There is a dot-com site (Dictionary.com) that offers an e-mail service, "Word of the Day." Most of these words are ones which, in everyday conversation, would confound. There is tchotchke ("chotch-kuh"), a trinket or knickknack or something as impractical as the word itself. Apparently Bill Gates doesn't even use it-Microsoft Word is insisting, with its squiggly red underlines, that the word is misspelled. Another day, though, the word was pellucid, or clear and easily understood. (By the lack of a red line, it seems that Gates has used that one-maybe in a memo, "Why Microsoft Is Not a Monopoly.") In this issue of Oil and Gas Investor, much is clear-like why Brazil has made increased oil production a national goal; what 3Tec Energy Corp. is; what to look for when grooming junior executives to take the helm; the future of energy-industry corporate consolidations; and what Calgary-based E&P analysts' favorite oil stocks are. In "Brazil," this month's cover story, exploration editor Peggy Williams writes, "The country produces about 1.2 million barrels per day, but consumes 1.9 million per day. Imported crude, mainly from Venezuela and Argentina, makes up the gap." In "Recipe for Growth," editor Leslie Haines introduces 3Tec Energy Corp., the Houston independent that was Middle Bay Oil Co. and was "rescued" last year by Floyd Wilson of W/E Energy LLC, EnCap Investments and other investors. In "Growing Leaders," contributing editor Paula Dittrick asks three chief executives-James T. Hackett of Ocean Energy, Harold M. Korell of Southwestern Energy, and Richard H. Ward of Grant Geophysical-how they find leaders within the ranks. "There is a real sense in the energy industry that the speed of change-and the agility that is being required now-is going to call for different sorts of leadership capabilities than what has been traditionally the case," Dianne Young of the North Carolina-based Center for Creative Leadership tells Dittrick. In "The Third Wave," guest authors Paul Spence and Catherine Johnson of Andersen Consulting's energy practice write that future energy-industry corporate convergences will be of the alliance sort. "In the tireless pursuit of stakeholder returns, third-wave alliances demand a complete paradigm shift on leadership and governance structures. They span multiple countries, multiple functions, multiple partners and even multiple industries," Spence and Johnson add. In "Best Upstream Maple Leafs," senior financial editor Brian A. Toal surveys four Calgary-based E&P analysts for their view of the Canadian oil and gas industry and their 2000 stock picks. "The common denominators in each of the stock picks? Good managements and the ability to grow reserves, production, earnings and cash flow in line with-or exceeding-investor expectations," Toal writes. Clear enough. -Nissa Darbonne, Managing Editor