Opinions on Hunter Harrison

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

August 2009 Trains - "Hunter's Way or the Highway", by Fred W. Frailey.  See:

http://trn.trains.com/en/sitecore/content/Magazine%20Issues/2009/August%202009.aspx 

$5.95 + $2.95 Shipping (estimated) - see: http://www.kalmbachstore.com/trn090801.html 

Someplace back around then I read about a privately-published book that was used by CN/ Harrison at internal all-day or all-weekend staff seminars to indoctrinate middle-level managers, and I might even have found a few for sale on eBay.   Anybody know the title, any more details, availability - and most interesting of all - any review comments on it ? 

- Paul North. 

EDIT:  From my post here of 07-13-2009 at 10:41 AM on page 5 of 11 of the thread "E Hunter Harrison and CN..." at: http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/156519/1730213.aspx 

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OK, here they are - from page 36  [left. col.] of the August 2009 [Vol. 69, No. 8] issue of Trains, article on Mr. Harrison;

- ''How We Work and Why'', 2005 - apparently privately published by CN.

- ''Change, Leadership, Mud and Why [How We Work and Why, Vol. 2]'', 2008, published by Canadian National [privately [Q] - doesn't seem to be available in or on the general marketplace yet]

- The Pig That Flew: The Battle to Privatize Canadian National,
by Harry Bruce, 1997, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN 1550546090 (1-55054-609-0)

Finally, in running these down I also found a reference to a more available book -

SwitchPoints: Culture Change on the Fast Track to Business Success

Judy Johnson, Les Dakens, Peter Edwards, Ned Morse , John Wiley, October 2008 [hardcover, 254 pages], ISBN: 978-0-470-28383-7, about 30 dollars.  The lead author - Edwards - is VP of Human Resources at Canadian National Railways [CN], and most of the other authors are employed there, too.  Here's the publisher's description;  

 

''SwitchPoints is the inspiring story of how Canadian National Railway (CN) advanced from good to great in a few short years–becoming North America's top-performing railroad and a favorite with of corporate customers and investors. In it, the authors reveal how company-wide culture change propelled this aging transportation giant to become the profitable powerhouse it is today. Rich with insights and anecdotes, SwitchPoints offers lessons that can be applied to any organization seeking to improve the bottom line by improving their culture.'' 

[Ulrich]

Thanks Paul..I will have a look for SwitchPoints...I read "The Pig that Flew"  , a very good read about CN's transition from Crown corporation to private sector corporation.. I highly recommend it.

[selector]

schlimm

selector:

 I think it morally right or ethically right to impugn a person here where he is unlikely to be afforded an opportunity to refute any claims of fact about him.

Crandell

 

Immoral?  Unethical?  Impugning?  Invectives? Pretty strong statements.  You seem to miss the distinction between a public figure and an ordinary one.  You also imply that anything said here about HH is negative and not accurate. One of the driving forces in the social sciences and education in general is to expand understanding.  And the of gathering oral accounts, anecdotes (some of those here have been 1st  or 2nd party) etc. is a significant part of biography and history.

I'll let historians assess the veracity of what they learn, anecdotally or not.  As for my background as a psychologist, I know that hindsight bias has a way of imparting all sorts of falsehoods and misapprehensions to what one takes for recall.  It is much worse when taken for fact from someone else who labours under those misapprehensions.  So, thanks, but I will look askance on much of what I see posted here about a person who is apparently disliked.  That he is disliked doesn't mean that he is universally disliked, and it certainly doesn't follow that he is incompetent.

And I would not talk about you behind your back if you were subject to villification, and I expect you would appreciate that if you learned of it.  Why should the President of the USA or EHH be any different?  It amounts to a grande ad hominem when mischaracterizations are offered heresay.  Records may share some light on facts about events, and some of them might even lead to conclusions about a person's competence or character.  But the rest of it is not something I would like to take part in.

Crandell

[schlimm]

I guess in academia, I learned to develop a thicker skin, so as to not be bothered by what others said to my face or behind my back.   As a clinical psychologist, I learned how to listen to different people without censoring what they said, even when it was grossly offensive, and to sort out their remembrances, recollections, etc. without dismissing them en mass just because some of it is unreliable hearsay, since it remains useful information in putting together a picture, along with hard data, in the process of helping people.

Some of the stories about HH are self-serving by the individuals relating them, both positive and negative in tone.  Some are merely anecdotal without being evaluative.  But perhaps this forum is not the place for gathering information.

[Ulrich]

If you're interested in him why not contact him directly? He's retired, and he may just appreciate having someone with an interest in the biz to set the record straight. Sometimes those guys appreciate talking about their experiences...but nobody bothers to ask.

