SAN DIEGO: Debra Reed has made a career out of getting places first and fast.

Since 2011, Reed has been CEO of Sempra Energy, a Fortune 500 company with more than $41.1 billion (Dh150.9 billion) in assets and 17,000 employees serving 32 million customers worldwide.

Centred around electricity and natural gas, Sempra’s subsidiaries include San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas. Beyond California, the company’s reach extends to projects in 15 states as well as Chile, Peru and Mexico, where the energy landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation.

Running all those disparate corporate pieces is a big job but Reed may know Sempra’s inner workings better than just about anybody.

Reed started with SoCalGas in 1978, shortly after graduating from USC with a degree in civil engineering. Within 10 years, she became the company’s first female officer. Since then, Reed has held no less than 15 executive positions, including assisting in the $6.2 billion merger that created Sempra itself in 1998.

From the company’s downtown offices, Reed sat down with the San Diego Union-Tribune to discuss her leadership philosophy. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Q. What is your idea of leadership?

A. When I look at a leader, I look at someone who is able to get exceptional performance out of others.

Q. So what leadership style do you adhere to?

A. I’m very much a team-oriented person. I love to have diverse viewpoints because then I think we make better decisions. What I really enjoy doing with our team is challenge each other, getting different perspectives and putting that out on the table.

People with the same information often make the same decisions. And if they’re part of the decision process, I think you get people who are aligned and supportive of the decisions that are made. They’re engaged.

Q. So does the culture at Sempra drive the leadership or does the leadership drive the culture?

A. That’s an interesting question and I think it is kind of a chicken and the egg. Some things at Sempra would be more focused on a team orientation. The success of others is important. What you want is people who want others to be successful. It can’t just be someone focused on themselves.

Q. There aren’t many female CEOs out there. Does that affect the way you lead?

A. Honestly, I haven’t noticed much of a difference.

Now I have to say as I was coming up to this job, being a woman at an energy company was not common. And to become an officer when I was 32, I was the first. I was the youngest and first. I was at SoCalGas at the time.

I had guys who worked for the company 30-odd years who were reporting to me. They had worked at the company longer than I had been alive. That brings more challenges. Now, I’ve been here a long time (39 years) so I’m kind of a known commodity and I don’t think there are significant differences.

Q. Some research about CEOs shows that while some may have magnetic personalities, they can also tend to be loners. It can get lonely at the top. Do you feel that way sometimes?

A. You ultimately need to get performance out of an organisation. As I told you, we’re very focused on having everyone being successful. In that kind of mentality, I don’t think it separates the CEO as much.

Most people who work with me here would say I’m friendly and pretty approachable. I think they would also say I’m demanding and very performance-oriented. I think you can have both. It’s not a social relationship, it’s a business relationship.

You can be kind to people, you can be supportive, you can want their success and all those things because they’re still aligned with getting business performance.

What you can’t do is tolerate a lack of performance due to personal relationships. That’s kind of where I draw the line.

Q. Is the conventional idea of leadership overrated?

A. I’m not really sure. To me, it’s really simple. To me, leadership is helping people do their best.

If you define leadership that way I don’t think it’s overrated. I think (a CEO saying) “do this, do this,” I don’t subscribe to that.

Q. Like barking out orders, ruling by charisma or by fear like Steve Jobs?

Look at Tim Cook. He’s done well. And he has a totally different style. You can have very different styles of leaders who can be quite successful.

Q. Like the Chinese adage that there are many ways to the top of the mountain?

A. I think that’s exactly correct.