Integrity and ethical business practices aren’t “nice to have,” they’re a competitive advantage. In this episode of An Ounce of Prevention, host Rachel Reese sits down with Ella McDonald, founder of McDonald Land Services, to unpack the Cornerstones of Success: honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior, and what they look like in day-to-day decision-making.

Ella shares how growing up on a dairy farm taught her accountability early, how she pushed into land work in 1978 when she was told there were no women in the field, and the leadership standards she set as her company expanded into major U.S. basins serving oil, gas, renewables, and emerging energy sectors.

If you’re a founder, executive, manager, or service provider building a reputation-based business, this conversation is a practical reminder: you have to choose ethics every day, and your organization has to live it, not just say it.

Time Stamps / Chapters

00:00:01:04 Welcome to An Ounce of Prevention

00:00:25:17 Host intro + guest introduction (Ella McDonald)

00:01:31:06 The “cornerstones of success”: integrity, honesty, ethics

00:03:28:04 Starting in land work in 1978—“when pigs could fly”

00:05:15:21 Learning accuracy, then pushing into the field

00:06:18:01 Advocating for equal pay: from $35/day to $75/day

00:06:49:12 Why she started her own brokerage firm

00:08:48:06 The unethical kickback request—and walking away

00:12:32:23 How standards scale across a team and operations

00:14:11:21 Fair invoicing + defending work to clients

00:15:21:19 Growth across basins: Marcellus/Appalachia, Rockies, nationwide

00:18:24:18 Building a family legacy + team leaders carrying it forward

00:21:42:01 Lifetime achievement award + message to women leaders