Who killed Encana?

In our last issue, Tim Kiladze and Jeffrey Jones investigated how Canada’s top oil and gas company lost its way and its name, and ended up moving its head office to Denver. We heard from a number of former employees with their own thoughts on the company’s fall.

I was an employee at Encana and one of its predecessors from 1997 to 2004. You guys nailed the story. You didn’t miss anything—on the business or its personalities.

I think the largest business-class lesson is the true value of leadership. Murray Edwards is still a driving force at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and was from the beginning. It’s surviving and thriving, all these years later. At Encana, leadership changes led to vast changes in focus and strategy, and gradual unravelling. I think you captured that overarching lesson. I have to say it was a wistful read for me, though—it was a great place to work and learn one’s trade. —Dan Polley

I found the [online] reader comments about the piece particularly interesting. Many were hopelessly naive or illinformed, placing the blame on the policies of the Harper or Trudeau governments. But a significant number appeared to be written by people who either worked there or did business with it in some capacity. The common themes in these comments were the company was brought down by greed, incompetent leadership and the fateful decision to “drink the Kool-Aid” proffered by the investment bankers to spin off Cenovus and become a pure-play natural gas producer. From my perch in the company, I tend to agree—the downfall of Encana was entirely attributable to self-inflicted wounds. —A former employee