other companies CEOs about the importance of getting on board?

Becky Escott:

[00:32:35] If the CEO and the leadership team are not genuinely behind your communication strategy, your communications will never be as effective as they could be. It takes the support from the very, very top. It's like getting a quote from the head of PR versus the CEO of the company. It's just never quite as good. It's never quite as valid. It's never quite as valued. When it comes from the top, it's more believable. It's more in genuine.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:33:05] Moving back into the internal communications aspect, obviously, and being an organization of so much growth, do you have any anecdotal stories or or, or campaign initiatives or things that have just been most effective for your organization that other people or other organizations can maybe.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:33:22] Refer to or lean on if they're looking to do, do something similar?

Becky Escott:

[00:33:26] Yeah, I, I think we have a couple. The first, the campaigns around, it's on, when we started talking about our sustainability goals, that ultimately was our IPO slogan, but just Google, BKV, it's on and. Digital advertising and the ad advertorials that run around with this whole CCUS, it's on campaign are so good and I think so capture who we are.

Becky Escott:

[00:33:55] We're not waiting, we're doing it now. It's on. We're short, we're punchy, and you're now we're seeing us in this next iteration. I can't wait for people to see what's past. It's on what we're doing. Our sustainability reports capture everything so beautifully. I want you to look up the Carbon Sequester gas page on our website to see how we are innovating the invisible.

Becky Escott:

[00:34:19] I think that our CSG campaign is so good and put such clarity around something that is really. Technically robust and dense concept and makes it super easy to understand. And you'll continue to see us do more in that space in carbon sequester gap. But yeah, it's on and innovating. The invisible with CSG are two of my favorites. I wish I could share with everybody all of our internal campaigns too, because I think our BK V Bravos is next level. Good.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:34:51] What's a BK V Bravo ?

Becky Escott:

[00:34:53] So BK V Bravo is backs to our values. And then that is our peer-to-peer recognition campaign that highlights the different values. And I can submit online a BKV Bravo for great teamwork and say BY and BKV, or for somebody who just really nailed a project and it's delivering on promises. It's, it's a really great values campaign.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:35:18] You mentioned the values and you went through the exercise of developing values, and can you describe that a little bit?

Becky Escott:

[00:35:26] You know, there's nothing quite like word. When we had to roll up our sleeves and write values, it's fun and it's soul searching and. To me, it's where I was sold on the passion of so many of our leaders because they felt so strongly about who BK V was and what was important to us, and, and everything that they believed was so good, but it didn't all feel genuine to an entire company.

Becky Escott:

[00:35:52] It felt genuine to them. And then really, I honestly think it was the hardest guardrails that we've done. 'cause narrowing in on something that's so personal to people to define a company is hard and it's not as concrete and it's more touchy feely. There are a lot of emotions involved, but when people would, when we would say something like, have grit, which is different than.

Becky Escott:

[00:36:17] Keep on keeping on our work hard. Grit is raw and it's real. And you would look around the table and see people nodding their heads and think like gritty. That's what we are. We have grit. Those were such cool moments in our company's journey. I think you two and I suggested that we have three or four values.

Becky Escott:

[00:36:41] This company never to undo has seven, seven values over delivering even an account of values when we shared them with the rest of the company. And there are these head nods and light bulb moments from the accountants to the geoscientists to my friends who have been lease operators for 40 and 50 years. And they're saying yes, yes. That's such a validating moment. I think the team really nailed it because we use them now a normal everyday conversation. We did a series of internal communications videos, a whole internal communications campaign. Let me not sell it short on our values and making sure that our employees understood them and built out fun toolkits where there are videos of different employees from different.

Becky Escott:

[00:37:33] Parts of our business talking about what that value means to them and how it plays out in their work, and we're. Recognizing each other and doing peer-to-peer recognition for people showing these values. But we also have playlists and podcast recommendations and book recommendations and whole toolkits that that make these values really tangible for people, that they've become such a part of who we are, that it more than or equal to building the brand of the company. Defining the value to S trategic G uardrails is one of, will go down as one of. The things I'm most proud of that we've done for this company.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:38:10] The real aha to where it kind of clicked was we established the anti values through this exercise of we all know people at BKV who just weren't a good fit, very smart, great at their job, not a fit.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:38:23] Why, why is that so? What are these nuanced characteristics of people who just aren't right for the organization? And so we started to go through and list them. So and so was really, really good at their job, but he would just fold too easily. You know, when the going got tough, they'd just, they'd walk away.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:38:40] And so that's kind of where the, the genesis of, of how grit was.

Becky Escott:

[00:38:44] Yes. Because sometimes I think defining who you aren't is such a necessary step in defining who you are. And I think we've done that in every, every guardrails. Who are we is not a traditional energy company. We're, we're innovating the energy industry. We're transforming the energy industry. Same as like we are not certain sets of value.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:39:06] What have we not asked you that you wish that we had?

Becky Escott:

[00:39:10] Oh Lord, those tricky questions. Leave it to you. I just would encourage anybody who thinks. Are we telling our story, right? Are we reaching the right people? Is our story resonating with who we are? Not with? You can figure out if it's resonating with your audience in plenty of ways, but is it authentic to who you are? Your vision and your mission as a company, you need to push yourselves and convince the leaders in your company that just strategic guardrails is the way to do it. I'm glad that I didn't have to push.

Becky Escott:

[00:39:43] I tried to sell them to everybody that I talked to because it was such a clear defining moment in our company's journey when we figured out how to tell the story of who Beha was and then his maid. Building a communications function and growing as a company and interviews in speaking opportunities and digital advertising. So fun and so genuine, and ultimately so successful because it is so genuine.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:40:14] You are the best interview in the whole world.

Becky Escott:

[00:40:17] Oh, y'all are the best. Y'all are the best.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:40:19] I think we're gonna have to be beating radio stations away from your door. After this. You've got like the perfect radio voice.

Becky Escott:

[00:40:26] Thanks. Thanks guys. I'm just y'all's biggest fans. Truly.

Ward Pennebaker:

[00:40:30] W ell, it's, it's a two way street. Thank you so much for doing this, and we may be back to you to do another one on another topic.

Becky Escott:

[00:40:37] I can't wait. This is so fun. And now I'm never giving this microphone back. This is my whole personality now.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:40:42] Thank you so much. Talk to you soon, Becky.

Matt Pennebaker:

[00:40:44] Thanks so much. Talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to Rethink Change. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and be sure to follow the show so you don't miss a single episode. If you're a disruptor looking to challenge the status quo and don't know where to start or what to do next, Pennebaker can help Find out more at pennebaker.com.