After 30+ years in the oil and gas industry, I have established the Wakefield Communications Group. Our goal is to tell stories and build communications strategies that are clear, concise and compelling.I spent my entire career with one company (Talisman Energy), which is unusual these days, but I had the privilege of working with very bright people, doing challenging and rewarding work, visiting many parts of the globe, and most importantly, I feel I added significant value.I joined the company in Montreal as an economics graduate (b.com), worked in corporate planning in Toronto and moved to Calgary where I received an MBA (finance). Years ago, as Chief Economist, I won a national speech contest. Our CEO (Jim Buckee) realized he had someone who both understood numbers and could write.I moved into investor relations, which I ran for 10 years, during a tremendous period of growth for the company. In my last role, as Head of Global Communications, I was responsible for financial communications (press releases, annual reports and meetings), the corporate responsibility report, executive speech writing, websites, employee communications and crisis communications. Because we worked in a number of controversial locations, the latter required a fair amount of time.The job was fun and I hired some very talented people who were ready to take over. I taught my team that a good communicator must have a feeling for what matters to people, be able to mine data for information and turn that information into clear messaging - while understanding needs of stakeholders and risks to the company.I tell people that I love to travel because it keeps me open to new ideas. I play guitar and write songs because it helps to keep me creative. And I play golf because it keeps me humble.CheersDave MannPrincipalWakefield Communications"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" - T.S.Eliot