BP

I do try to only deal with urban and community building issues in the blog. Transportation policy covers a wide range though, but debacles in the Gulf of Mexico with a failed drilling platform are normally out of the scope of the blog.

Since the coverage, yes I have been struck by the clear evidence of massive management failures at the rig, at "satisficing" behavior to allegedly save money and time, which led to the tragic outcome of dead workers and a defiled Gulf of Mexico. And since I write about management failures all the time albeit mostly of municipalities, it's in keeping with the content.

BUT, what I think is far more interesting is what it communicates about BP's pattern of behavior, their focus on brand identity and marketing, while failing to "walk the talk."

This is related to urbanism because many gas stations are in cities. And actually, my "reboot" as a citizen hyper involved at the local level was simultaneous to dealing with BP on their desires to expand a gas station at 3rd and H Streets NE.

In some respects, you could argue that their actions helped spark the H Street renaissance, because for the first time in many years, residents north of H Street and south of H Street came together to deal with a common foe. And that effort led some of the same residents to join in with the H Street Merchants Association on commercial district revitalization matters, which helped lead to the creation of the H Street Main Street program and got then Councilmember Sharon Ambrose to get the Office of Planning to do a strategic plan for the resuscitation of H Street.

But I was struck during the time (2000-2002) by BP's intransigence, their unwillingness to think about urban issues and integrating their facility into the urban fabric, rather than taking up a whole face of a block for a gas station.

And after a bit, I realized that running your business property like s*** can be a positive business strategy designed to drive the businesses next to you out of business, making it easier and cheaper to acquire their properties so you can in turn expand your own business.

And all this was seemingly opposite to how BP and its then Chairman , John Browne, talked about the purpose and practice of their business. I read this article, "Unleashing the Power of Learning: An Interview with British Petroleum's John Browne" in the Harvard Business Review while dealing with the gas station issue, and I was struck by how the firm acted completely opposite to how they said they did.

Article access must be paid for, but here's the abstract:

John Browne believes that all companies battling it out in the global information age face a common challenge: using knowledge more effectively than their competitors do. And he is not talking only about the knowledge that resides in one's own company. "Any organization that thinks it does everything the best and that it need not learn from others is incredibly arrogant and foolish," he says. British Petroleum's chief executive, who engineered the revival of BP Exploration and Production and poised BP for spectacular growth, never accepts that something can't be done and is always asking if there is a better way and if someone might have a better idea. Under his leadership, BP is doing the same. And no matter where knowledge comes from, Browne says, the key to reaping a big return is to leverage that knowledge by replicating it throughout the organization so that each unit is not learning in isolation.

I can't think of many companies where the reality is so out of sorts with their rhetoric. So I don't have too much sympathy for all the Brits upset with the U.S. "attitude" about the company. BP has problems with the iron law of oligarchy too, and big time.

Changing the logo doesn't necessarily change the company.