The Energy King
Legendary billionaire T. Boone Pickens talks about staying healthy and becoming wealthy.
By Conner Sheley for LIVING WELL Magazine (Texas editions)
T. Boone Pickens is a man who has never been afraid to take calculated risks. Pickens is the first to admit that you often have to take risks to get rewards. In his own words, “If you want to really get rich, you got to stick your neck out.” However, Pickens has always hedged his bets in one area – his health.
From a young age, Pickens was taught the ideals of health and fitness. As a child, he ate healthy – even during the Depression. His grandmother had a garden, from which he and his family ate many meals. “My grandmother told me I could do anything in moderation – except smoke. She said that if I didn’t drink coffee or smoke cigars, I would be 6 feet tall.” At twenty, Pickens complained, “Grandmother, I followed your advice and I’m only 5 feet 10 inches.” Pickens laughs as he recalls her reply, “Sonny, if you hadn’t listened to me, you may not have even been 5 feet tall.” This early advice became a lifelong habit for Pickens which he continues to this day. “I’ve never smoked, and I’ve still never tasted coffee.”
BASKETBALL SERVED HIM WELL IN LATER YEARS
Pickens played basketball for three years in high school and was even offered a basketball scholarship at Texas A&M University. When the university didn’t renew the scholarship after his freshman year, Pickens transferred to Oklahoma State University and earned his degree in geology. Although he did not play college basketball for long, he gained an appreciation for a fit and well-run team that stuck with him for life. He later merged his passion for physical fitness into every step of his professional life, setting standards for health and exercise in the workplace long before such ideas were accepted on a national level.
OIL INDUSTRY CAREER AFTER COLLEGE
Pickens got his start in oil immediately after college at Philips Petroleum. However, Pickens quit his job only a few years later to start working on his own as a wildcatter – drilling exploration wells on wildly optimistic speculation and taking big risks in the hope of striking oil. As a wildcatter, Pickens showed some unique characteristics that became trademarks of his success. He was willing to take big risks when others were not, he was a compelling leader, and he had a knack for predictions on oil. Pickens formed two companies during his wildcatter years: Petroleum Exploration Inc. and Altair Oil & Gas Co. In 1956, he founded the predecessor companies to what would become Mesa Petroleum which ultimately grew to one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the United States.Through this period of heavy investment in his career, Pickens found time to stay fit and active. “I was still always doing something,” he recalls. Pickens’ activities ranged from simple gym workouts to church basketball leagues, but wherever he was, Pickens found a way to stay in the game.
Most business leaders today will tell you the health and well-being of their employees is an important part of running a business. Always a man ahead of his time, Pickens was one of the first to promote the idea that physical fitness led to more productive workers. In 1979 Pickens built a multi-million dollar fitness center for Mesa Petroleum and instituted one of the first corporate wellness programs for all employees. Through the 1980s, Mesa Petroleum went through a period of huge growth as a business, and Pickens attributes much of this success to his focus on corporate health and wellness. His dedication to both his personal fitness and the physical fitness of his whole company led to Mesa Petroleum being declared the “Most Physically Fit Company in America” in 1985.
This commitment to physical fitness also began to show its financial value. Mesa was showing health care savings of nearly $1.6 million a year. Mesa’s health care cost per employee dropped far below the national average and even further below the energy sector average. Participants in the program were more energetic and more productive than non-participants. Pickens proudly states, “We had the best coverage at the lowest cost. We had the fewest sick days of anybody. You could see our results right there.” Pickens proved that a healthy, fit workforce was a more productive and efficient one. He cared so much about the health of his community that he implemented cash incentives for employees whose families participated in the program. Pickens believes one of the keys to the success of his program was the fact that he made company executives participate in the program and used them as role models for other employees. The program bonded Mesa employees together and created a deep sense of camaraderie. Pickens demonstrated that no matter where you are in the corporate world, taking care of your body and keeping yourself in shape is always important. Pickens’ efforts to improve company performance through healthier workers began a trend of corporate wellness programs that continues in many businesses to this day.
“EXERCISE HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN MY BLOOD”
Pickens himself was one of the most avid participants in the fitness program. According to Pickens, “Exercise has always been in my blood, so if I drop out and don’t do something for a little while, I feel guilty.” Pickens was introduced to racquetball in his forties and became a regular player at his local YMCA. As he played, Pickens noticed his concentration improve, in addition to becoming more energetic. After building the fitness center at Mesa Petroleum, he practically became a fixture at the gym, regularly displaying his prowess on the racquetball court. Pickens recalls, “I was often racquetball champion for months at a time.” Describing the friendly games he would play at Mesa with his co-workers, “As the champion I could never dodge a challenge.” Although he finally quit playing racquetball at 65, he still exercises every day and has used the same personal trainer for more than twenty years.
