H. Craig Clark, Chuck Davidson, Dan Dinges and James Payne faced different challenges when they moved into top management spots at four U.S. independents. But they agree that employee cooperation made the biggest difference in executing the changes that needed to be made at the companies. "A lot of people up here wondered whether they would have the horses to carry the company to the next level," Dinges, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., said at John S. Herold's annual energy conference recently. The company has changed from primarily an Appalachian and Midcontinent producer to one with a growing presence in the Rocky Mountains and the onshore and offshore Gulf Coast. Instead, employees were key to Cabot's success. "Cabot's transition would not have been possible without the full support of its directors and staff," Dinges said. Dinges went to Cabot from Samedan Oil, which is now known as Noble Energy Inc., which is led by Davidson who had been with Vastar Resources. "Noble has gone through a transformation process the last two years and has most of its changes in place," Davidson said. "Overall, we believe the changes support our strategic direction. Our biggest single success has been the successful execution of three major international projects." Clark and Payne found companies that were ready to be reformed. "Culture change was the biggest challenge," said Clark, who became president and chief operating officer of Forest Oil Corp. in 2001 after 12 years at Apache Corp. "Our portfolio was not diverse. We were doing the same old things in the same old markets." He got Forest's managers to move out of their comfort zones by adopting a football-team concept. "Not everyone could play quarterback. Real-time scoring meant making adjustments," Clark explained. The result is a more diversified company with strong operations in some areas and a growing presence in others, he added. Payne joined Nuevo Energy . before it became part of Devon Energy Corp. "Changing the company and starting to do things right went a lot better than I anticipated," Payne admitted. "Everyone understood what they were responsible and accountable for."