Ryan
Court Jester
Just announced on Facebook:
Anyone know anything about the guy?
CFO -> VP of Ops
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Ryan: Bean Counters,ex-CFO, (apologies to Dick :giggle: )seldom make Good Operations Executives IME!! The 20 years Service in Govt. Transportation Agencies sounds like he knows how the Political Game is played in the Puzzle Palace aka Washington!! I'll be from Missouri on this one, Show me!!
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Tumbleweed
OBS Chief
And that's what the congress critters thrive on....
Ryan
Court Jester
True, but good leaders are good leaders, whatever they're running.
When I was in the Navy, I was in charge of the Sonar division, Auxiliaries (engineering), Navigation and Admin. I didn't know much past the basics on any of those, but knew enough to give the technical experts what they needed to get the job done and get out of their way.
I guess time will tell.
The Journalist
Lead Service Attendant
Here's an interview he did about a year ago:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14564879/2/c_14565154
I haven't found anything else about him.
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14564879/2/c_14565154
I haven't found anything else about him.
cirdan
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I guess leadership isn't really a defined term, and it can mean different things to different people in different situations.
There are cases where, as you say, the best thing a leader can do is stay out of the way and create the conditions so his/her people can do their thing.
That is typically the case when the system is already working smoothly, when the people doing the work are doing it well, have a clear and acheivable mission, are motivated, and are well suited to the job they are required to do.
There are also many situations where that doesn't apply. When radical changes are required, a leader cannot always trust his subordinates to know what is right and must take low-level decisons him/herself. In such situations, it is more important to have somebody who knows more about the details.
Ryan
Court Jester
I'm not sure that I agree.
When I was transferred down to A-gang, it was because the division was a mess and the ship was failing engineering inspections like it was going out of style.
I had a Chief that thought his job was to sit in the mess and drink coffee, and sailors that were the obvious beneficiary of "We can do whatever we want, because nobody is supervising us" syndrome.
I got in there and made changes simply by asking the right questions of the right people. It wasn't hard to figure out who the knowledgeable folks were and who was trying to blow smoke up my @$$. Once the clueless figured out that I wasn't going to let them stay under the radar and actually make them do their jobs, things turned around pretty quick.
Within weeks, we were getting the little things right. Logs were actually property reviewed and out of spec readings annotated. That allowed us to find out what was broken and do the proper corrective maintenance. It also got the preventative maintenance back on track, and things were running smoothly when I left the ship.
Where staying out of the way and letting people do their thing isn't enough, a little bit of enforced accountability goes a long way. Add in the ability to hire and fire (not a luxury I had), and you can clear out the bad apples.
Will Stadtler be able to succeed? That's up to him, but I wouldn't necessarily hold his background against him.
When I was transferred down to A-gang, it was because the division was a mess and the ship was failing engineering inspections like it was going out of style.
I had a Chief that thought his job was to sit in the mess and drink coffee, and sailors that were the obvious beneficiary of "We can do whatever we want, because nobody is supervising us" syndrome.
I got in there and made changes simply by asking the right questions of the right people. It wasn't hard to figure out who the knowledgeable folks were and who was trying to blow smoke up my @$$. Once the clueless figured out that I wasn't going to let them stay under the radar and actually make them do their jobs, things turned around pretty quick.
Within weeks, we were getting the little things right. Logs were actually property reviewed and out of spec readings annotated. That allowed us to find out what was broken and do the proper corrective maintenance. It also got the preventative maintenance back on track, and things were running smoothly when I left the ship.
Where staying out of the way and letting people do their thing isn't enough, a little bit of enforced accountability goes a long way. Add in the ability to hire and fire (not a luxury I had), and you can clear out the bad apples.
Will Stadtler be able to succeed? That's up to him, but I wouldn't necessarily hold his background against him.
Don't kid yourself, Jim!
While CFOs may have started their careers as "bean counters," by the time they become CFOs they are critical members of executive management who understand all aspects of the business in addition to (as many other executives don't) the financial underpinnings, strategies, and financing possibilities for the business. An Amtrak executive operations officer with a strong CFO background just might be able to get his senior managers to focus more sharply on such critical issues as optimizing asset deployment, developing realistic sourcing and pricing models and supply chain strategies as well as optimizing operations levels within Amtrak's financial realities. He might also be able to foster in his managers effective risk identification and risk manangement skills and practices. Many (if, indeed, not the vast majority) of the topics and comments on AU concern operations problems, and the discussions usually revolve around finances and financial restrictions. So maybe this man - assuming he has all the other personal leadership qualities any good senior executive should have - is a logical choice for the job, strategy- and leadership-wise. His management teams below him can take care of such things as making sure the trains run on time. I applaud the choice in principle. Let's hope it works in practice!
