The Larkin file

Education: MBA, Yale University, concentration in marketing and strategic planning

Who is the person you admire the most in business?

Longtime Houston businessman Corby Robertson Jr. He was an All-American football player
at the University of Texas, and he built one of the largest coal companies in the world [GP
Natural Resource Partners].

What is the best business lesson you’ve learned?

If you don’t get the right people in the right position, you won’t win. Since I’ve been here, the
first thing I did was look at my reports and the management team and make sure they’re in the
right slots. Then, you have to delegate and trust them that they are going to do it.

What do you most enjoy about being a leader?

Creating systems, seeing what the issues are and creating an atmosphere of positive change

What do you least enjoy?

Firing people, reductions in force. I learned early on that it’s not just a business decision.
You’re affecting people’s lives. People go home and have to tell their families they don’t have
a job anymore.