About the author: My name is Max and I’m currently attending the University of Tulsa majoring in Finance with a minor in Energy Management. This summer I’m interning in the East Gulf Commercial Development group in Houston, Texas. Last summer I interned in Gas Marketing in the Tulsa office, and continued part time through the fall and spring semesters. Outside of the office and classes, I play Lacrosse for TU, coach a middle school lacrosse team, and enjoy golf, despite being south of decent at it.
As I sat in the car fighting the notorious Houston traffic to the office for the first day of my new internship, I thought to myself how different this was from Tulsa. I wondered how different the office and the company culture was going to be now that I was 8 hours from the headquarters. Would it be so different I wouldn’t enjoy my experience the way I had in the past?
This first week in the Houston office has pleasantly quelled my concerns beyond my imagination. Though I’ve only been down here a short time it’s astounding to me how similar the atmosphere and company culture is to Tulsa. The open welcoming environment is just as present here in Houston as it was in Tulsa. Everyone is not only eager to kindly greet anyone new but will go out of their way to do it. It’s not just shaking hands either, fellow employees are actually interested in your development and are sincerely willing to help should you need it.
More than that it continues to astound me how the folks here, just like my experience in Tulsa, really do live the core values and beliefs, and even more so the One Williams mission. It seems so often in corporate culture you hear stories of people trying to make themselves and their group or project look the best so they can receive credit. That’s just simply not the case at Williams. While your project may appear less valuable based on certain decisions, if those decisions drive the best “One Williams” overall value throughout the entire business, those decisions are considered first and foremost without hesitation.
While I’ll miss Tulsa this summer for sure, it’s comforting to already feel ‘at home’ here in the Houston office.