The CodeBreaker Mindset™ Ft. Bruce Chinn, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, President and CEO (former)

The CodeBreaker Mindset™ Ft. Bruce Chinn, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, President and CEO (former)

Chitra Nawbatt (00:10)

Welcome to The CodeBreaker Mindset™, where leaders share the unwritten rules for

success. I am your host, Chitra Nawbatt. Joining us today is Bruce Chinn, recently retired

president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. Bruce, welcome. Thank you for

joining us.

Bruce Chinn (00:25)

Well thank you. It's a pleasure to be here with you. I, really look forward to our conversation

today. And hopefully I'll be able to add some perspective for The CodeBreaker Mindset™.

Chitra Nawbatt (00:39)

Well, how does it feel to be recently retired?

Bruce Chinn (00:42)

It's a good place to be. I tell people that I'm busy, but not stressed.

Chitra Nawbatt (00:48)

So coming out of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, let's talk about that. Right. Roughly

$15 billion in revenue. What is this company about and how is it different from competitors like

Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil chemical?

Bruce Chinn (01:02)

Sure. You kind of laid out kind of the revenue basis. It's a company that is a polyethylene and

chemical company. It also has a pipe division which makes high density polyethylene pipe. It

is a bit smaller than Dow and Exxon Chemical and Lyndale and other competitor, but about

the same size, maybe a little bit larger than Nova Chemical and Westlake, another, you know,

common competitor.

And of course, their European competitors and Asian competitors. The joint venture, it is a

joint venture between Chevron and Phillips 66 50/50 joint venture. And it's a company that's

been in existence for 25 years, which in itself is fairly unusual, for a joint venture to last that

long.

Chitra Nawbatt (01:52)

What is it do? Tell us about the stakeholders, the products, the services. Because I think

petrochemicals is something it's hard for people to relate to. Yet petrochemicals is literally in

everything in our clothing, in the like and everything. So. So yeah, you want it out.

Bruce Chinn (02:09)

I mean.

Chitra Nawbatt (02:09)

What is what is this company actually doing?

Bruce Chinn (02:11)

So we make, the primary product is high density polyethylene. We also make something

called low density polyethylene. But those two products go into supply chains, as you said,

that feed our everyday life. Whether it's an automotive and medical components, and

household products, you know, packaging that carries cleaning fluids, detergent, the grocery

store, when you think about the grocery store and the things that are in packaging in the

grocery store, bread bags, bags that contain fruit, vegetables, you know, blow molded cans

for coffee, I mean, you name it, shrink wrap around when you go and buy bottled water.

So it's just a pretty versatile, product that's used across many supply chains.

Chitra Nawbatt (03:02)

Who is your customer? Who who buys it?

Bruce Chinn (03:05)

Well, we have typically supply chain works this way. So you typically will sell to what they call

a converter. That converter then takes the polyethylene and then converts it to, a shape. It

could be different processes blow molding, injection molding into the products, that use it. And

then they sell that down the value chain to sometimes people that put things together.

Also they can sell to the brand companies. Right. So whether it might be ones that are familiar

to you, like Procter and Gamble or PepsiCo or different types of companies that actually sell

to the consumer.

Chitra Nawbatt (03:47)

So you've been in this industry for 45 years. I don't know too many little boys and girls out

there who dream of getting into petrochemicals. But how did this come about? And not only

have you been in the industry for 45 plus years, you also sit on a couple of public company

boards, waste management, but another petrol petrochemical company, Celanese.

Yeah, so?

Bruce Chinn (04:07)

So I grew up in a little small town, down Interstate 69, south of Houston, by a couple hours

south of Houston. Went to Texas A&M University, majored in chemical engineering, and I

began my career with the DuPont company. And worked in the DuPont company for about 20

some odd years, then moved to another company that actually acquired the business that I

was in called, Coke Industries.

And they, formed the business call in Vista and stayed with them about a year. We can talk

later about that, that pivot. And then went to work. For Chevron and worked in various roles

and all of those companies all the way progressing through layers of management, ending up

as a plant manager and then went on to run some businesses in both DuPont and in

Chevron.

