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The leadership qualities Tillerson would bring to the State Department from his Exxon experience

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is on tap Wednesday for a Senate confirmation hearing.  What does his record in corporate leadership reveal about what he might bring to the table in government?  Tillerson joined the energy giant ExxonMobil in 1975 and never left, rising to the rank of chief executive […]

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is on tap Wednesday for a Senate confirmation hearing.  What does his record in corporate leadership reveal about what he might bring to the table in government?  Tillerson joined the energy giant ExxonMobil in 1975 and never left, rising to the rank of chief executive in 2006.  As a corporate leader, he was serious, straightforward, cautious and did a fair amount of dealmaking with foreign governments, including Russia, which will likely attract scrutiny from lawmakers. But he also presided over the buyout of XTO Energy, which increased Exxon’s exposure to natural gas just as natural gas prices started to fall. 

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