When asked why he made his own health such a priority, Pickens replied, “I don’t want to get old and feel bad; it’s that simple. I’ve seen too many people do it to themselves; smoke, drink, obesity, one thing or the other. They’re not going to say I did it to myself.”
In 2008, Pickens shifted from focusing on individual health to the health of the environment with the Pickens Plan – an $85 million campaign aimed at supporting a clean, alternative-energy policy for America. The enormous campaign spanned television and print ads, stories, talk shows, town hall meetings across the country and even appearances before the United States Congress. Pickens says, “I think they’re finally catching on to clean energy.” Pickens has been a major force in the movement for the U.S. to switch to alternative energy. He became one of the early promoters of wind energy in America by sponsoring many large wind farms. Pickens’ environmental solution also involves using natural gas as vehicle fuel, which burns much cleaner than gasoline. Environmental concerns aren’t the only motivation for the Pickens Plan. Pickens is also very concerned with the issue of America’s dependence on foreign oil sources. America currently has large domestic reserves of natural gas which could allow the U.S. to become largely energy independent.
A GENEROUS PHILANTHROPIST
One can also see Pickens’ commitment to health in his generous charitable donations. A noted philanthropist, Pickens is among the billionaires who have taken the Giving Pledge, a challenge issued by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates asking participants to give away at least half of their wealth to worthy causes. In 2007, Pickens donated $50 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center and another $50 million to The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to help the doctors and medical researchers at these renowned health care institutions improve the lives and health of many others. Pickens has also donated $11 million to the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health and $6 Million to the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. These contributions have helped create world-class facilities to support the fight against disease and illness, benefitting millions of people.
His giving has also focused on promoting physical fitness and education. Pickens donated $5 million to the Dallas YMCA Strong Kids Capital Campaign, the largest gift ever received by the Dallas YMCA. Pickens has always admired the goals of the YMCA to support and empower people and communities through a focus on healthy living and social responsibility. To honor this exceptional contribution, the Downtown Dallas YMCA building was renamed the T. Boone Pickens YMCA in 2009.
To date Pickens has donated almost half a billion dollars to Oklahoma State University, split fairly evenly between athletics and academics. With that staggering level of generosity, it is no surprise that Texas A&M declared revoking Pickens’ basketball scholarship as the third worst mistake the university has ever made. The $25 a month scholarship that would have kept Pickens at A&M through graduation can only be viewed as a tremendous missed opportunity in light of his rich giving to OSU!
At age 85 today, Pickens still maintains his high level of physical fitness. He proudly displays the results of his daily workout routine by pulling up his pants leg to show us, “My calves have been the same size for the last 20 years! That doesn’t look like the calf on an 85 year old man!” You would be hard pressed to guess Pickens’ actual age just by looking at him – he looks and moves like a much younger man. Not only that, but Pickens is just as quick-witted now as he was sixty years ago. When asked how he maintains his mental acuity, Pickens says that the simplest thing he has done is to “just stay occupied.” He is constantly challenging his mind by putting himself out of his comfort zone and trying new things. He has joined the ranks of millions of young people using social media, which many people half his age still resist. Pickens has become well known for his exploits on Twitter. Recently, super-model Heide Lindgren tweeted to him that she is a big fan, to which Pickens tweeted back, “Hey I’m 85. You’re welcome to be my granddaughter any time.” When rap music mega-star Drake tweeted, “The first million is the hardest,” Pickens countered back with, “The first billion is a helluva lot harder,” a reference to his best-selling book, The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future. This short exchange between Pickens and Drake created a storm of retweets and online buzz, earning Pickens the title of ‘coolest billionaire on Twitter.’
His advice to people looking to stay sharp as long as he has? “Don’t retire is one thing,” says Pickens. He recalls, “When I worked for Philips Petroleum, I read the company newsletter every week. On the back of it they had the list of retirees and the notices of employees and former employees who had died. Eventually I noticed people were dying soon after they retired!” Pickens still goes to work every day just like he has for decades.
As for any possibility of retirement, Pickens has said firmly, “I’m not going to be part of that.” He has led an active and healthy lifestyle, and it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down anytime soon. He continues to manage his hedge fund, BP Capital Management, with nearly constant attention to movement in the energy markets. Pickens also stays busy with conservation work on his 68,000 acre ranch, Mesa Vista, where he still indulges his passion for quail hunting.
T. Boone Pickens built an energy empire by embracing the risks of high-stakes business and now he’s enjoying the rewards of his life-long investment in health and wellness.
