¶ Making an impact on people's lives
I had this aha moment. I had two of them actually. The first one was within the first week or two of my, joining, BCT. And I was out, meeting with customers. And, we happened to walk up to a gentleman who was, waiting for one of our buses. And I introduced myself and said hello. And he shared with us that he was in recovery. That he was from another state and that he could come to Broward County to pursue his recovery and that our bus system kept him sober.
Now, if that isn't moving, I don't know what is. But that's not the last one of those stories.
¶ About this episode from your host Paul Comfort
That's Coree Cuff Lonergan, CEO of Broward County Transit from our recent Transit Unplugged Live CEO Roundtable at the APTA Expo in Orlando. I'm Paul Comfort and this is the Transit Unplugged Podcast. On this episode, we bring you part one of the live audio from that CEO Roundtable with five of America's leading new public transit agency CEOs. Each of them started their position around about a year ago with plenty of gusto and plans to improve their agencies and service.
But there's been some surprises along the way. They'll tell you about them and how they've navigated and made decisions during their inaugural year on the job. Let's go to the CEO roundtable recorded before a live audience at APTA Expo.
¶ Discussion with five new Transit CEOs recorded live at APTA TRANSform Conference and EXPO
transit Unplugged CEO roundtable. So you ready to start? All right, let's hear it. Come on, let's give our CEOs a round of applause. We've got Corey Cuff Lonergan, my new friend, who is general manager. A lot of you have heard the city, Fort Lauderdale. The county is Broward County, Florida. Let's welcome her. And Dave Dech is the executive director of what's commonly known as TriRail, but is the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. Let's welcome him.
Dave and I did one of these as well as a few of the others a few months ago at the ThinkTransit Conference. And then Dottie Watkins, the CEO and President of Capital CapMetro, as it's commonly known, down in Austin, doing an amazing job. I was just down there, I don't know if you're aware, we'll talk about this a little bit, but they probably have, well, they have a 7 billion capital program, so it's probably the biggest in the nation. Uh, and they're doing some amazing things down there.
And then our host, uh, for this week in Orlando is Tiffany Hobler Hawkins, who's head of LYNX as it's commonly known here in Orlando, the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority. And then my good pal... Frank White, who is CEO and President of Kansas City Area Transportation Authority in Kansas City. Let's welcome him. You all might remember Frank's dad was a Golden Gloves and a Hall of Famer in baseball. Great guy. So he's come from great lineage to run the transit system there.
I told him he's got to bring a celebrity when we do the barbecue tasting. He said is my dad count? I said absolutely. I can't wait to meet him. All right, so let's get started. First thing we want CEO kind of tell us a little about themselves and their agency and how long they've been in their position. So, do you mind starting?
No problem. All right, good. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm glad to be here. My name, again, is Coree Cuff Lonergan uh, I'm with, uh, Broward County Transit. I've been on, in my role now for just over seven months. It's been very exciting. We have, uh, over 1, 300 transit professionals that work with us. We are the second largest transit agency in the state of Florida, which we're particularly excited about.
Um, we also have a very exciting program that I'm gonna speak to in another part of the question, but the PRIMO program, so when we talk about spending billions on transit, we're getting ready to do that. Uh, and so right now we're a bus company. Um, but we're going to be a multimodal powerhouse in just a little bit. I'm glad to be here and thank you.
Thank you so much. Alright, Dave, tell us about yourself and what you do, my friend.
Good afternoon, my name is Dave Dech um, I guess as soon as I figure out what I do, I'll share that with everybody. But I am, uh, my title is the Executive Director in South Florida. I've been there, I just celebrated a year. Uh, in South Florida. I spent the previous, uh, few years in Austin with Dottie. Um, and then 20 something years prior to that in freight railroading. So it's been a, it's been a, uh, a whirlwind tour here at Learning, uh, transit.
Yeah, I always thought rail was rail was rail was rail. And I could not have been, uh, more wrong. But, uh, it's, it's been a great ride and it's a great bunch of people and I am thrilled to be here.
Very good, thank you. Alright, Dottie, tell us about CapMetro.
