Are You a Hub Leader or an Origin & Destination Leader?
Do people view interactions with you as a disruptive layover OR do they actually want to start and/or end a journey with you?
Are you over-reliant on outside resources to fuel your leadership actions OR do you lead like a self-sufficient, reliable, energy independent microgrid that is always ready to deliver?
To help answer these questions, check out Episode 115 of The Energy Detox, which is inspired by Pittsburgh International Airport's transformation from hub to origin & destination (O&D), its soon-to-arrive new terminal, the development of the Marcellus natural gas resources under PIT by CNX, the differentiated leadership of Christina Cassotis, and the microgrid operated by Liberty Power Innovations.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
The Grid May Fail, Airports Shouldn’t: Why we need new ways to keep power consistent at airports (Blue Sky News)
PIT’s New Airport to Address the Changing Needs of Pittsburghers: Terminal was designed with origin-and-destination travelers in mind (Blue Sky News)
2024 Pittsburgher of the Year: Christina Cassotis (Pittsburgh Magazine)
‘Preventable’ National Grid Failures Led to Heathrow Fire: Report (Insurance Journal)
RELATED EPISODES
Are You Following a Leadership TIL Procedure? (Episode 75)
The success story surrounding the development of natural gas from under Pittsburgh International Airport is a perfect example of the “Tangible, Impactful, Local” mantra of CNX Resources, the company responsible for drilling, completing, and producing those PIT Marcellus wells.
“Tangible, Impactful, Local” also happens to be a handy leadership mnemonic you can use to determine whether you're...
1) consciously maximizing the potential of EXISTING resources; or
2) unwittingly abandoning the investments of time, money, and energy you've already made and, in turn, falling victim to some shiny new "leadership" initiative that's actually just a bunch of abstract, irrelevant, generic ideas likely to produce uninspiring and unsustainable results.
Learn more in Episode 75 of The Energy Detox.
What do Maple Syrup, Natural Gas, and Energy Leadership Have in Common? (Episode 93)
Natural gas isn’t a “bridge fuel” serving as a layover or connection; instead, natural gas is the origin & destination—or catalyst—of countless innovations connected with Western Pennsylvania, as explained in Episode 93 of The Energy Detox.
Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Hello and welcome to The Energy Detox coming to you today from Pittsburgh International Airport, which has been connected to two major transformations in the last two decades. One of those transformations has to do with energy, that being the transition, the transformation from the airport being reliant on the grid to the energy independence, if you will, that the airport now has, thanks to a microgrid fueled by natural gas and solar energy that is allowing the airport to be off grid, to supply all of its own electricity needs and then some, in fact, sending electricity away from the airport to the main grid. The second main transformation that is still underway and will be culminating at the end of this year in the form of a new terminal, is the transformation of the airport from a hub airport in the early 90s into the early 2000s to what is now an origin and destination airport, O and D. And that transformation we'll talk about here in a couple minutes stems from what used to be a US Airways hub to what is now again an airport that serves the people of Pittsburgh who are leaving Pittsburgh and serves people coming to Pittsburgh.
01:12
And both of those transformations have a lot of parallels to what I see as an executive coach in the energy industry, from leaders who you can argue, identify as either grid reliant leaders or almost micro grid energy independent leaders, off grid leaders and similarly, leaders who are either a hub like leader, serving as a layover, if you will, and connecting people and being a pass through, versus leaders who are, what You might argue, an O and D leader, an origin and destination leader, leaders who people want to go to, or leaders who they want to start with to inspire them to move forward.
01:52
And so with those two airport related parallels in mind, over the next couple of minutes, we'll step through a series of questions and observations that I get to make as an executive coach to help you determine whether you are a hub like leader or an O and D, an origin and destination leader, or, again, whether you are more of a microgrid energy independent leader, or someone who's reliant on the grid, reliant on a larger network. So that being said, we're going to start with the energy focused transformation, with this being the energy detox, of course, in part because just a couple days ago in the news, there was a follow up report from a fire near Heathrow Airport a couple months ago that led to worldwide disruption in air travel.