Chitra Nawbatt (05:00)

Let's get into the rules of the game, because I would imagine there's a lot of rules in this

industry. What's the top tailwind in the industry right now? And tailwind for, for Chevron?

The Rules of the Game

Bruce Chinn (05:13)

Phillips Chemical was interesting because I think both the tell win and can be a headwind,

really is fundamental economic growth for this industry to grow. It has grown based upon

consistent demand growth over time, both domestically and in and globally and other

countries, China being a very big part of that growth, obviously, with some of the retraction in

China economically, that's now a bit of a headwind as that demand is slowed down a bit.

But it's all about engaging the customer, understanding the needs, innovating along the way.

And then clearly, being competitive as you compete against your competitors out there and

the best serve your customer needs.

Chitra Nawbatt (06:04)

What's the unwritten rule on how you navigate that, that you that you've used?

Bruce Chinn (06:11)

I, you know, for me, I think even in my time in DuPont and and it really is. And they don't teach

you this in school. Right. But it's about the relationships you form, right? It's engaging not only

with peers, subordinates, superiors, your suppliers, your partners, all of those folks along that

value chain that helps unlock value and opportunity, I think, is really building those

relationships and learning how to both give and take and satisfy those needs along your value

chain.

Chitra Nawbatt (06:46)

Is there a consistent written rule, as well as unwritten rule that has served you in your career?

Because to be 45 years in an industry and also achieve the highest level, which is president

and CEO of a well-known brand in the space, written rule, unwritten rule critical to your

leadership success?

Bruce Chinn (07:06)

Yeah, I would say that, I don't know if it's written, but it's clear no matter what company I've

worked in, whether I've been on the petrochemical side, the refining side, it's about

excellence. Okay. Mediocrity is a career scholar, and I don't know if enough young people

recognize the need to not just be there, but be impactful.

And so that's really, really important, I think, along a career. And for me, the unwritten one is

really around learning, right? Being willing to learn to step out there, understanding and

getting guidance sometimes. And when you need to take some risk, try some new things.

Take on a big challenge. I think all of those are important to progressing in a career and really

impacting the business, and even more importantly, the people along the way.

Chitra Nawbatt (08:00)

Let's get into the mediocrity. And it's funny, you mentioned it unprompted. You would have

known this because I didn't tell you in advance, but wrote a book called The CodeBreaker

Mindset™. And one of the things I talked about in the book is status quo is not your friend.

Right? So the fact that you talk about mediocrity, how do you how did you do it for yourself or

encourage your teams to not just follow the status quo, to not just be quote unquote

mediocre, especially in an industry like yours, so highly regulated where there's a lot of

regimentation, I would imagine.

And so how does one.

Bruce Chinn (08:37)

Well, I mean, I think that part of it is that you don't do it alone. So that's, a big key. It is. Right.

Building the right team that really understands you know, how to accept challenges, how to

put challenges in front of an organization and strive to be a little bit better. I mean, one of my

mantras has always been, hey, we're we're good, but we can either be we can be better,

right?

And it's always about setting that kind of big, hairy goal out there in front of the organization.

And aspirationally you may not reach there, but even in that aspiration in the journey, you

probably achieve more than you would have if you didn't put a goal like that out in front of the

other team and give them the tools to be able to go to achieve it.

Chitra Nawbatt (09:22)

So inevitably, in everything you just described, it gets into this notion of pivot. So let's talk

about the pivots. What's a significant business pivot you've led.

The Pivots

Bruce Chinn (09:33)

Yeah. So the word significant is kind of interesting. I I call them maybe shifts. And one that

comes to mind for me is when I was the president of Chevron overnight along my journey,

which is a chemical it's a lonely chemicals business at the time, left, and, and Chevron. And it

was really working with my team and nudging and encouraging and enable them to kind of

break out of kind of the innovation and the areas that we'd focused on and begin the, the, the

overnight business.

Let me explain that a bit is a really lubricant. Additives business. So it's a chemical business

that gets, you know, the chemicals that we produce get added to lubricants to give them

specific properties. And it always been in the automotive, marine trains, you know, mobility

kinds of areas. With the advent of EVs, we had to begin to think about that a bit differently.

