Wade Pursell: Be Bold and Live Your Mission

Welcome everybody to this week's Generous Business Owner podcast. My name is Jeff Thomas and we do every week. I say we have a very special guest, but this one is not only special but a very old friend. Welcome to the program, Wade Purcell. Say hello to the people, Wade.

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning. Hello, people.

Wade is the CFO of SM Energy, which is a public company based in Denver. But I just have to tell a personal anecdote. I told Wade before we started recording that I was writing down some notes for this and I wrote, 'I can't believe Wade and I have known each other for 24 years,' and then I realized, oh darn, it's 34 years. And we don't want to admit it. So here's my... I've got a thousand Wade stories because we've been friends for so long. We worked at the same place right out of school, public accounting. I was two years behind Wade, so that made him my boss, which was hysterical. But it was very serious at the time. The 25-year-old leading the 23-year-old was very important. But he was a great boss then, and he's still a great boss today for all kinds of people blessed to be under his leadership. We'll get into some of that. I know this is very unique today because we have a guy who's a large shareholder in a public company, which is very unique. So anyway, there are a lot of unique things about Wade's journey. Wade, again, thank you for being here. We always try to open with the same question just to give some context. Tell us about where you grew up, what that was like, what your family was like, maybe if there was a faith component to your upbringing.

Good place to start. I grew up in a little small town in Eastern Oklahoma called Mro, Oklahoma. I didn't grow completely up there. I was there until I was 13 years old. My dad was a pastor of a very small Free Will Baptist Church there. I have one brother, a couple years younger than me, and my mom. So I grew up in the church, very rooted in the church. Incredible blessing. I think there are pros and cons to everything, Jeff. I know you know there are pros and cons to being a preacher's son, but the pros way outweigh the cons. It was wonderful to grow up there. Then when I was 13, we moved to Conway, Arkansas, just north of Little Rock. Decent sized town for Arkansas, around 30,000 when I lived there. My dad became the State Youth Director for Free Will Baptist there, so he continued to preach. I continued to be a preacher's son. He ran the camp, so that was a wonderful experience for a teenager. From my upbringing, I was rooted in the Word early, relationship with Jesus early, appreciated the importance of the church from a very early age, and a pretty strong work ethic. We worked really hard at the camp. We never had a lot of money, as you might imagine, so I had the pleasure of working my way through college and paying for that. In Conway, there's a little school called University of Central Arkansas. I got an accounting degree and a computer science degree, and was able to get on with Arthur Anderson in Houston right after that, which is where I met you. I had a wonderful experience there. I'll just keep going if you want me to summarize. That's the growing up phase.

We were talking earlier that in this day and age, I don't know what the average number of employers is for a full career. Thankfully, ours aren't over yet, but I think you've only had three employers that I'm aware of.

That's correct. Those transitions were really sort of God-led and unique. Maybe you can talk about the first one.

Yeah, I'll do that. It's fun to look back and really see the two big moves I made and how the timing was so fortunate. I was clearly blessed when they occurred. I was at Anderson for nine years. I think most people listening have probably heard of Enron. I loved working at Anderson and developed a love for the energy industry while I was there. All of my clients were energy related. At one point, one of those clients that I had grown up with was contemplating going public, and the CFO was about to retire. Everything kind of lined up, and he was able to convince me to leave Anderson and be part of that going public process, then taking over the reins as CFO. That was a hard decision. I was shamed by a lot of the partners at Anderson: how could I ever consider such a risky move? The rest is history. A couple years later, Anderson's gone. It was very fortunate timing for me in that move. I'll just say, I'm very rooted in the Scripture. I do not believe in prosperity gospel or anything like that, but I do believe that God's hand is in certain things. He does what He wants to do, and sometimes we're blessed by what He decides to do. I have always felt compelled to return a large percentage of that back to Him, typically through the church. I very much believe in the power of the church. It's the body of Christ, meant to be the light on the hill, a place for brothers and sisters to commune and grow and be disciples. That has been my thing. From that point forward, it's been another blessing. A wonderful way to do that has been through working at public companies. As you mentioned, we went public. Being a CFO, most of my compensation became stock. The benefits of being able to give stock to the church has been a great thing for me. On a very disciplined basis, once or twice a year, I just kind of trimmed that. There are big tax advantages to that. I have to watch windows and things like that, but it's been a wonderful way to give, especially when the stock is appreciated. That's a side note on that. If you want me to finish on the next transition...