Alright, so I'm Dottie Watkins, I'm honored and humbled to be the CEO of CapMetro in my hometown of Austin, Texas. I've been at CapMetro for 29 years, um, so it's pretty much the only real job I've ever had. Um, rose to the ranks of bus operations, um, I've been CEO full time for about 9 months. I served for a handful of months before that as the interim CEO, um, and we've got a thing or two going on. we've got a lot of great stuff.
This stuff, um, already on the ground and coming shortly, uh, to help our community and really help our region, um, handle the amazing growth that we keep seeing.
Dottie and I were on a bus last week, uh, riding out to, um, where were we going? Barton Springs. Barton Springs, right. Great, great, um, spring fed, 68 degree year round, uh, place you can swim, but the driver on the bus just happened to be somebody she started her, her life with, her career with as a driver so many years ago, so it's just, I love seeing somebody who's moved right up the ranks like that. It's amazing. Congratulations. All right, Tiffany from Orlando.
Let us know about you and your, uh, agency.
Thank you all for being here and joining us in Orlando for APTA Expo. Um, we are honored that you all are here. Uh, a little over 1, 100 employees. My CFO, Lenny Antman, is sitting right here. He'll correct me on any numbers, um, as we move forward. 1, 100 employees, 300 buses serving 2. 5 million people in Central Florida. We serve Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. It's about 2, 500 square miles, but my lame joke is that about 1, 000 of those square miles, there's more cows than people.
For now, in 10 years, we may have to have another conversation about that. Um, LYNX, uh, I have been in this role as CEO for a little over a year. Um, we are moving projects forward that we have been talking about for a very long time. I think we all have lines on maps for light rail projects, but, uh, over the next year we're going to be focusing on our facilities. Um, LYNX Central Station will be 20 years old next year.
Um, LYNX, being known as LYNX, will be 30 next year, so 2024 is a big year for LYNX.
And she's got the job of the CEO of the happiest place on earth, right?
Absolutely. I want to see everybody smiling.
That's right. I actually thought that when I got to the airport. I'm here, the happiest place in the world. All right, Frank White, tell us about Kansas City and your background, my friend.
Thanks, Paul. Good afternoon, everybody. Frank White, the third President and CEO of the KCATA or the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. We're a bi state authority created by Congress with a broad set of cool powers and tools that. Um, we haven't used in 54 years, but we're using now. Um, we can do a, we do a lot of what we call a transport development work, community work, um, stitching things together, a lot of BRT work. Uh, seven counties that really only one's been used.
So, uh, very excited to be here. I've been here 14 months. Um, Interim, then permanent in January. And, um, having a lot of fun with the job. It's always better to be in charge than not so's uh, absolutely brother. It's a good thing. So thanks for being here. And it's fun to see people that we kind of all in the last year or so, our different journeys and different things. Like see Dottie smile. She's, last time I saw her, she's like, uh, so So it is good to see her smiling and happy, so thanks.
That's good, Frank. So Frank, tell us about, um, what surprised you most when you first, you 14 months ago? What surprised you most about being a CEO?
Um, the biggest surprise is everyone thinks they're a transit planner. You know, everyone thinks they know our jobs better than we do. Um, and they really don't know Jack, right? Um, they assume that there's an endless bucket of money and they think that we don't think about these things every day. Like we don't want more frequent service, that we don't want more safety, that we don't want more broader service.
Um, and, and really just the sheer ignorance of the general public to how public transit really works. Um, and I've had to learn patience to understand that you, you can't really criticize people because they don't know. But it's just, there's the general person on the street. They just say, y'all, why aren't you doing this? Or, you should do this. For example, we had Beyonce in Kansas City, uh, last weekend. And it was just a traffic nightmare. And by Monday it was my fault.
And I was like, well, they didn't ask us. To do anything. And there's, and really we couldn't have done anything just because the way it was all laid out. But people don't care about that. That that's, that's been the biggest thing is just trying to fight the, the ignorance, right. Of just people not understanding the rules and FTA rules and charter rules, right? All these things that we really don't control. So that, that by far has been the biggest thing. Paul.
And you have another company that runs your light rail system, right? Or your.