02:35
So Heathrow Airport power was disrupted, and at that time, as that was going on, people immediately said, hey, well, that's not the type of thing that's going to happen in Pittsburgh, because, well, Pittsburgh has this microgrid. And what is the microgrid? Well, basically it is the airport using natural gas from underneath the airport, natural gas that is drilled and produced by CNX resources, and it uses that natural gas to generate electricity on site. In addition to that, it uses solar energy, and all of that is managed currently by Liberty power innovations, a subset of liberty energy.
03:11
And again, what that allows the airport to be is not just energy independent, but also, again, have a source of revenue be able to send electricity off the grid, and most significantly, have that reliability that airports like Heathrow do not have. And there's all kinds of other benefits that we can talk about. But the important thing here today is to ask yourself, all right, well, let's, let's look at that from a leadership standpoint. Do you represent somebody that is reliant on this larger network, on a grid to make decisions, to ingest information, to come up with new ideas, or are you self dependent? Are you self reliant?
03:49
And don't get me wrong, obviously, from leadership standpoint, from a human standpoint, our connections are key, right? We are all part of a grid in some way, shape or form. But when it comes to executive presence, when it comes to being able to actually demonstrate your leadership acumen, if you will. The key is, can you do it in the moment? Can you do it when it's needed? And that's one lesson that I learned years ago from an executive coach that I had, David Goldman, and he said one of the definitions of executive presence is the ability to deploy these leadership tools, these leadership tactics, these leadership approaches in the moment when you're sitting in a board meeting, when you're sitting across from somebody else, when you don't have to fumble in your own brain, or, gosh, God forbid, fumble through AI to come up with an answer in the moment. Can you answer that question? Can you show confidence? Can you show awareness to deliver what people need, because that's a micro grid, right? It's here when you need it. It's here.
04:46
Now the airport doesn't have to depend on the wider grid, but the wider grid is there if necessary. So too with leadership, you have connections, you have resources. But the question for you is, from a leadership standpoint, I. You know, are you over reliant on leadership books or courses or speeches and workshops and whatever else? And I say that as somebody who delivers keynotes and workshops and content like this, but the core of what I do helps leaders act like leaders in the moment. The coaching that I do, that I enjoy, that I spend most of my time on, is helping people build up those muscles so that they become like that micro grid. It's there. It's reliable. It's present at all times. In other words, you know, it's not subject to the type of, you know, leadership blackouts, if you will, that Heathrow Airport suffered, that had all kinds of wide ranging consequences, again a couple months ago, because of that fire nearby, and again, as the report showed last week, some issues, if you will, some underlying issues with the grid there. So that being said, ask yourself, are you a micro grid leader, or are you grid dependent? Are you dependent on validation and information from others, or, when necessary, can you act with confidence in a timely manner?
06:09
That being said, let's shift gears to that second transformation that we talked about at the beginning, that being the transformation from Pittsburgh International Airport, from a US Airways hub to what is now an O and D airport, origination and destination, because back in the early 90s, this airport was designed to meet the needs of US Airways and something like 80% of travelers who stepped foot here in Pittsburgh International Airport were simply Traveling through. They were making a connection, a layover, whereas now you fast forward to 2025, and it's something like 98% of travelers are either leaving Pittsburgh with this being their origin, or they're coming to Pittsburgh and certainly the airport that was designed decades ago, it's not meant to serve that O and D purpose. It's not meant to serve, in many ways, the people of Pittsburgh. In fact, Christina Cassotis, a couple months ago, at a talk she gave that I happened to be at, she talked about many of the ways that this hub like airport was, is not serving the population of Pittsburgh. And one of the ones that stuck out to me was parking, the fact that this airport, again, US Airways, didn't design this with Pittsburghers in mind. So there's only a handful of covered parking spaces here in Pittsburgh where, you know, we do still have a winter. Obviously, that's one of the many things that they'll be addressing here as they roll out this new, modern terminal that, again, recognizes the purpose of this airport now, which is origin and destination.