Let me pause there just for a second because you're so... I think that's a good opportunity to unpack what you just said. There are a couple of important things. One of the very unique things is we haven't had that many public company folks on the podcast. I think this is very interesting. We'll also get into some management things where he's able to do some biblical things inside the company. But this giving piece is very important. Anybody who's been involved with a public company knows that there is pressure to always hold on to the stock. Up, down, whatever. You're on the management team, you're in the C-suite, you can't ever sell. Somewhere along the line, you had to know you had to respect the church enough. I know you're a very church-centric guy. A great percentage of your giving goes to the local church. You're super involved in the local church. That's very unique and special. But also this idea of giving appreciated stock. I bet half the people listening don't even know you can do that and avoid the capital gain. We can talk about that a bit. But I think you being able to give it... I'm picturing this conversation you've had to have with management teams in these two different public companies where you're giving them your form about filing. All this stuff's public. It's going to be known to the public exactly how many shares you disposed of. It looks maybe to the public like you're selling. Why are you selling? The investment community might ask. Management doesn't want that heat. How has that gone for you?

That's a great question. I probably haven't thought about it in that way enough. I think it's been a huge blessing. Everything you said is accurate. When we sell stock, you have to file the form within a few days, so everyone sees it immediately. It's never a comfortable question from an investor. When somebody sells stock, they must know something. It's never received well. The CEO and other executives don't like to see you do it either. For me, the ability to give it away has been a big positive in that area. I can tell you honestly, no one has ever asked me why I gave away stock. I know they would ask if they saw me selling it. When you're giving it away, it's filed differently. It looks different. For a long time, you didn't even have to file it immediately. Those rules have changed recently, but no one has ever asked that question on giving. It looks very different, and I think people appreciate that you're giving something away. It is also a witness. I never really think of it that way, but everyone on the team has to see it, and they see that I'm giving back to God, to the church.

That's what I think is so cool about it. Not only is it a tax-smart thing that most people don't know about, it's incredibly tax smart. No one pays the gain. The church just receives the fair value and is able to sell that day. It's a great tax advantage that I hope continues. One of the cool things about you is I know you've done it for decades. There's something about that routine of it. How do you think about the idea of giving from a biblical standpoint or from your own outlook?

This is just me. Through the years, I typically do it twice a year, once early in the year, once late in the year during open windows. I typically just try... This is actually a good story because I can't think of a year where it didn't happen this way. I try to predict what my income might be, because it's extremely volatile since so much is equity related. I look at last year and start with a number like 10% and try to beat that. I try to throw a number out that's going to be where the puck is going, not at the puck. Typically, what happens is I feel like I'm chasing it later in the year because God blesses. Most years are like that. It's nothing more than that. I just try to keep trimming large chunks of equity and not get too legalistic on the percentage, but just use that as a start and try to go well above that.

I think that's important. Even though that's a routine for you that seems simple, I think it's going to be very helpful for some people maybe in the same situation. Like, am I even able to do it? Are the optics going to look bad? There's somebody listening in a public company thinking about doing this and they think maybe they're the only one. So I think that's really helpful, the way you think through that. Okay, so let's continue the story. I'll never forget this transition out of the first company into the second one. On this podcast, we always try to have a setback story because nobody wants to hear up and to the right. You and I don't want to hear our buddies talk about up and to the right because we know the truth. There's always pain. I remember it vividly for you. Of course, it was even more vivid for you. Maybe let's go there a little bit with that next transition, because I know that was a painful experience that obviously turned out well, but in the moment you didn't know it.

No, it was very painful. I won't name any names to protect the innocent. It was a situation where... I like to summarize it as getting caught in the middle of a divorce, if I could say that. We had a CEO who had run the company and done an amazing job. That was my boss. He stepped back and made someone else the CEO, but he hung around as the executive chairman on the board. They had differences on strategic thinking. Those differences were okay until they weren't. Things started going south. It became a very ugly breakup with the firing of the CEO and the former stepping back in. Of course, I was in the middle of that, supporting my new boss along the way. Long story short, it became very clear that it would probably be best if I moved along as well, just to clean the sheet. That's not unusual, but it was very painful at the time because I loved who I worked with and loved the company. Reflecting on that time, the fact that I was being uprooted from something I loved was hard. But if I really reflect on it honestly, I remember spending time in prayer when that happened. Psalm 23 bubbled up. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember an incredible amount of peace that surprised me. I was very surprised how peaceful I felt about the whole thing when it was going down. We had just had kids. They were really young. I started thinking of the positives: this is an opportunity to hang out for a bit and spend time with them. They were five and three. They took care of me financially, so that was a blessing. I remember having conversations with all the folks that worked for me that I was very close to. They were all mad and upset. I remember not being that way and having the opportunity to live out what I always said to them: we're not defined by our job at all. Never be defined by your job. That's not who you are. It actually turned out as a huge blessing. I said I was going to take some time off. This was June 2008. Oil was $140, so you can imagine where the stocks were. This forced me and enabled me to get rid of all of that stock at very high prices. I think we all know what happened in September 2008: the financial crisis hit. It was just kind of a wow. I don't deserve that. I don't know why that timing happened that way, but it did. Not only that, but I wanted to take some time off. The headhunter called immediately and said this company in Denver called SM Energy, St. Mary at the time, had been looking for a CFO for about a year. They were being very picky and patient. I needed to look at that because he thought I would be a great fit. I didn't want to look, but I did it just to appease him. From the first time I met the CEO then, to coming to Denver, it just felt like this move is the right move and this is where God wants me. It truly has been. Not just the job, the job's been fantastic, the culture and the people. I'll talk about that in a few minutes. But just moving here and plugging into a church here has been 100% a God thing. He sent me here for that church. There's zero doubt in my mind. From becoming a deacon to an elder, then teaching and occasionally preaching, it's been an amazing growth experience for me. Those are the highlights of that move.