[williamsb]

[williamsb]

I am having computer trouble, I will try to post later.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Since March - April 2011, E. Hunter Harrison has been pretty much involved with Dynegy, Inc. (utilities/ electric utilities) - which may be in some serious financial 'deep water' - as a director and then as an interim President/ CEO for a few months. See:

http://people.forbes.com/profile/e-hunter-harrison/15069 

Some here may remember the furor back in the March - May 2010 time frame about CN's numerous 'incorrect' reports of grade crossing delays of longer than 10 minutes on the former EJ&E lines, which lead to some hearings before the STB and possibly some fines/ penalties being assessed.  I believe - but am not certain - that a lot of those events took place in late 2009, during the last months of Harrison's tenure as CN CEO.  While he was certainly responsible for that as being at the top of the 'chain-of-command' , and may well have also been responsible for the corporate culture that led to and tolerated such chicanery, I doubt that had anything to do with his retirement date and timing, as that had been announced about a year earlier - in April 2009.    

- Paul North. 

[williamsb]

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

The 2^nd quarter results are in and I have been waiting for Agent Kid’s response. He said he was going to go out on a limb and predict CN’s EPS would be less than half of last year and the operating ratio would take a hit. I hope you had a safety harness attached when you were out on that limb!!

 

From CN’s website it says “ Adjusted net income for second-quarter 2011 was C$578 [$611m US], or C$1.26 per diluted share, an adjusted EPS increase of 12 per cent over 2010” CN’s OR was still the best by far of the class 1’s at 61.3% as opposed to 61.2% in 2010

 

CN beat the street estimate by 1 cent EPS. If you can figure out stock markets let me know how. CN share value dropped quite dramatically, supposedly because they have surpassed expectations and they don’t see much upside and people are taking profits. Meanwhile CP went down 23% and their shares actually went up!

 

All the other class 1 railroads had very good results.

 

CSX – record operating income and EPS up 28%

 

KCS – record 2^nd Qtr revenue and record OR of 71.7 %

 

NS – record revenue increased 18% to $2.9B. Record net income - $557M plus 42%. Record OR – 69.5%. Record operating income.

 

UP – best ever quarterly earnings. OR was 71.3% 1.9 points worse than the record that was set in 2010.

 

CP’s release didn’t state their OR but the BLET site said it was 81.8%. Net income was C$128M [ $135M US]

 

I was on CN’s Rivers sub from Portage la Prairie to Melville in early June and I found it quite impressive.

 

Barry Williams Mission BC

[MP173]

All the railroad's 2Q figures are quite good, as they are in the sweet spot with increasing volumes, increasing yty rates and the benefits of higher fuel surcharges.

Ok...volumes are up about 4% for most carriers this quarter (over a year ago).  Fuel is up, but the fuel surcharges are up considerably.  The 4% volume (in simple terms) means you add 4 more cars to a 100 car train.  How much more fuel does that consume?  How much fuel surcharge revenue do those 4 additional cars generate (plus the added fuel surcharge revenues of the other 100 cars).

As long as volumes increase and fuel increases the rails will do quite nicely.  Intermodal business is increasing at a very high volume as the higher fuel costs push more and more trailers to the rails.

Ed

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

williamsb

  [snipped]  CN’s OR was still the best by far of the class 1’s at 61.3% as opposed to 61.2% in 2010

 KCS – . . . record OR of 71.7 %

 NS – . . . Record OR – 69.5%.  

UP – . . . OR was 71.3% 1.9 points worse than the record that was set in 2010.

 CP’s release didn’t state their OR but the BLET site said it was 81.8%.  

  Thanks for the data.

Query:  To what extent are these good Operating Ratio's the result of cost-cutting/ production efficiencies - and/ or, to what extent are they the result of enhanced revenues/ income, whether from higher volumes, higher rates generally, and/ or the fuel adjustment surcharges ?  (Note that the STB recently has taken a harder line on allowing fuel adjustment surcharges to be imposed without challenge - see the BNSF decision last year.) 

To answer this question wold take a fair amount of research and number-crunching, which I don't have time for right now - maybe later this month . . . 

- Paul North. 

[schlimm]

And don't forget about improved OR's from cutting maintenance. 

[MP173]

Railroads capex has remained fairly steady for years, actually increasing (as I outlined earlier in this thread).

OR is simply operating expenses/operating revenue and doesnt include debt service, taxes, etc.

I doubt if any of us have the volumes of accounting data to completely analyze the carriers.  Most financial statements released to the public are fairly broad in nature.  The old ICC accounting was fairly detailed, not sure of STB requires anything similar.

 

ed

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

MP173

   [snipped; emphasis added - PDN]  ]  . . . OR is simply operating expenses/operating revenue and doesnt include debt service, taxes, etc.

. . . Most financial statements released to the public are fairly broad in nature.  The old ICC accounting was fairly detailed, not sure of STB requires anything similar.  

  The required annual R-1 report is. 

Aside from the changes in both raw $ numbers year-over-year and/ or quarter vs. quarter, it would be useful to 'normalize' them per carload or Million Gross Ton-Miles ("MGTM"), etc. to get a better sense where the changes are actually occurring.   

- Paul North.