So, think strategy, talent, risk. I have to make sure that we are allocating adequate time and resources to these key areas.
As we were listening to our shareholders, their concern over precision scheduled railroading at Norfolk Southern was often discussed. And so, a swift hiring of John Orr was not only due to our own assessment, but it was from feedback from large shareholders, and we value that feedback.
As we look at our shareholders and we see the performance in our total shareholder return for a year, we look to see: how did our shareholders fare?
And with results of East Palestine, obviously, the shareholders took an impact, just like the company took an impact.
So, we acted swiftly and decided that for the executive team, there would be no annual bonus this year. And that’s, from our perspective, one of the ways that we can hold the team accountable for results.
I would say maybe one of my proudest moments, though, probably was our response to East Palestine. It was so difficult, and so devastating, but to see that the way that the team came to the board and immediately said, ‘we’re going to make things right,’ and safety was a big part of that.
And so, we brought in experts from a safety perspective, ANS, to take a look at our practices and culture. They come from the nuclear Navy, so they weren’t part of the rail industry, they were outside of the rail industry. But again, we wanted that fresh perspective.
We made changes, we promoted a new VP of Safety to have greater oversight and executed a six-point safety plan. And we’re seeing the results. We had one of the best safety records in the Class I rails this year, with our mainline accidents down just under 40%.
And Norfolk Southern is going to be stronger because of this event, and safer because of the event of East Palestine, and a lot of that credit is due to our executive team and the leadership that they’ve shown.
And as I think about my own experience as CEO, and my experience on other boards, where you have oversight of CEOs, a CEO that has the opportunity to prove that they can handle a crisis, and handle it well, can just become such an asset for an organization. And with Alan at the helm, I just have immense confidence in this team.
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