Right. And how do we go and gather data? How do we engage with customers? You know,

what were the automakers tell us about where their needs were and really then given them

the tools, a bit of money to really go explore that and begin to develop products that were

sufficient for the electric vehicle market.

Chitra Nawbatt (09:49)

How do you spot signals and what are the signals in your business?

Bruce Chinn (10:56)

Well, I think I'll speak.

Chitra Nawbatt (10:58)

Generally and I'll talk a little also too, about, the rate of pace, the rate of change. Yeah.

Bruce Chinn (11:04)

And it depends. It depends on which particular part of the market that you're working in. The

petrochemicals have been around. Polyethylene has been around a long time, but technology

has shifted over the years. Right. And I think what's important is that engagement with

customers, understanding their needs and being able to partner with them to develop product

innovations that really help them to serve their customer needs.

But, I mean, the cost competitiveness and pressures on businesses and the oil and refining

and petrochemical industry continue to be there. Whether it's the labor arbitrage that happens

between domestically in the US and other parts of the world, you know, there are things you

have to overcome to do that. And so you have to constantly innovate, whether it's a catalyst

system in a reactor, things that make your product less expensive to make and allows you to

compete, in the world out there.

Chitra Nawbatt (12:02)

Talk about the energy, the energy transition and petrochemicals along that continuum, going

from traditional sources to what will be the future. And where does where does I come in? Are

we ever going to be at a place where the AI can help us get petrochemical ingredients out of

water?

Bruce Chinn (12:23)

I don't think so. Those those those those fundamentals I don't think exist. There are some

things with respect to energy production. One that's called green energy that'll let you, you

know, produce hydrogen, which leads out there. But right now they don't scale very well.

Right. And so there continues to be a need for a balance of energy supplies, whether it's from

fossil fuel when, you know, solar or nuclear, which a lot of people I'll talk about.

But there's a lot of work going on now with respect to how do we kind of shrink the footprint of

nuclear reactors? They call it small nuclear reactors, small modular nuclear reactors, and still

get that kind of cleaner energy out of that. Right. And so there's all kinds of things there. And

businesses like the petrochemicals business look to tap into those kinds of things to power

their facilities.

Chitra Nawbatt (13:20)

So artificial intelligence artificial intelligence is the new norm. Where is artificial intelligence

being used at scale. And maybe bring it to life using Chevron? Phillips Yeah, I know where

there's heavy investors.

Bruce Chinn (13:32)

A couple examples, a couple of examples that I would, I would just use. It's, it's in in the

research arena. Right. You know, for years scientists would do research and they put their

knowledge into these data books. Well, we've learned that digital has taken a step where

we've digitalized those data books. And I let's us innovate faster.

In other words, think through the different, say, constructs of materials in a way that we are

looking to solve problems and we solve those a lot faster. Another use case that I've seen,

both in the petrochemical side and from a view of our board, is around logistics. The ability to

move product at scale, but be able to take data and look at traditional patterns for trains, how

they come into your facility, the rail cars you use, the ability to move those around, and

basically end up, improving their productivity.

People like the yard master who's managing all of that, and they get to spend more time

engaging in front line employees and helping them solve their problems versus, you know,

trying to go chase things that, you know, the computer lets us in, AI lets us solve a lot faster.

Another way use case real quickly is in the logistics business, around trucks, how you move

trucks around, how you do route planning, and just improve that process and have a huge

productivity impact.

Chitra Nawbatt (15:08)

Does serendipity have a role at all? In your in your business journey? And I want to get into

the magic, which is how do you define serendipity? And where has serendipity played a

significant role in a business outcome?

The Magic

Bruce Chinn (15:25)

Well, I mean, I think that serendipity and I think a business outcome is are you producing

what you need to produce or you meeting the customer need is and the demand there and

you need you can meet that demand and help that customer grow and therefore you grow. So

it's it's what I call when all the circumstances in a situation align that you have great outcomes

and serendipity.

For me, examples are coming out of post-Covid and the ability to run your facilities well.

