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Royal Dutch Shell burying its past

Your website is a monumental ‘pain in the a..’ for RD Shell because you are always dragging the ‘dark side’ of the way Shell operates out into the light of day for all to see and examine.

Comment from a former employee of Shell Oil USA

I have comment to make about your recent revelations regarding Shell.

For decades RD Shell has managed to virtually ‘bury’ the company’s past association with Hitler and the Nazis. This is not something that adds value to the ‘corporate image’ and ‘brand value’.  Your latest expose’ has pretty much trashed those many years of effort on the part of the corporate image makers.

Shell has a very carefully crafted image that it wants to project to the world, the consuming public and policy making politicians. RD Shell would like the world to think that they are an upstanding group of folks and run an honest operation. Quality, integrity, technology, character, great value at a great price, etc. In large measure that image is a fraud.

Your website is a monumental ‘pain in the a..’ for RD Shell because you are always dragging the ‘dark side’ of the way Shell operates out into the light of day for all to see and examine. Shell management’s style of doing business is the company’s worst public relations enemy.

Shell’s past association with the Nazis, their horrible track record on pesticide related consumer products, their cuddling up with dictators in Nigeria, their apparent recent attempts at espionage in the US, etc., are all indicators of a company with a serious ethics problem amongst senior level management. This is turn reflects on the corporate culture of the company that was largely established during the days of Sir Henri and his successors.

When I went to work for Shell USA it was still an independent company. The last thing Shell USA management wanted was to become part of the larger Royal Dutch family of companies.

I left Shell after Shell USA was finally submerged into Royal Dutch, and I don’t regret that decision one bit. Shell USA had is own ethics problems, but they were nowhere near what Royal Dutch’s problems were and are.

When I left Shell one of the company’s VP’s pulled me aside one day to ask why I was leaving. After a long discussion he informed me that if he was my age he would do the same thing. Shell USA just wasn’t ‘the company it used to be, and it wasn’t fun to work for anymore.’ His attitude was reflected in the conversations I had with several other general managers at Shell USA.

RD Shell is nowhere near the ‘good citizen’ corporation that its image makers would have its employees and the consuming public believe. The image is largely a fraud, and the recent ‘reserves scandal’ indicates just how willing management is to engage in fraud, to the point of defrauding its shareholders. That problem had been building for 20 years, and it was an issue at Shell USA in the late 1980’s.

While RD Shell is no Enron, management’s attitude is not much different than the attitude Enron management had. And I would know because I consulted for Enron off and on for years. Enron, particularly Enron Oil and Gas, was a company populated with a large number of ex-Shell and ex-Exxon management and staff.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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