Product Description
From the Inside Flap
On a railroad, there are many decision points where trains are switched from one track to another to ensure they take the best route. These are switchpoints. Like a train in motion, corporate culturesencounter many switchpoints along the way—points where executive decisions create watershed change and define the organization's future route.
SwitchPoints is the inspiring story of how Canadian National Railway (CN) advanced from good to great in a few short years, becoming North America'stop-performing railroad—a favorite with bothcorporate customers and investors. Decisions by CN's leaders at critical switchpoints were key, as was the commitment of CN's dynamic CEO inleading the change.
In SwitchPoints, the authors share how company-wide culture change propelled this aging transportation giant to become the profitable powerhouse it is today. Rich with anecdotes, SwitchPoints offers lessons learned and demonstrates the powerful behavioral tools used to change the culture to drive outstanding results in any organization.
The authors—two CN executives and two consultantsfrom the Continuous Learning Group (CLG)—describe their firsthand experiences of applyingbehavioral science to change CN's culture. Theyalso share how they clarified CN's vision, selectedcritical switchpoints, employed managementtools for change, assessed their impact onprofitability, and "spiked the switches" to sustain the new culture.
The leadership practices presented here are directly applicable to any business. Even if your enterprise is non-industrial, or your company's culture is very different from CN's, what worked for CN will work for you, too—because behavioral tools apply to all people in any culture, country, language, or industry worldwide. The methods in SwitchPoints apply to any organization and will help enlighten leadership that seeks to improve the bottom line by improving culture.
Discover more at www.switchpointsbook.com.
From the Back Cover
"SwitchPoints is great reading for anyone in a leadership role. The lessons on theimportance of culture are clear and transferable. I highly recommend this book." —William R. Johnson, Chairman, President, and CEO, H.J. Heinz Company
"Any successful service business is the result of both sound management and good leadership—qualities epitomized by Hunter Harrison and the team that transformed CN from an economic laggard to the leader in its field." —Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO, FedEx Corporation
"SwitchPoints is a fascinating account of how the proper use of resources and technologies can be beneficial to everyone, including workers. The sweeping changes at CN Rail were awkward and difficult to accept at first, but have influenced the renewal of rail transport across the continent." —Buzz Hargrove, National President, Canadian Auto Workers
"SwitchPoints is a powerful blueprint for transformational change for any leader who faces seemingly insurmountable organizational challenges, including the one to either perish or persist." —John Dineen, President and CEO, GE - Transportation
"The transformation of Canadian National Railway from industry laggard to industry leader is a remarkable story. SwitchPoints offers a fascinating look at how Hunter Harrison led the CN team to accomplish that transformation." —Wick Moorman, CEO, Norfolk Southern Corporation
About the Author
Les Dakens, retired Senior Vice President of People for CN, was responsible for strategic direction of CN's Human Resources and Labour Relations in North America and worldwide. Prior to joining CN, Dakens was Vice President of Human Resources for the North American division of the H.J. Heinz Company.
Peter Edwards, Vice President of Human Resources for CN, is responsible for human resources, culture change, implementation, leadership, and organizational development. He assisted CN's CEO in writing two landmark books for employees and designed CN's "Railroad MBA" program.
Edward (Ned) Morse, a Senior Partner with CLG, offers three decades of experience helping Fortune 500 executives develop and implement business-critical strategies. Morse has worked with clients in transportation, petrochemicals, food service, healthcare, engineering, telecommunications, insurance, pharmaceuticals, and retail.
