Drilling to the Core with Eleanor Okubor

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Firstly, Eleanor congratulations on your recent promotion to Associate Partner. Very impressive. And also full disclosure, Eleanor is one of my closest friends. I admire her work ethic, which has been evident from day one, her authenticity and her propensity for problem-solving. I feel I also deserve a mention in her bio alongside her family.

Name: Eleanor Okubor

Current Role: Management Consultant

Company: McKinsey & Company

Bio: Eleanor is a management consultant at McKinsey & Company with almost 15 years experience post qualification. 10 of those years were spent in the Oil & Gas industry in various technical and commercial roles - from offshore well supervision to leading commercial teams. Since joining McKinsey & Company, Eleanor has continued to support Oil & Gas leaders on various strategic topics. Besides supporting companies in resolving their most pertinent questions, Eleanor enjoys running and is a 200-hr certified yoga instructor. When not in heels, running shoes or yoga pants, Eleanor is busy being the world’s most annoying big sister to 3 wonderful siblings with the parental unit egging her on.

Interview

1) What has been your leadership journey? Was there anyone that was instrumental to this journey?

I’m not you’re interested in whether I was class captain or not in school (for the record, I was class captain but it might have been a consolation prize). Honestly, reflecting on the journey so far (there are still miles to go), I was always in something that meant I was either taking charge or galvanising people to action - student government at university or sorority activities. I guess by virtue of being a first child (hug a first daughter today) these kinds of things were expected; this spilled into my professional life. Not one to sit back for too long, it became evident to people I worked with that I thrived with responsibility. Additionally, getting people to work together on a common cause was invigorating.

If I were to describe my leadership journey, it would start after 18 months as a wellsite engineer at Addax Petroleum, when my managers took a chance and gave me the responsibility of being the night drilling supervisor. Imagine supervising a 100 men (yes, mostly men) to drill offshore exploration wells. I look back very fondly at this period and the people who had my back. I did that until the drilling campaign was through and then went back to an office role - in Nigeria, Switzerland and back to Nigeria. After a while, I started supervising well test operations, and after that, I pivoted away from well operations to lead the commercial team. I left Addax to join McKinsey & Company as a management consultant prior to the start of the pandemic.

Who was instrumental to this journey? Everyone who believed I could handle a little more responsibility. From the day drilling supervisor who decided to stay back while I supervised a cement job (while speaking to him on the radio), to my general manager and drilling engineering manager, Horace Awi and Bob Anderson respectively, who felt it was the right time to make the tiny lady a proper supervisor, to that friend of my mum who thought “why not ask Eleanor to help organise that workshop”. In truth, I know there were many covert sponsors who pounded the table at the right time and had my back when they didn’t need to.

2) What is your leadership / management style?

It depends. It depends on the team I’m managing, it depends on the project, it depends on the time of my life, and it depends on the individuals I’m working with. When I was on the rig, I needed to have a more authoritarian style with service providers to make sure we drilled those wells safely. I admit, that every now and then, to instill some healthy competition I’d offer some candy. In this role, the major difference from my current style is, I did not need to coach as much. Whereas now, my leadership style is more like being a transformational coach (I think I’ve merged two styles together) - by virtue of how we help clients, one has to always be transformational and also always coach individual team members to not only get the best out of them but support them to develop skills that will make them exceptional.

3) You are coming from a technical role in an Oil & Gas company to, now, a managerial role at a Consulting company? In some way, you have always been managing people, but is there a difference with this role as an Expert Engagement Manager?

I don’t think there is a difference - as a drilling supervisor, or well testing supervisor or commercial team lead, one had to galvanise the team towards delivering a common goal whether it was a well or an analysis. It’s the same thing in my current role, where I galvanise the team to develop the best answer for a project. Perhaps a difference is that while at Addax, I could work with the same people for months or years on the same project whereas these days a typical project lasts for weeks. Long term projects may experience frequent change out of team members so one has just a short time to “build” a cohesive team.

4) How do you measure results of yourself, of your direct reports? Are feedback loops for improvement important?

The result is did you get the job done, within the metrics specified by the client? If yes then good job team. Now individual performance goes beyond delivering for the client. Are the individual team members developing at the expected pace? Are they getting the right coaching to help them develop? Are they getting feedback to highlight areas they’re great at and where they could be developing further?

You asked if feedback is important for improvement - emphatically yes!!! From the redlines in my draft drilling programs (so you don’t drill underbalanced and kill people) to the person who said the workshop went well, to the “your delivery when you speak could do with a bit more gravitas” -

Feedback is invaluable and should be given/received as often as possible.

Her 6:

A woman who inspires you:  Leila Fowler, the headmistress of my secondary school, who frequently asked the question Who Are You? For the right or wrong reasons having this question at the back of my head has driven me to be authentic regardless of the situation. It is very easy to try and fit a mold, and people have been happy doing that, but for me it’s important to be myself.

Last Book / Podcast:

• Book – Persepolis Rising – This was a reread. It’s the 7th book in a sci-fi series of 9 books. A character I liked, that was introduced in the 4th book, died, which is sad, but she also died own her terms, which is pretty bad ass.

A restaurant you would recommend:

Hide, Piccadilly London. I love their brunch, their wine selection, and the street view of Green Park, where you can see people walking by.

Your ideal city to live in:

Geneva, if someone else decides to sponsor me - Not on my Own Dime!

A brand/ product you can’t live without:

Vaseline Cocoa Butter. Even when I try more expensive brands I end up coming back to this.

What is one book / website/ podcast / or public resource that has helped you with leadership journey

The Economist, even though I don’t read it anymore, but there was a time I did, and I liked the essays and op-ed. It was interesting to read people’s opinions.

New Yorker – I like the long form articles, they help me destress.

Thank you Eleanor 💕. I find with every interview there is something to learn or something that helps to reinforce values or clarifiy practices one already has/does. You can tell Eleanor is someone who cares deeply for her team and people she works with, but is also committed to their delivery and growth. When I was trying to figure out how to manage my team better, I reached out to her for some advice. I lead a team of 5-9 people, depending on how you look at it, but for most part I work very closely 5 people across core organisational functions. I had largely figured out what to do (thanks to some HBR articles), but I needed someone to validate my ideas and give me further insight (especially with the cultural context) and she did that. Today, her words on feedback and coaching remphasises the work that managers do, the work that I do and a very important part of leadership. Coaching / leading your team to an exceptional standard is not possible without feedback - not just feedback from you to your direct reports, but also vice versa, and from other leaders. And finally, a word on peer to peer mentoring, Eleanor helping me navigate managing my team better is what peer to peer mentoring looks like, it is just as important for one to have peer mentors as one has traditional mentors. Peer mentors can provide relevant and relatable advice , fresh perspectives and diverse ideas for quicker problem solving and even innovation. This is the philosophy behind Her Journal - a place that gathers the insights of ambitious women, whether they are managers, entrepreneurs or creatives, to help push women to new heights in their careers, businesses, creative work and personal endeavours.

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for the next interview and please leave a comment.