Rex Tillerson Discusses the Long Term Approach

Rex W. Tillerson Chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil Corporation had some things to say about energy politics and the business cycle.

"The energy industry is a long-term enterprise, and decisions made today can have consequences for years to come. While elected officials understandably tend to think in terms of two, four or six years, based on election cycles, energy companies must necessarily think in terms of two, four and six decades, consistent with the lifecycle of our resource-development projects.

Even in the midst of our current economic downturn, which includes a return to more historic levels of crude oil prices, my company remains committed to investing in projects and technologies to meet tomorrow’s needs. Our business model is based on rigorous and realistic long-term planning. We try to look through near-term events. As part of this planning, we work to recognize risk factors that we know about today and can manage with the acknowledgment that there will be unforeseen risk factors that we will also have to manage in the future.

Our approach enables us to manage the risks inherent in the energy business and in the broader business cycle. As a result, for more than 125 years we have helped fuel the American economy – during good times and during bad times."

(Link)

Does the reference to elected officials who think in two to four year time frames sound like anybody we know?