Lyco Energy Corporation president Dr. Bobby Lyle speaks at President Turner’s Leadership Summit yesterday. (Jennifer Parrish)
Dr. Bobby Lyle spoke with students and faculty Wednesday evening in the Hughes-Trigg Forum about his history as a successful entrepreneur and what qualities he believes makes a good leader.
Founder and President of Lyco Energy Corporation, Lyle said he has literally lived the American Dream.
A Texas native, Lyle was only three months old when his father died, leaving his mother to raise him on her own. Lyle graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Louisiana Tech University.
When he came back to Texas to start a career, all he had was the $250 in his pocket that his brother had loaned him. Fortunately, Lyle said, Louisiana universities ended the school year earlier than Texas which gave him an extra week to apply for jobs before Texas graduates were able to, landing him his first job at General Dynamics.
After a while, Lyle said he wanted to move somewhere where he could own something. So, he chose to move to Dallas and make less money in hopes of starting his own business.
Lyle not only received his master’s from SMU but has also served as a faculty member, dean, trustee and executive board member. While teaching at SMU, Lyle said he decided to follow his own advice and actually start practicing the theory he was teaching his students in the Cox School of Business.
Although Lyle knew he wanted to get into the oil business, he said he also realized that he needed money in order to do so. With the help of a partner Lyle said he had the honor of starting the Galleria Mall which later would fund his dream business.
That business would become Lyco Energy Corporation, which Lyle said he takes pride in for being a company that only started with $1,000 and was later sold for $421 million.
“There are a lot of people that start companies and then leave,” Lyle said. “I had the privilege of taking a company from scratch and seeing it all the way through.”
Lyle also credits his success to a philosophy of sharing within the company and said everybody in Lyco Energy left the day it was sold feeling like a wealthy person. He recommended to students to do the same as future leaders and remember any kind of company or organization is a group effort, not an individual.
“There was no ‘we’ or ‘they,’ it was ‘us,'” Lyle said. “Don’t put yourself in a ‘we’ or ‘they’ position. Put yourself in an us situation and don’t be afraid to share.”
Leaders should not be afraid to take risks either, Lyle said, but a leader has got to be willing to step outside of his or her safety zone and to be able to juggle a personal life with a professional life.
“Take your vision and articulate it in a way where people will listen and follow you,” Lyle said. “Get in the game in the first quarter and stay in the game and figure out how to balance family, a career and community.”
Not a strong believer in traits, Lyle said anyone can become a leader. The only two key qualities he recommends to be essential are honesty and integrity.
“Never do something that would call into question your honesty and integrity,” Lyle said. “But you’ve got to know that will cause for really tough and unpopular decisions you will have to make as a leader.”