Let me pause there just for a second. Two things popped into my brain. The first one is basically Philippians 4:7, which talks about when we're following Christ, He'll give us the peace that goes beyond understanding. I love that story about how you were losing your job. The one thing I know about you, you talked about the hard work and that work ethic your parents instilled in you at a young age. But the other thing I know about you is that you're a very loyal person. I've been the beneficiary of that. You're still putting up with me after all these years. Exhibit A over here. But I remember talking to you at that time. You were just distraught about leaving anybody in the lurch. Like, I'll go down with the ship if I have to. So that peace about leaving and not knowing where to go, you had no idea. The fact that that came along and then you get to look in the rearview mirror about how it was all meant to be is amazing. The other story that came to mind is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace. How they escaped the cauldron. Anderson blowing up, the financial crisis, oil tanking, a rough time.

There were some other factors going on there, but anyway, it's just amazing.

I am convinced that those two things are not disconnected. This story of the consistent giving, consistent walk with God. I know we all wander in our own ways, but absolutely consistent. Trying, coming back, keeping consistent with that. And then God is so generous with us. I love that you talked about the peace. He doesn't promise us money if we follow Him, but He does promise us things like peace. We just happen to live in a capitalistic society where if you're a servant leader, sometimes things can go well economically. It's not true of other people around the globe. So anyway, those are amazing deals. So okay, we get to Denver. You're fortunate to be in a good culture at a public company, which is not always the case. So maybe take us through the rest of that professional piece.

It's been a huge blessing to be here. I've got to work with executive teams that have very high integrity. Some of them Christians, some not, but all very good people. The culture thing that I've really enjoyed the most, especially the last several years, has been the ability to really lead and teach biblical principles. I know that makes people cringe being in a public company, but in a way that can be creative and not in your face. I hope most people listening realize that. We've taken it on ourselves as an executive team to create our own leadership program here. Creating that and getting to teach a lot of it has allowed me to weave in tons of biblical principles without quoting the verse. It's really not that hard. It's kind of shocked me how easy it's been and very encouraging.

What's an example of that?

An example would be... If I could give a tip to someone that I wish I would have known earlier in my life, I'll give you two examples. This little simple book called 'Tyranny of the Urgent.' I don't know if you've heard of it. I read this at the beginning of every year. It's tiny, only takes 30 minutes to read. The point of it is living a life that's proactive versus reactive. Most of us, if we're honest, live our lives reacting to the urgent. It's worse now than ever because it's not just email, it's texting. We allow that to take a place of importance equal to whatever. The point is, this is biblically based, talking about Jesus as our example. We have baked that into the leadership program. You can find these principles that work. It comes down to identifying what is important in your life. What are your roles in life that matter? What's my role here? What's my role as a father? As a husband? Pick those roles and set up your day, your week, proactively doing something extraordinary in those areas and putting boundaries around the other stuff. You can extend that in leadership. We talk about strategic perspective being a core competency. That means knowing your mission, knowing the mission of the company, being passionate about it, but also knowing your mission in life. I don't tell them what their mission needs to be, but we talk about how important it is to have a mission and know what the end in mind looks like for you. You have to be proactive about that in your life. We talk a lot about collaboration and servant leadership. That simply means focusing on others and their success. That's what Jesus talks about all the time. My best example is my recipe for relationship: listen, learn, and lean in. I wear it on my wrist because I forget. It's listening to the other person first, then learning about them, then leaning in and doing something about it. We teach that as servant leadership. If anybody notices on my wrist, it has Matthew 22 on it because that's Jesus saying love others as yourself. That's the recipe for doing that. It doesn't take a lot of effort if you know the Bible, I guess.

