Headline: A lifetime of career advice On Jan. 29, Thomas Hund, executive vice president and CFO of BNSF Railway, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fort Worth Business Press’ CFO of the Year award ceremony. Hund is retiring this month after a long career at BNSF that has seen the railroad grow from a small business to one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies, operating on 32,500 miles of track in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. After receiving the award, Hund took to the podium to share eight points that he felt could help others in their career.
From Thomas Hund:
• Embrace new technology. It is a great enabler of productivity. • Adopting the status quo and deciding not to change is a decision. We don’t normally think of it that way.
• Have financial discipline in your organizations. Not just good controls, but good fundamental ways of looking at alternatives.
• Not every decision is made by numbers, though. Our world is a combination of art and science. Learn to use both.
• Develop your staff. You won’t be there forever.
• Walk the talk. It is sometimes uncomfortable to be in a “C-Suite” job because people are watching how you act. At BNSF we say you have to Model the way!
• Enjoy the journey as well as the destination. We too often focus only on the end point that we forget to enjoy how we get there. • Love your job, your company and your fellow workers. That will make for a great and satisfying career.
Send InMarket ideas to rfrancis@bizpress.net