President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Helmerich Payne
Search every verified John Lindsay interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. John Lindsay, President and CEO of Helmerich & Payne, discussed his career trajectory from a roughneck to the company's top executive in a 2022 interview. He described starting as a floor hand and working up to driller, calling that period "the most valuable time" he could have spent early in his career. Lindsay noted that he initially earned a computer science degree before returning to the University of Tulsa for a degree in petroleum engineering, graduating in 1986 when the rig count was between 600 and 800, down from 4,200 in 1981. He emphasized the cyclical nature of the oil and gas industry and the importance of hard work and work-life balance. Lindsay spoke about the value of relationships and teamwork at Helmerich & Payne, stating that people look out for each other even without formal mentorship. He recalled a meeting with the late Walt Helmerich III that focused on family rather than business, and said he tells employees that the company should feel like a family atmosphere. Lindsay stressed that decisions are made in support of the overall strategy and team, not for individual benefit.
“It's a very cyclical industry; it requires a lot of hard work, but you want to live life you will live life to the fullest. I think it's important that people have the opportunity and have the time to do that because life is too short.”
“I graduated with a degree in computer science and what I realized real quickly is that wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and so decided to go back to school, go to the University of Tulsa, I got a degree in petroleum engineering.”
“In 1986 the rig count was in the 600 to 800 range during the course of the year, that's down from like 4,200 in 1981. At the beginning of 87 when I started with the company oil was trading at 18.”
“I started off as a floor hand and worked my way up to various positions, ultimately ended up being a driller and I think it's really the most valuable time that I could have spent early in my career.”
“You develop those close relationships; what you find out very early is that you have people even if they're not your official mentor they're looking out for you.”
“I tell our folks all the time we literally spend more time at H&P with our co-workers than we do with our families, but you really need to get to the point where it feels more like a family atmosphere because you don't want to go someplace every day and it be a grudge, you know, just drudgery day in and day out.”
“As you think about the decisions that we're making in the things that we're doing, we're doing it in support of the strategy as we move forward. It's not about individualism, it's not about what's best for John, it's what's best for the overall team.”
From roughneck to CEO, learn more about John Lindsay's remarkable H&P Journey, as well as the lessons learned and ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from John Lindsay.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →