Leadership Questions
Carrie Phillips, Plant Manager Southeast Texas Chemical Complex
2026-06-30
I got to work under Carrie when she was the plant manager at Orange and see her leadership skills in action. She’s very personable and an extremely hard worker. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick her brain about leading, especially because her background (environmental engineering) is so different from most everyone I have worked under.
Good morning Carrie,
This summer, I’m trying to interview different leaders about how they think about/show leadership and what lessons I can gleam.
I’d love to set up a call with you and discuss your career/what you’ve learned.
Here’s a list of some questions I’ve thought about but we can go wherever you want
What’s something you wish you knew early in your career?
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Is there a favorite failure you’re willing to share?
What’s something that’s underestimated by others that you think is important?
How do you approach and handle difficult conversations with a team member?
Who do you look to as a great leader (inside or outside of the company)? What about them do you admire/want to imitate? Is there a mentor you really grew under?
How do you create the environment that people in the room have the courage to speak “truth to power”?
Also, how do you approach collecting and interpreting team feedback when some individuals are more vocal than others?
If this time doesn’t work for you, please let me know and I’ll reschedule.
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!!What’s something you wish you knew early in your career?
Carrie talked about her early career before CPChem and a boss she worked around at the BP Texas City refinery. He really showed her “how not to be a leader”. He would talk over or berate employees and was very much that “old school” approach to leading. He always wanted to be the smartest in the room or have all the answers, aka a Diminisher. One story Carrie shared was she was handling permitting for some project and he claimed he read the entire environmental permitting standard (1000s of pages) and she was going about it completely wrong. One of the reasons people often leave a company is because of a leader/bad management.
##You can never get folks to change starting from a diminishing position of “YOU’RE WRONG”.
When she was Environmental Superintendent at Sweeny, Wayne McDowell the plant manager asked, "what's do you want to do next?" It was the first time someone sat down with her and discussed career path/how to get you there. Instead of just sticking to environmental, she moved into Operations via the Logistics Superintendent role at Sweeny.
##I didn’t realize she was logistics superintendent at Sweeny. Her and Amanda Taylor both spoke extremely highly of that position. Another future interview individual, Ben Cuadra, has been Logistics Superintendent too!
In that role she learned how you can be a good leader without technical expertise. It’s about asking good questions, relying on your team and ensuring we are going the right direction. The role was all about planning, and Carrie loves to plan. Plus, it’s a ton of communication and keeping everyone in the loop and playing the same game. For example, if we shut down equipment at P66 at x time, how’s that going to impact us. If it gets delayed, what do we need to do.
!!How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Is there a favorite failure you’re willing to share?
Carrie is always thinking "what could I have done better in that situation" and trying to learn from it. She talked about a time when she tried to help someone who was interviewing for a new leadership role. She tried to communicate what the interview panel was looking for since she hear they "didn't interview well" per the panel. Even though she tried to come with empathy, it caused a lot of distress in the individual and they still have a colder relationship years later. The information may have been useful but when and how you deliver it can impact how it’s interpreted.
##higher positions you need to know how to interview for the role you want. And it’s not about what you can contribute (as an individual) but what you can pull out of other people, the team mentality
Another was early as superintendent; she gave too many chances to an employee. Her thinking was “if I give them another chance, they'll turn it around" but it never really happened. She learned that you need to set expectations, hold them accountable. If they aren’t meeting, you need to talk about what is missing and be clear about what changes are needed. If they don’t change, you need to recognize to move forward.
!!What’s something that’s underestimated by others that you think is important?
For something underestimated, Carrie mentioned three things. The first was having balance around communication. You can’t share everything, especially as you get higher but it’s important to make sure the team understands that we’re all rowing in the same direction. Getting the “why” of what you’re doing and what we’re going towards spread to all folks. She talked about the electricians have PBD ideas (that message is getting through) but engineers are poo-pooing. They were told "we're 'just' electricians". So even when she’s trying to make these larger site changes, communication across the levels and individuals are different.
##You have to understand how it’s going to be received/felt. What's the right level of communicating when it's something serious/corporate because you want to keep people in the loop without causing chaos or confusion. Think hard about “what's the message, how's that getting interpreted.” Another point is people have different communication styles, but you gotta ensure all levels are giving the same message/direction. Some might just provide that communication differently.
Another underappreciated aspect is truly owning your job/projects (think Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink). Carrie highlighted people staying on top of something until it's complete, driving it all the way through the finish line. Staying engaged and following whats occurring to make sure it gets closed out.
Lastly speaking up, especially if you are unsure or have a question. Someone likely has the same question and is too nervous to ask it. Make sure you’re not asking questions if you have a question,
##One thing Carrie did highlight about asking questions as a leader is not to ask questions in a way that you expect them to have an answer. That can cause them to feel belittled and skirt instead of saying “I don’t know but I’ll find out”.
!!Who do you look to as a great leader (inside or outside of the company)? What about them do you admire/want to imitate? Is there a mentor you really grew under?
Carrie is always watching people and noticing how they move. She highlighted Elliott Johnson, how he has the people side of leadership down and she’s learned a lot from him. One of his “moves” is anytime he’s entering a meeting room, he’ll go around and shake everyone’s hand. It’s his way of showing respect and saying good morning. But it also is an excellent way of checking in with everyone and seeing if they’re doing ok. Elliott is also really good about setting big lofty goals then empowering the team to solve them. Another person she mentioned was Jacob McAlistar. He has the knack for asking the right questions and not getting stuck on “the silly stuff”. Both of these folks do a good job of holding their team accountable and setting the right expectations.
!!How do you create the environment that people in the room have the courage to speak “truth to power”? Also, how do you approach collecting and interpreting team feedback when some individuals are more vocal than others?
One of the first things Carrie talked about to get people to speak up is not being the first one to speak. Oftentimes people will fall into line if you go before them. If you jump in early, it stifles any constructive conflict, and you don’t get honest feedback. This is a trap Carrie (as a person who wants to be involved and help) tends to fall into so she’s ensures someone is there to “kick me under the table” if she starts to overstep. If someone is not speaking up, it's could be cause they have a different opinion. Though some people have to marinate on it. For larger decisions (culture or orgs), let the table think on it and circle back the next week. Another things Carrie talked about is assigning someone "the devil's advocate" role. They help the team really think through all impacts. Lastly, was find stakeholders who would be impacted and gauge how they are feeling.
##we had a brief aside about giving individual feedback and how "just keep doing what you're doing" is not that useful. Instead, you should be looking for strong example-based feedback to help them understand what they can do better - “in this situation you did X” etc.
!!What’s one change you’d like to make here that you haven’t been able to?
When I asked about a change she’d like to make Carrie did mention that in her current position, she gets to have the ear of people with decision power. One thing she’s working on is improving our business decisions, or our “smart risk”. It’s ensuring we understand the true impact; what’s the business diver for this, what’s the return on investment. We aren’t just going to do it because someone wants it.
!!Who do you go to when you’re needing direction/advice?
Carrie is a person who collect people. Oftentimes she just assigns people as her mentor or pick people to be her “buddy”. She’s really good about not only bouncing ideas off of peers but also going to her reports and asking them “help explain this to me” or “how do you think this would impact your group”.
!!How do you maintain strong relationships with folks over the long term (through career changes/moves)?
This is one that Carrie is still working on! She tries to look for a quiet time on the calendar and go “who haven’t I talked to in awhile”. An excellent point she made was don’t always call because you need something from them! This is a relationship not a helpline.
##build relationships with folks (before you gotta ask someone to do something hard). Just call and ask "how are you, how's X going?"
We dove into her calendar and how she colors events based on the type of event it is. This lets you take a quick glance at your week and see where you’ve been spending your energy. If you are missing a color, you know for the next week to block time for it.
Calendar Coloring
Field Time - Orange
Quality Time – Maroon (Cause A&M)
Leadership/Connection - Purple
Follow-up - Green
Commuting - Pink
Community Stuff - Yellow
##I love this! It’s so helpful to both talk about how she thinks about blocking her times and how she does reviews about what to alter for the next week.
!!Book or Podcast Recs
Carrie is an avid reader/listener of leadership materials, so I was curious what she’d recommend. She mentioned a couple: Simon Sinek who wrote Start with Why, Jocko Willink who wrote Extreme Ownership, and John Maxwell who wrote Good Leaders Ask Great Questions. Carrie did say how after awhile you start to see similarities between all different resources. You pick 1-2 things and find out “does this work for me?”.
end of convo————