Technology lessons from the mainline railroad

The discipline of running a railroad may not seem an appropriate model for running an advanced technology product commercialization program. But to Pittsburgh Product Strategy Network advisory board chairman Fred Marroni, the habits of mind and people skills learned on the job with the Missouri-Pacific apply equally to both.

Some technology managers learn by taking crash courses. Others learn from actual crashes. 

On the second day of his job as a Missouri-Pacific Railroad management trainee, fresh out of school, Fred Marroni began learning the hard way. “My field assignment was going to be in Newport, Arkansas,” he recalled. “The day before I went there, there had been a head-on crash between two trains. So I was told to report a day early to go help the cleanup. Five people had been killed. I had very limited experience, and I was the assistant manager for that group, reporting to the manager, who was responsible for doing the cleanups. So I was handed that assignment and told to go and do it. 

“After three days solid in the cleanup, I went to bed. Then I was awakened by a phone call from the Superintendent. He said we made a decision to dismiss the rest of the crew, so you need to go up to Carter, Arkansas, which is on the White River in the middle of Arkansas, pick up the paperwork, and fire them. I had no idea even how to get there. And that was just my fifth day of working.” 

Additional assignments, including some which faced other real life and death issues, followed. And the learning curve was very steep. But after twelve relocations in eight years, Marroni decided to leave the railroad for the technology community, which included stints with Union Switch & Signal, The Carnegie Group, Actium, and NOMOS. Yet the lessons of his railroad days remained with him, shaping his management style and personal priorities.

Over coffee, Marroni explained how lessons from the railroad can inform the task of product commercialization. 

Be decisive. I worked at the crisis center, and whether it was a derailment or a tornado, your responsibility was to be the coordinator, and you didn’t have a lot of time to think about it. Sometimes you make decisions and when you look back at it, you know you wouldn’t make it again. But the biggest decision was making no decision. I’m willing to tolerate a mistake. I just don’t want the same mistake over and over again; you have to fix it. 

Accept differences. People succeed in different ways. Those who have had success are engaging. When I was working in Arkansas, I had a chance to meet the Governor, Bill Clinton. I was absolutely astounded by how intelligent he was. I didn’t agree with his policies, but he had charisma, the ability to engage people. That’s important to get people to believe and develop a passion. Some people believe in leadership by example. Other people don’t necessarily have the skills to set the example, but they know how to push the buttons. The ability to portray a vision to a group of people, to develop a passion within the group, to create a common denominator, that’s what you’re asking managers to do. 

Be consistent. One thing about leaders, regardless of their personalities and styles, is that they’re always consistent. You might not view what they did as being fair, but they were consistent. You knew what to expect, you knew what their expectations were, and they expected you to perform at that level whether they were engaging, whether they were demanding in terms of their discipline, even if they were abusive. 

Be respectful. One time I was asked to do an evening evaluation of train crews, checking for alcohol and drugs. I was talking to a senior train engineer, and he knew what we were doing. ‘If you want to know if I’m drinking,’ he said, ‘instead of sneaking around, just come and ask me.’ And it was a wakeup call. There are certain ways that you treat people, and you need to respect them. And this particular time, I didn’t have the experience to know how to respect them. 

Forgive honest ignorance. I was assigned as a regional manager, working in operations from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM five, six, or even seven days a week. One time the General Manager came in at 5:00 in the morning and I had my turnover report ready for him, but some storms had cropped up and the condition of the trains had gone to hell. He looked at me and said ‘how come you didn’t know that?’ I didn’t even have the experience to ask the right questions to find out. At the end of the session he sat down and said ‘you know something? When you’re starting in your career, and you don’t know what you don’t know, I can’t hold it against you. But from now on, you know it. You know what to look for, because you’re here to gather experience. You’ve learned.’

Be disciplined. The model of the work there was a 12-hour day and you’re normally expected to work a six-day work week. Your day off was in the middle of the week, and it always moved. A certain work ethic and discipline came out of it; to this day, I normally work a 12-13 hour day, and even to my wife’s chagrin, I work Saturdays. Next to the military, I would say that the railroad is as disciplined as anyplace I knew. Ties, a white shirt, slacks, and you’d better have a dress coat nearby, just in case. The Superintendent was never referred to by his first name. It was ‘Mister.’ And you’d never think about calling the General Manager by his first name. You didn’t even know the first name half the time.

Develop others. I was recruited from Penn State, and I graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree. I spent nearly two years doing this training program, learning about functional areas, finance, field operations, maintenance – all the aspects of operating a railroad. The experience I gained in personnel management really started right there. The upside was that while we worked incredibly hard, we were given responsibilities and experiences at a relatively young age. 

Today, more often than not, technical people are promoted and receive additional responsibilities without adequate training. People are moved into roles of supervision without knowing how to do a performance review, without knowing how to properly plan, and delegate, and mentor their own groups on how you create a roadmap, how you create a business plan. Often, they’re having to learn from peers, and in some cases they’re learning bad habits.