Success factors in the Energy Sector -especially for MBA/Engineers

From my two years in the consulting area for energy, I have occasionally tried to apply my limited experiences to advising fellow students/friends who might have questions/thoughts. While I certainly am no expert, this is better than nothing (assuming it's not nonsense).


The success factors in energy especially at bp/shell/something is a appreciation of learning from a system and understanding nuances and relationships, not being too radical unless necessary -especially being very "outwardly looking" slow or dumb. 


Sometimes, to to a layman, work at BP or Exxon as an engineer or business person is slow and all about risk mitigation and safety while doing your work but its bloody amazing when you step back and see the impact.

Some, myself included, do not (or sometimes did not) always have the patience/dedication to succeed in an environment like that - but for those that do, there is no sector that can appreciate this skill-set more.