RAILROADER: The Unfiltered Genius and Controversy of Four-Time CEO Hunter Harrison

Marquis learned a classic Harrison lesson—don’t spend a dollar of capital when all it takes is improving processes.

As if the list of medical issues wasn’t enough, since 2015 he’d been hospitalized approximately a dozen times, the last instance in December 2016 when his temperature spiked and left him hallucinating. He’d also had his gallbladder removed during the battle for Norfolk Southern, endured a bout of shingles in late 2016 and early 2017, and had two “s

“I mean this guy’s a general. He’s like Patton,” Ackman said. “And running a railroad is like running an army, right?” Harrison had made the same reference about Bill Thompson, his mentor.

As Harrison said, his basic view didn’t change during the decades he ran railroads—service customers, control costs, utilize assets, don’t get anybody hurt, and recognize and develop people—and over time, he gained more confidence.

Many people have multiple personae they present to the world, depending on the situation or person with whom they’re interacting. But Harrison was the same with everyone. He didn’t waste precious energy playing roles. He just was.

He became a piece of very high-end, pricey human software with the nose of a bloodhound. There’s a now-famous story of him checking into a Vancouver hotel room that happened to be equipped with binoculars and had a view of a CN rail yard. Harrison spied a locomotive—number 5867—sitting idle. A half hour later, it was still there. He made a call and

The flip side of the railroad genius was dismissiveness and distaste for corporate protocol. Harrison had little patience for boards. Put simply, they were a pain, a waste of time and money. They didn’t increase shareholder value or improve the operating ratio (OR), the key metric for a railroad that’s constantly scrutinized by investors.

While Sir Richard Branson advised executives to focus on employees first, customers second, and investors third, Harrison reversed the priorities: investors came first. For him the game was capitalism, pure and simple. You either played it or you didn’t.

When it came down to it, he simply hated inefficiency. If something was wasteful or inefficient, it created a ruckus in his head, and he didn’t stop until the noise was fixed.