When the public needed product, you're able to be very reliable and you delivered that

product when you needed to. You have a winter storm Uri hit and supply chains are locked

up. Power goes out. And so your ability to work your way through that and have the right

people at the right time with the right skills.

For me, that's a bit of serendipity, because it doesn't always work that way. And so from a

business outcome.

Chitra Nawbatt (16:27)

Where has serendipity played a critical role in your in your career journey?

Bruce Chinn (16:33)

It's very similar or even.

Chitra Nawbatt (16:35)

Yeah.

Bruce Chinn (16:35)

Yeah, it's fair to me. It's been in the right place at the right time with those circumstances and

having both the experience and the skills, that align with that opportunity. And that played a

role for me in terms of being in the right place, right. Time to go into the president of Chevron

Chemicals at Chevron overnight.

And it played a role in really being at the right place, right time, when the opportunity to be the

president, CEO of Chevron Phillips. So to me, that is that is a part of that.

Chitra Nawbatt (17:06)

And, you know, when you talk about the right place at the right time, I want to get back to

something you talked about with respect to artificial intelligence, which is petrochemical

industry. Is it at that juncture where embracing artificial intelligence at scale beyond just

research and development, but even in terms of, manufacturing or operational processes, is it

at a point yet where AI is critical?

You know, the earlier headwind you talked about is economic growth, right? And so is it at a

point where it is, it is urgent, the adoption of that technology, you know, your perspective and

the quantification, the quantification of the benefits. Yeah.

Bruce Chinn (17:48)

I you know, I think that in there, probably some of us in the industry that are probably more

advanced, in terms that have taken that learning journey, and gotten to a point where it is very

integral and how they do business. It's not there for everybody at this point. But I think is

becoming, a tool for, and that's in fact, that's the way I look at it is a tool, to deliver value.

Right. And, and that's the mindset that I always tried with respect to digital work. I work is to

say, let's talk about the value. Let's we we got to play a little bit to learn and experiment. But in

the end it's got to be about value. You just can't pour money down a hole and invent crazy

things with AI that are doing these kind of things.

But if it's not delivering value for the people, for the stakeholders, that finance your business,

for the shareholders, that buy your stock, that's to me where, the criticality of AI will continue

to be an important part.

Chitra Nawbatt (18:54)

In your, in your public boards, Waste Management, Celanese. What's the dialogue around the

impact of AI?

Bruce Chinn (18:59)

Oh, we spend, probably not every board meeting, but, there are board meetings where we

dedicate time to understanding both the opportunities and also the risk, for the business. And

what are we doing to take advantage of those opportunities? Are we really enabling the

organization? Is the leadership and management really understanding the trends in a way

that they can apply those in a company like Celanese or Waste Management.

And so it is something AI is something that, you know, we have spent time on as a board,

really discussing and trying to understand it for ourselves, at the same time, both encouraging

the leadership and management. Because we're we're not in a doing role. We're purely in a

governance and oversight role, and an enabling and support role to encourage them to do

what makes sense and, to be really I call it smart about it.

Chitra Nawbatt (19:59)

Bruce, what's your advice on how to cultivate The CodeBreaker Mindset™?

Bruce Chinn (20:04)

You know, I think it is curiosity, right? And it is being willing to both explore. I think,

organizationally, what's out there? What are the barriers and opportunities, how you work

yourselves around that? But it's also embracing, I call it your authentic self as you find

yourself in situations and putting that authentic coat on and wearing it well, because

invariably, whether it's a business opportunity or it's a personal growth opportunity from a role

or an organization, you will hit those barriers and you have to really be authentic about how

you are willing to learn from it.

How are you willing to share with others? Are you willing to take in information in the last one?

And I would say self observation and that ability to self absorbed yourself and the people

around you, it's really how you explore. I think what you mean in The CodeBreaker Mindset™.

Chitra Nawbatt (21:09)

Bruce, thank you so much for joining us. Sure.

Bruce Chinn (21:11)

It's my pleasure to join.

Chitra Nawbatt (21:13)

Thank you for supporting The CodeBreaker Mindset™. For more episodes go to

www.ChitraNawbatt.com to like and subscribe. Connect with me on social media, @ChitraNawbatt.