24 Oct 2004 #0443.html

Business Development

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Matt via hardcopy, and Brian,

cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"Monday I started listening to a new tape from Audio Tech on my commute to GDC. The theme of the message seemed to go with my title at GDC: Vice-President of Interpretation Business Development. From the tape came the following possible stanza for Prime Words:

`Individuals with integrity, honesty And trustworthiness energy Generally people lacking integrity And full of negativism de-energize (a)' (a) `The Hidden Power of Social Networks,' Rob Cross and Andrew Parker, on Audio Tech tape


Monday evening we went to the Taylor Choral Department's Scholarship Concert, A Night of American Opera, featuring Dr. Melanie Emelio, soprano and the Taylor High School Chorale. Hard music, and a good program. They sang selections from Porgy and Bess: `Oh, I Can't Sit Down!,' `My Man's Gone Now,' and `Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way;' from Susannah: `Ain't it a Pretty Night,' `Come Sinner,' `The Trees on the Mountains;' from The Tender Land: `Laurie's Song,' `Promise of Living,' `Long Time Ago,' and `Stomp Your Foot;' and from Bernstein: `Tonight' from West Side Story, and `Make Our Garden Grow' from Candide.

Tuesday was Fred's consortium meeting. Before the meeting I gave him a document from Mike Dunn. He refused to sign non-binding agreement and was quite rude about it. It was an interesting meeting. The group he is working with from Pasadena are doing some really interesting work. It will be interesting to see if he gets the funding to do what he is striving to do. I think I could help him, like I did at the Seismic Acoustics Lab in business development, and Fred seems to be more paranoid than ever. Time will tell as to whether we work together at all or not.

When I got back to the office there was a message from a van pool, which Andrea had signed me up for. It costs $70/month to get in a commuting van. I spend about $15 per week for gas, which is about $60/month. There would be a lot of extra time waiting for the van and picking people up, and so I will just keep commuting.

Wednesday I put together an e-mail for Pemex on the reprocessing of the Kama 3-D which GDC has been working on. I didn't think the results looked very good, but the processors were very positive about it. Also, I had a discussion with Dave Johnson about the Chinese and where all of our discussions are going. I told him the most important thing was for me to get the actual stock options I'd been promised. We laughed. The next morning there was an electronic copy of my offer letter in my e-mail, basically saying this is what you get, which is all that I got relative to my stock options. I will share parts of this letter, because it is where I first learned that my responsibility at GDC would be called Business Development.

`Dear Roice, Geophysical Development Corporation (GDC) is very pleased to offer you the position of Vice President, Interpretation Business Development. In this capacity you will responsible for identifying, implementing bringing to market products and services for the Interpretation Division of GDC. Also, within this capacity you will be responsible for identifying new markets and technologies, and working with the Geokinetics/GDC management team on developing Company strategy. ... By accepting these terms you will agree not to compete in the seismic service industry during your employment and for a period of 6 months after termination if you voluntarily leave the Company. However, you can continue to lease your Landmark licenses through Interactive Interpretation and Training (ITT) during that six month period. If you are terminated at the Company's initiation this non-compete requirement will no longer be in force. ... In my view, this represents a tremendous opportunity to join a group of individuals committed to establishing GDC at the forefront of the geophysical industry and provides significant scope for personal development. ... Provided these terms are acceptable, I would appreciate you signing one copy in the space provided and returning it to me at your earliest convenience. I truly look forward to having you as part of our team.'


The original letter was signed by Dr. Lee Bell, who was hired during the month I was working as a consultant for GDC. The letter was written by Mike Dunn. I've always pretty much reported to Mike and just copied Lee Bell on e-mails and reports.

As I was leaving Wednesday night Lee told me he wanted me to demonstrate Fred's software at 8:00 Thursday morning to Rode Drecen meeting. I did this, and then Rode and I had a long discussion. I've known Rode since he worked for Teledyne, and have watched him pocket about $20 million (../0230.html). Rode described his investment philosophy, and how he likes to keep a very short lease on anyone he invests in, down to `telling them when they can have sex and when they can't.' Joe Roberts has set up meetings with Rode several times trying to get Rode to invest in some of my ideas. After this discussion I was very glad I never accepted any money from Rode. Lee Bell was in one of those discussions just before I went to work as a consultant for GDC. I learned how Rode is planning on using his purchase of a Croatian geophysical company to develop software at a large discount over what it would cost to develop in the states. His goal is to become an oil company, and I realized how he sees the same opportunity I saw at Dynamic Resources. Wonder if he will be able to do better than I did. I told Rode about the discussions Mike Dunn and I have been having with Velocity Databank. He was surprised to hear this.

Later in the afternoon, Lee Bell came in to get a download on my conversation with Rode. He did not know about the Velocity Databank discussions because he had not attended the meeting. I thought I'd copied him on the follow-up e-mails, but evidently not. We went through several things like this. It was really my first discussion with my boss Lee Bell. In the middle of the discussion Colby called to tell me `Thanks for the balloons.' Andrea had sent Halloween decorations to each of the grand kids, and Colby had just got his. We didn't talk, and when I called back Colby was having a nap. Oh well! It was during this talk that I learned what Lee Bell's view of Business Development is. It is a fancy title for a salesman. I do not consider myself a very good salesman, and it was more than a little disconcerting learning what my boss considers my job to be, and contrasting it with what I thought I was hired to do. Oh well!

Friday evening we were late to last away Taylor football game Andrea and I will probably go to. It was at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory High School, who are the Crusader's. I doubt if there are any Arabs in that school. We were late because Andrea was judging a debate tournament at Taylor High School. The score was 0 to 0 when we arrived just before the 4th quarter started. Taylor got a field goal, they got a field goal, and we got another field goal for a final score of 3 to 6, with Taylor winning. I thought I heard they announced that Cinco Ranch beat Katy by a big score for their Homecoming game. However, it was another team that Cinco Ranch beat.

Saturday morning Andrea and I went to a Genealogy Workshop at the Stake Center. I wrote a possible stanza for Prime Words:

`A life that is not Documented is a life That will largely be lost Within a generation or two' (a) Stake President Mike Pickerd quoting Church President Gordon B. Hinkley at the Katy Stake Family History Symposium


On Sunday, in sacrament meeting, Marion Pickerd talked and I extracted two possible stanzas for Prime Words from her talk:

`Why are you ashamed To take upon you the name of Christ (a) What you do thunders so loudly In my ears I can't hear what you teach (b)' (a) quoting Mormon 8:38 (b) quoting Ralph Waldo Emmerson `Pride affects all our relationships Pride is the basis of selfishness Pride is living beyond our means Pride keeps us from following the Lord'


Sunday evening when I was calling you kids, Melanie told me a a conversation between Jared and Colby worth repeating:

Jared: `Colby, Colby what do you see.' Colby: `I see a cow looking at me.' Jared: `That's inconceivable!' Colby: `No, it's true!'


Sort of reminded me of my understanding of my job responsibilities, am I salesman or am I responsible for Interpretation Business Development."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2004 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.