#153 Keith Creel: Lessons from Life on the Railroad
Nov 29, 2022
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Keith Creel, President and CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway, shares his journey of transforming the company and leading a historic $27 billion merger with Kansas City Southern. He stresses the critical role of rail in the economy and discusses how the industry is evolving. Creel explains the balance between efficiency and resilience in business, the significance of Precision Scheduled Railroading, and offers valuable leadership lessons drawn from his experiences. His insights shed light on the future of freight transport and the unique challenges facing the railroad sector.
Leadership requires accountability, picking the right team, and setting high standards for success.
Maintaining a culture of safety involves intervening in violations, even uncomfortable situations.
Balancing efficiency and resilience is vital for long-term success, avoiding over-engineering while staying prepared for fluctuations.
Deep dives
Leadership Lessons from Hunter Harrison
Leaders need to do the right things, even when uncomfortable. Hunter Harrison emphasized accountability, leadership, and picking the right people to create a successful business. He believed in setting high standards, challenging people to reach new goals, and creating a culture of excellence.
Safety and Discipline in Railroad Operations
Maintaining a safe work environment involves enforcing rules and accountability. Keith Creel shared a story of addressing safety violations, emphasizing that leaders must intervene in unsafe practices to maintain a culture of safety and discipline, even in uncomfortable situations.
Balancing Efficiency and Resilience
Finding the balance between efficiency and resilience is crucial for long-term success. Keith Creel highlighted the importance of not over-engineering redundancy, as it can lead to inefficiencies, but maintaining an adequate level of resilience to handle fluctuations in workloads and external factors.
Lessons from Bill Ackman and Activist Investing
Working with Bill Ackman taught valuable business lessons. Ackman's activist investing approach drove positive changes at Canadian Pacific, highlighting the importance of taking a long-term view, driving strategic change, and focusing on sustainable business growth over short-term profits.
Strategic Decision Making and Long-Term Vision
The podcast episode delves into how strategic decision-making and a long-term vision contribute to the success of companies. It highlights an example where investment in infrastructure and a focus on long-term profitability, rather than short-term gains, significantly improved operational efficiency. The narrative emphasizes the importance of balancing short-term results with long-term sustainability and the role of mentorship in shaping business acumen.
Negotiating a Major Merger and Strategic Response
The episode provides insights into negotiating a major merger and responding strategically to competitive challenges. It narrates the process behind a significant railway merger, showcasing how leveraging truth, regulatory understanding, and strategic planning were pivotal in outmaneuvering a competitive bid. The account underscores the significance of trust-building, regulatory approval, and value creation in complex business transactions.
Keith Creel calls on nearly a decade of experience working with the Canadian Pacific Railway to discuss his strategies for leadership and how he’s turned the company around over five years in charge. We discuss all you need to know about the rail industry and how it affects our daily lives, what changes he sees coming in the future for the industry, how he thinks about leadership in times of change, and how Canadian Pacific secured a $27 billion deal to take over its rival, Kansas City Southern. Creel became the President and CEO of Canadian Pacific in 2017, giving him executive control of one of the largest Class I rail systems in North America, with more than 13,000 miles of rail network stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In 2021 he helped broker a deal that marked the first major merger in the railroad industry in the U.S. in two decades and created the first freight rail network linking Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
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