He ran the railroads his way
Hunter Harrison transformed industry
After taking the reins as chief executive officer of Canadian National Railway Co. in 2003, E. Hunter Harrison — the legendary railroad leader who died last weekend due to severe complications from an illness — was determined to make sure his employees understood the high standards he expected of them.
So he held a series of what were known as “Hunter Camps” — intimate threeday retreats that saw groups of employees, i ncluding everyone from supervisors to conductors, gather with the CEO to learn the ins-and-outs of his precision scheduled railroading model.
“At the beginning of the camps, he would just sit there and not say a word,” recalled Les Dakens, a longtime colleague who served as CN’s chief human resources officer for eight years during Harrison’s tenure. "All these people were very nervous.”
Harrison, after all, had a reputation for being a tough boss with very high standards, who gave few second chances.
“When I would introduce him, the first thing he’d say is, ‘ Folks, you can relax. I’m not a monster. I’m flesh and blood and I’m here to help you.’ And the temperature in the room would go down.”
Altogether, Dakens said he helped Harrison run more than 75 of these camps with more than 1,800 employees over his rule at CN, starting with what they felt were the employees with great l eadership potential and working their way through the ranks.
The camps were a means to an end, a part of Harrison’s mission to transform the culture at CN through what he called precision scheduled railroading — a model that i mproved efficiency, reduced costs and ultimately improved service.
“Before Hunter’s arrival, the U. S. railroads were always seen as the benchmark. Everyone said the Canadian railways could not be as efficient or as profitable, especially as the ones that operate in Texas, and he proved them wrong,” said Mark K. Wallace, who first met Harrison while working at CN in 1998.