J
Joe
Guest
Putting a CFO with no railroad experience at all in charge of operations is akin to putting a railroad executive in charge of flight operations at O'Hare International Airport .
Amtrak is fraught with inexperienced supervisors and it shows in the day to day operations
I've had some communication with Mr.Stadtler and when he was confronted with some irrefutable facts he simply ignored them. A corporate maneuver that I have found to be all too common at Amtrak.
Amtrak is fraught with inexperienced supervisors and it shows in the day to day operations
I've had some communication with Mr.Stadtler and when he was confronted with some irrefutable facts he simply ignored them. A corporate maneuver that I have found to be all too common at Amtrak.
Ryan
Court Jester
Well it's been 8 months, and the wheel shaven't fallen off yet.
What "irrefutable facts" are you talking about and what response did you expect? Are you in some type of position where you have some influence, or do you expect him to just respond to every random railfan with a great idea?
What "irrefutable facts" are you talking about and what response did you expect? Are you in some type of position where you have some influence, or do you expect him to just respond to every random railfan with a great idea?
jis
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Here is an article on him by Fred Frailey of Trains magazine:
http://cs.trains.com...operations.aspx
Apparently he has played a key role in the reorganization of operations since he became VP. See:
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/operations/amtrak-reorganizes-operations-management.html#.UL3-A3fNkTI
I know the author of that piece personally and will see him this Saturday at the NJ-ARP Annual Meeting. I will ask him what he thinks of DJ, since I think he has met him and knows him.
http://cs.trains.com...operations.aspx
Apparently he has played a key role in the reorganization of operations since he became VP. See:
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/operations/amtrak-reorganizes-operations-management.html#.UL3-A3fNkTI
I know the author of that piece personally and will see him this Saturday at the NJ-ARP Annual Meeting. I will ask him what he thinks of DJ, since I think he has met him and knows him.
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Ryan
Court Jester
Great articles, thanks for sharing. Looks like a sound plan, hopefully it is having the desired results.
J
Joe
Guest
I can assure you that I am more than a railfan with a great idea. I am an employee and I responded to the numerous calls for employee input by corporate management. I received a response to my initial communication to Mr. Stadtler and was assured that each and every observation/suggestion would be entertained and feedback would be provided. I also reported to him a safety hazard which I have reported to local management since April of 2011. He replied that the safety issue was top priority and would be attended to immediately. That was in July and the location of said hazard (which still exists) was never asked for. As for feedback, there was none.The irrefutable facts are that safety and Safe2Safer are window dressing to be used when pandering the Federal Government for funding and calls for employee input are insincere, high speed rail is a farce, has the Acela ever done what it was touted to do when it was broached to the public?
"Well it's been 8 months, and the wheel shaven't fallen off yet."
It's been 41 years and billions of dollars and do you think from your position that Amtrak has it right?
Ryan
Court Jester
No way of knowing who you are when you post as a guest.
What's the safety hazard? Considering the prior management ignored it for a year, he's still got time to get it fixed and come out ahead.
As far as Amtrak getting it right, that's a complicated question that you could write a book about. The distilled answer is "mostly".
What's the safety hazard? Considering the prior management ignored it for a year, he's still got time to get it fixed and come out ahead.
As far as Amtrak getting it right, that's a complicated question that you could write a book about. The distilled answer is "mostly".
J
Joe
Guest
No way of knowing who you are when I post as a guest. All that is available to me is that you are an engineer.No way of knowing who you are when you post as a guest.
What's the safety hazard? Considering the prior management ignored it for a year, he's still got time to get it fixed and come out ahead.
As far as Amtrak getting it right, that's a complicated question that you could write a book about. The distilled answer is "mostly".
Suffice it to say that I know of that which I speak.
As far as my I.D.? I'm going to remain anonymous.....for now.The safety hazard? It's been 18 months.I report it weekly ad nausem.
"Mostly"? Mostly wrong I will agree to.
Acela Express? Opinion ?
