Leadership Questions

Amanda Taylor, Unit Superintendent PAO/1-Hex

2026-05-28

Another individual who’s been highly regarded for experience and forthrightness was Amanda. She’s the unit superintendent at PAO/1-Hex, having recently stepped up into the role back in October. I’m both extremely curious how she goes about the new(ish) role and also how she’s grown from a new hire into one of the risers in the company.

Amanda,

I'm trying to sit down with leaders and learn about how they think about the role/their careers. Terri and Leandra recommended I reach out to you.

Here’s some example questions I’ve been thinking about, but it can be a more free-flowing conversation.

What's been your career path? what's been the role you felt you grew in the most?
What’s something you wish you knew early in your career?
Was there a time you messed up and felt like you’d failed? How did you bounce back?
What makes a “good leader”? who are some of the people you look at as great leaders and what do they do so well?
Which leadership skills were the most difficult to develop?
How do you interview people/identify talent?
How do you approach collecting feedback from your team when some individuals are more vocal than others?
What’s one change you’d like to make here that you haven’t been able to?

If this time doesn’t work, please let me know and I’ll reschedule.

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We started with going over her career thus far. Starting as a process engineer at Sweeny, transitioned into a production engineer at Unit 22. She got to roll off into the NGL unit production engineer and really develop as an owner of the unit. She then spent some time at 33, both in Operations and also as the process team lead but was then offered the Logistics superintendent role (she delayed that until the 33 turnaround was complete). After that role, she put in for her current role as a unit superintendent at Cedar Bayou.

What was super interesting from the rundown of roles, she highlighted how none of her moves were “looking for the next job”. She likes to stay in roles 3+ years; one to learn, one to grow, and one to execute bigger plans. She also highlighted how Jim Fiedler was the first boss who really sat down with her and discussed “what’s your future plans?” and began to help develop her. It was also great to have a boss who was safe to go to whenever you had issues. Being about to say “I messed up, this is what happened and what we’re doing to fix it” and your boss having your back. Don’t blindside your boss and they’ll be way more supportive of you.

##I did love her awareness when I asked about this, she noted “so you used the word burnout, I’ve never felt burnt out from a role yet.” Not only was she trying to give me good direct answers, but she was being perceptive to my thinking and questions.

The biggest transition came jumping from her last role to this one; new technology, new site (policy/procedures), new roles/responsibilities.

She also gave the insight that when you put in for a role to give the hiring manager a call beforehand. You wanna know what they’re looking for because it can give you a little boost in how to approach the interview.

##I did like how she highlighted her skillset was not the ‘hard technical’ but in bringing the site/people together. She’s not there to troubleshoot, she’s there to help them run their unit. She always talks about how it’s “their unit” referring to her OEs.

Getting into the FLL to MLL transition, I asked how that changed her approach. She talked about its managing people, not “equipment”. As an FLL she was a working lead, she knew a lot more about every project her team was working and the status. Now as a superintendent, it’s way more ensuring the people have the tools to address problems.

##She talked about asking questions and I wanted to know if that was directing them to the answer or just wanting to know for yourself. She split it into three categories. You are trying to learn the process (a genuine question for the answer), you are trying to lead them to an answer (soft coaching), or you are trying to learn the person (how they think, how they operate, more about themselves). I was being pretty closed minded and just thinking about “leading a team”, it never really crossed my mind to potentially use the space to dig into them. I tend to do that in 1on1s or side conversations, but asking in a meeting or about something semi-work related is such a good window into the person.

For establishing the trust/openness between the team and herself she mentioned a couple things. One was being forthright with acknowledging her own mistakes. She’s sleep on it and if someone didn’t go right, she’d admit up to it. Oftentimes the other person didn’t realize or already got over it but it still creates the relationship of trust. She also mentioned in 1on1s asking “what’s going wrong, what am I missing?” Another great opportunity to have the dialogue with your team but in a safe environment. Lastly, she brought up how at the beginning of her role as superintendent she established “I have an open-door policy” and then building it over time. Choosing some moments to be vulnerable or honest with the team.

##We also discussed how to apologize properly. She recommended saying “I understand where you’re coming from.” It’s helps communicated that you hear them and understand them, even if you don’t agree.

I definitely wanted to ask her about the Logistics Superintendent role, it’s unique to Sweeny and the role is interfacing with groups/orgs outside of CPC. Really how she did the job well while getting alignment with different teams. It starts with the relationships. Creating those make it easier so when you meet in person or call, they know you. It’s also a ton of helping each other. Lastly, explaining the why. It makes a huge difference. And if it’s a huge pain, you gotta explain explain explain.

##She’s been the only person in all my interviews who’s actually flipped the question back on me and asked, “before I answer, how would you go about it?”

I wanted to ask about early failures or imposter syndrome since managers and higher can feel alien to new grads. One of her big learning opportunities early in her career was assisting the site’s internal PSM OE audit. It completely opened her eyes to what “good” really looks like and how all her MOCs before that were not close to it. It’s changed how she still holds people to a standard when submitting them for approval. Amanda also mentioned how Leandra had been part of a panel one time in the past and talked about her own imposter syndrome. It really helped ease the fear that you’re in it alone.

For a skill she’s developing there’s two. One is public speaking in a group, even if she knows the individuals she’s presenting to. It was not something she’s worked on probably because she didn’t like doing it. Giving state of the unit every week to the Operations group is one of the ways she’s trying to get better. The other is making her calendar match her priorities. Your time should reflect what you care about and what you’re working on. It’s a constant battle but she’s slowly getting better at it.

We also talked about having people to bounce ideas off of. She started around the same time as Jason the other unit superintendent so having someone you can ask questions and get alignment is not just helpful, it’s critical.

end of convo————