07:42
So what does that have to do with you? Well, from a leadership standpoint, ask yourself, are you a hub like leader? Are you simply passing through information? Are you there, as a some cases, unnecessary layover for people to get information, to get a decision on something? Are you in essence, the stereotypical middle manager who, you know, maybe doesn't add all that much value when people pass through you and again, don't get me wrong, being a hub has positives. Being a hub being a connector, if you will, just like we talked about with the last transformation, you know, being on the grid and recognizing that you are connected and you have resources that you can pull in so that it's not just you having to make a decision. That's not a bad thing, but it is bad, or at least ineffective, when all you are as a leader is again, a layover. And that's one of the things I hear quite often from frustrated people, both you know, the people higher up and people that are you know, maybe at the front lines, who feel like there's managers in place who are just that. They're a hub, they're a pass through.
08:45
So why not ask yourself today, inspired by Pittsburgh International's transformation, are you a hub like leader, or are you an O and D like leader? Are you actually contributing and adding value when people come to you, or are they just kind of walking through, and, you know, you just happen to be, you know, a necessary evil, if you will, for them to go through. And, you know, one of the things I do want to point out here is, you know, when I have this type of conversation with people and share some of these recognitions, especially for those people who have been identified as hub like leaders, and who I might be working with and am sharing some of this feedback with to say, hey, look, you know, this is what people see you as, you know, one of the counters to that is, well, you know, we're in a flat organization. So that's really not, you know, not the case.
09:30
No, not all organizations are flat, of course, but many times they'll say, you know, what do you mean? I'm a pass through leader, right? What do you mean? I'm not adding value. You know, we don't have multiple layers of management. But in those situations, so often, what they don't realize is, yeah, you know what? People can go to you directly. They don't have to go through multiple layers. But when they do get to you, they're not offering anything different. In other words, they're not the type of person, or you're not the type of person that people want to start with. They don't necessarily want to go. Go to you, because they know when they do go to you, they're just getting something that is pulled off the shelf that you're regurgitating from somewhere else.
10:06
Again, whether it's a leadership podcast or book or some speaker or some course that you went to, or some book that you read, they're not getting anything fresh. They're not getting anything different. So why on earth would they want to start with you, even if they have, again, very easy access because of your so called flat organization. And on the flip side, do they really want to end with you? Do they want you to be the person to go forth and champion your idea again, even if it's a flat organization, at the end of the day, everybody ultimately reports to some sort of shareholder or stakeholder. Do they want to have you be that person, to be their champion? Well, that's the question for today.
10:46
Are you that origin and destination leader that people want to come to they're enthusiastic about coming to or landing at, if you will, or are you a hub like leader, where people see you as just again, another stop on their journey to something else. So with that, ask yourself today both this last question, are you a hub like leader or O and D leader? And as we asked before, are you reminiscent of a micro grid that is self reliant and able to respond when necessary, or are you solely reliant on a grid that can lead to leadership blackouts, if you will.
11:25
And so with that here, with maybe one or two minutes left, I'd be remiss not to revisit this microgrid and revisit this idea that you know, natural gas is not merely a bridge like fuel or a hub like fuel, getting people from point A to point B, but natural gas is what has fueled this second transformation of Pittsburgh to this O and D airport to this new terminal that's, you know, coming out here in a couple months, and natural gas because people had the foresight to take advantage of the resources that are under the airport's feet. Well, natural gas, again, is fueling something amazing. It's not just getting people from A to B, but it's fueling the next 40 years of this airport that's being constructed without taxpayer dollars, in part because of the wells that are drilled underneath the airport, the revenue from those wells, the electricity savings that the airport has, the revenue that can be generated from having excess electricity, all of that is powered by natural gas in conjunction with other resources that we have here, albeit maybe not in the same supply, that being, of course, sunshine and the solar energy that also makes up the microgrid.
12:31
But again, it's a great reminder of you that you don't want to just be a bridge leader. You don't want to be a layover leader. You want to be like natural gas. You want to be that catalyst. And that's the that's the question, or that's the, you know, final analogy for today.
12:46
So with that being said, and signing off here from Pittsburgh International Airport, before I board my plane here, I want to thank you, as always, for tuning in. I want to remind you to look for those resources, like natural gas, that are available to you, that are already underneath your feet, that you can leverage to be that confident leader with executive presence, who can make quick decisions, who can be deployable, who can be available, and who can be that O and D leader, that microgrid, leader that your stakeholders are looking for. So with that safe travels wherever you're headed today, and thanks, as always, for tuning in.