Operating employees training program? Opinion?
haolerider
Conductor
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I would assume that you are reporting this safety hazard to your department and it has not been acted upon. In my experience that might indicate that someone has evaluated the hazard and doesn't agree with you regarding the serious nature of the issue. Why don't you try reporting to the IG? Is it an OSHA problem? It would,sure help your credibility on this board to describe the hazard. There are Amtrak employees who monitor the board and that could help escalate the solution.No way of knowing who you are when I post as a guest. All that is available to me is that you are an engineer.No way of knowing who you are when you post as a guest.
What's the safety hazard? Considering the prior management ignored it for a year, he's still got time to get it fixed and come out ahead.
As far as Amtrak getting it right, that's a complicated question that you could write a book about. The distilled answer is "mostly".
Suffice it to say that I know of that which I speak.
The safety hazard? It's been 18 months.I report it weekly ad nausem.
"Mostly"? Mostly wrong I will agree to.
Acela Express? Opinion ?
Operating employees training program? Opinion?
jis
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Methinks that guest_Joe needs to say a bit more about the exact nature of the problem to be taken seriously, at least by me. Otherwise it sounds like just a troll, specially when we start diving into opinions about Acela Express, and Amtrak after 41 years - good things to discuss mind you, but has nothing to do with the alleged safety violation unless more info on it links the two together somehow. And no I don't work for Amtrak, and as a scan through this forum will easily establish, I am often a very harsh critic of Amtrak.
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Ryan
Court Jester
That's kind of the point I was trying to get at.
For clarity, I'm not an employee either - just spend a lot of time riding in the back, and would love to know more about any unresolved safety issues.
For clarity, I'm not an employee either - just spend a lot of time riding in the back, and would love to know more about any unresolved safety issues.
Devil's Advocate
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I'm going to give Guest Joe the benefit of the doubt for now. My various employers have generally maintained a simple (sometimes unwritten) rule when it comes to discussing internal matters. If it's related to the company, keep it within the company. If it's related to your own division keep it within the division. If it's related to your own department keep it within the department. If it's related to government oversight you're obviously able (and possibly obligated) to report it to them by law, but if you feel the need or desire to air your concerns in public you can kiss your employment goodbye.
jis
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Then he should not have mentioned it here at all. The fact that he mentioned it in the form of an innuendo and is unwilling to share anything more suggests to me that the agenda may not be that pure. But then again anything is possible. Mind you I don;t care to know his identity, i just want to know what was the nature of the violation that was reported and that was allegedly not acted upon. Without that there is no foundational basis other than mere airing of a random, essentially non specific grievance, which really is not that interesting.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
So far as I'm concerned neither the pro-CFO or anti-CFO side has presented any concrete evidence of good or bad performance. From my perspective at this point all we have is speculation from both sides. Fair enough. In my view no topic should be off limits when it comes to Amtrak, even those topics that are largely theoretical or hypothetical. However, I think all of us are aware that any specific complaints detailed in public would make eventual discovery of the source a piece of cake in most businesses, even those owned by government bureaucracies. But don't take my word for it. Ask David Petraeus if we're living in the Daniel Ellsberg era or the Bradley Manning era.
jis
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I do not disagree with your basic premise. But once something is mentioned publicly either it needs to be substantiated or it is worthy of being ignored, unless of course one is a journalist of the investigative kind, in which case s/he could go to town with it. And I doubt that any of us here are. That is my point.
BTW, I am on neither side of the pro or anti CFO. I have just reported whatever verifiable information I have found on the subject. I really don't have a preferred position on whether a CFO makes a good Operations VP in general or in this particular case or not.
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The so called "Whistle Blower" Law hasn't done a very good job protecting such Government Employees as a whole and in my experience in Government (30+years) such people were looked upon as untrustworthy or 'Spies" and more effort was put into finding out who they they were and covering up problems or wrongs that were reported than in acutally fixing any of these problems or wrongs! Of course leaking to Reporters in Washington is SOP, but thats mostly Political stuff played by Political insiders!
I agree that if there really is a "Safety" Problem involving Amtrak it should and CAN be reported to the IG if Management has failed to act on such a Report! Allof us who ride Amtrak, especially on the NEC, would benefit!
I agree that if there really is a "Safety" Problem involving Amtrak it should and CAN be reported to the IG if Management has failed to act on such a Report! Allof us who ride Amtrak, especially on the NEC, would benefit!
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When I see a situation where a 'bean-counter', or CFO is given an operations position like this, it only leads me to one conclusion......
folks, you may be looking at Amtrak's next CEO, who is being 'groomed' for that by expanding his experience....
folks, you may be looking at Amtrak's next CEO, who is being 'groomed' for that by expanding his experience....
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