In 2019, I made the hardest decision in my career. I’d been with SLB for my entire professional life; it was home. But after 19 years with the company, my gut was telling me to try something outside of oil and gas.

It wasn’t that anything was wrong—my career trajectory was good, my compensation was competitive, and my senior management position was deeply engaging. But I needed to step outside of my comfort zone, and so, left to create my very own startup.

A few years later, I returned to SLB with a greater sense of purpose, urgency, and an entrepreneurial mindset that can only be honed by working for yourself.

Truth be told, I missed it. I missed the wealth of talented, brilliant people who also call this place home. I knew that coming back meant I could leverage what I’d learned while working independently to benefit the company, my own career, and most importantly, the careers of others around me.

You see, many of my most important lessons learned came from the mentors and leaders who helped me in my early SLB days. The depth and care they showed their people was genuine, and they were never afraid to let others shine. My operations manager, Vinod Nasta, was unselfishly generous with his guidance, and one of his statements has always stuck with me:

“A true leader brings their team to the point where everything still works when the leader isn’t there.”

I’ve learned plenty more lessons as a leader myself. In my role as Continuous Process Improvement Manager, I learned about the importance of communication and empathy. We constantly go through changes at work, at home, in our professional and personal lives. Realizing that everyone deals with change differently—and is ultimately wondering, “What’s the best thing for me?”—has been pivotal in how I manage and lead.

Most importantly, I’m proud to be part of an organization that provides a vital necessity to the world without having to blow our own trumpet. What we do here really matters. Just the knowledge of that is sufficient reward in itself.

When my kids ask me, “Dad, what’s your job?” and I answer with, “I’m a superhero,” they may roll their eyes. But when I explain what I mean by that, you can hear a pin drop. And as a dad, I’m proud of that.

SLB has always pushed me to look beyond the horizon of what seems possible. To constantly reach further and challenge the status quo. It has helped our organization achieve incredible things in its first century. And it will help us lead the way in the next one.