The story that comes to my mind is Ken Blanchard. He wrote all those business leadership books, then he became a Christian and wrote 'Lead Like Jesus.' In the preface, he said, 'I wrote all these business books, then I became a Christian, read the Bible, and realized all the best business principles came out of the Bible.' So it's just the truth. That's how God set the world up to operate best. All you're doing is taking the best practices that He set the world up with and offering them. You don't have to use the chapter and verse. As Tim Keller called it, it's the owner's manual. The Bible is the owner's manual. So now that's a good segue into... God is real. You're a very church-centric guy, which I really like. It's very unique because sometimes people get involved in all kinds of things. You're a very focused guy. Let's talk about that. This teaching you do, I think it's pretty cool. I have a feeling there are a lot of these parallels because I know you spend a lot of time teaching at your local church too. Talk about that a little bit.

That's been a game changer for me. One of the biggest things God did for me in plugging me into this church was the opportunity that I did not want to teach. As the opportunities presented themselves in the class we attended, I felt almost shoved into it by God internally. Once I began to do it, I frankly couldn't get enough of it. The thing it did for me is I thought I was living in the Word, but once I started teaching and going deeper and deeper, it was mind-blowing. I totally believe God does what He says: He increases our desire for His Word. The more I've taught, the more I've gone deeper, the more I've wanted to do. If I could summarize the Bible and life, it really is Psalm 1. That's become how I live my life. It's the gateway of the Psalms, the gateway to the Bible. It's so simple. It describes life: there are two paths, and they're both paths of influence. You pick one. There's only two. One is being influenced by the world, walking, standing, and sitting with sinners. Or it's being influenced by the Word. World or Word. The Word is meditating on it day and night. You become the tree with the streams, bearing fruit. It's the definition of life. So meditate on the Word. If you're in the Word every morning, that's going to influence your life. If you're not, the world's going to influence you. That's the bottom line. So that's been a big deal to me, the teaching.

It's so simple but also powerful. Maybe unpack that a little bit. You talked about looking back in the rearview mirror of where God's been faithful. You had that really difficult management situation in Houston before you moved to Denver. As you look back, when you talk about your own mission, you know you're teaching people to have a mission. How do you see your mission clarifying?

It's not always been this way, but it became clear. I can't remember exactly when. As I was thinking about what is my personal mission, where do I go next, what do I want to do, we overcomplicate things. If you just stop and say, 'What would God tell me my mission should be?' He kind of did. Jesus clarified things nicely: love God and love others. That's it. Love God, love others. It sounds oversimplified, but that says everything I need to do needs to come out of that. What does that mean? I pray about opportunities when they come up. When this opportunity came up, it felt like that's where God was leading me. When I go there, I need to have a mentality of, 'Is this going to be a place He wants me to be to love Him and love others?' I try to ask myself that most days, most years.

When we get to the end of this podcast, one of the things we always try to ask is just some practical tips for somebody behind you on this journey. Maybe it's some people that are in public companies and aren't quite sure what they can do, what they can't do. Or maybe it's for everybody. I don't want to lead the witness too much here. What would be some practical tips for somebody behind you? Maybe what the 30-year-old Wade would have wished he knew. Whatever the Spirit brings to mind, what might you share with us?

I'll bring up one because it tags on to something we just talked about. One would be: don't assume that you can't be bold. I wish I would have believed that earlier in my life, especially working at a public company. It means you can be creative. Don't be in people's face and don't be overt, but there are ways to be very bold. That's number one. The other thing I've just kind of hit on: if I were rewinding me and saying, 'Man, I wish I would have been doing that when I was younger,' I go back to the Psalm 1 thing. I would have made sure no matter what that I start every morning in the Word. It doesn't have to be 30 minutes of quiet time. It just needs to be something. It can be one verse for five or ten minutes. Some of the best days that's what it is because you're much more likely to hang on to that the rest of the day. Then here's the next one I wish I would have done earlier: be in the Word, then respond to the Word by praying. Pray what you've heard. Then look at your schedule and pray for everyone that you're going to be engaged with that day. I don't mean pray for you and your ability to do whatever. I mean pray for them. The days I remember to do that are very different, especially when it's people you may not be looking forward to meeting with. I prayed for you this morning, Jeff. It changes my interactions that day. That would be one of my biggest.

I think I generally pray for my meetings, but I'm probably praying for myself.

Me too. Wisdom. 'Let me glorify You in that.' How about, 'Let me be sensitive to what's going on in that person's life?' That's where I'm going.

Exactly. Totally different. Man, that's so good. What a perfect place to wrap it up. Wade, can't thank you enough for taking the time to do this with us today. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you everybody for joining us on this week's Generous Business Owner podcast. Go to our website generousbusinessowner.com and sign up for the newsletter. Pass this podcast on to a friend that you think it would bless. Thank you everybody. We'll see you next week.

Thanks for listening to the Generous Business Owner podcast with Jeff Thomas, Alan Barnhart, and Jeff Rut. Make sure to follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode. You can find the guest contact information in the show notes. Stay tuned for the next episode.