Streetcar authority is separate entity, and, and people get those two confused. And we do work very well with Tom and his streetcar guys, but it's on the RideKC brand, but we don't control what streetcar does. And so it's always like, well, hey, 24 hour service, why not? Well, yeah, there you go. So, I mean, there's different, you know, we got the free fare, that whole thingy, so.
Oh, we'll talk about that, yeah. All right, Tiffany, what, uh, you've been on your job how long now as CEO?
Uh, just a little over a year between the interim and permanent, uh, CEO roles.
So when you finally got the desk where it says the buck stops here, what surprised you the most?
That it really does stop here. Um, no, I, one, you don't know what you don't know going in and even though I came up through the agency, um, you know, there were just things that I, I didn't know. Um, but one of the things I really didn't know is the resiliency of the LYNX team.
Over the last year, the LYNX team has, um, they have dealt with the death of a CEO, two hurricanes, two major hurricanes in central Florida, uh, union negotiations, a paratransit contract transition that took 29 days instead of 120. Um, and they, they meet each challenge with the same level of enthusiasm, and I really didn't know how resilient this team was until, uh, the buck stopped here. So
it's great. And you have another big, you know, you have what Disney and all these other big companies that you're working with constantly, right? And there is a lot of politics involved in all that. And I mean, you've got a lot going on here.
We do have a lot going on. And even though we have, uh, the largest single site employer here, uh, in Orange County and Osceola with Disney, um, we compete for the same workforce, right? We, we compete for the same workforce. Um, but it really is a community effort. And we're, we're trying to move more people and put the mass back in mass transit.
Oh, I love that. That's good. All right, Dottie, what surprised you most?
Well, I think there were a handful of things that were surprising. Having been in the organization for so long, it was... It's weird how different it felt to be the CEO, right? I had been on the leadership team for a very long time. I felt like I knew all the people. I did know them, had been in the trenches with them, but it just was different. All of a sudden, people look at you different and talk to you different.
But I think the thing that I found most surprising as the year has worn on is how much I enjoy being the face of CapMetro to the community, how much it really is kind of fun to go out and remind people in my hometown, like, why we care about public transit and why it's worth the investment. Even if you don't ride, let's talk about who does ride and how.
Getting that person out of their car actually helps you as you drive your car or, you know, the economic growth that is necessary by getting our essential workers and our hourly folks to work, like how all of that just fits together. And I've been surprised by how, like, eager to hear what it is you do and why should I care about it? People are. People really do want to understand. I always just sort of presume nobody cares about us. Um, because that's how they behave most of the time.
But like, if you really engage with them, they really do care. And so, it's been a lot of fun to really get out in the community and be able to spread that message.
I think most of you all know this, but I don't think a lot of people really understand the role of a transit CEO. It's analogous to, I always say, and I told her this when I was there, like a small town mayor. You have, you know, HR, finance, IT, procurement, legal, just like a mayor would in an operation. You've got all your operations.
You represent one of the key functions, probably, you know, with the school superintendent and the head of the transit system and maybe the head of the police department, the three most visible public officials in the city along with the mayor and it is, uh, and you catch a lot of flack and you don't get a lot of credit. So, it's a tough job and you guys are doing phenomenal in your first year. Dave, how about you? Tell me about your surprise. You came from the outside.
These three kind of grew up in their agencies some. Tell me about what, uh, what it was like.
Well, um, I think, I don't know how much of a surprise it was, but I guess I'll say I was, I was surprised how little I know. Right, so, like, I know trains, and I knew how to operate trains, I know how to, you know, contingency plan for trains, but there's so much more to it, just like you just alluded to. Um, and then, you know, coming from the outside, um, you know, you're generally there for, you know, you're not new because things were going well.
So, somebody wants a change, somebody wants a change, so then you come in and you don't know anybody, so you have to learn all the people in the counties, and you've got to figure out who, you know, who's our friends, and who's, who do we need to have as our friends, um, and then you have, I mean, quite honestly, a pretty terrified workforce, who, here's this new person coming in, uh, that we don't know, uh, we don't know if we can trust him, we don't know where he's coming from, we don't know.
So that's, there's, there was such a lightning fast having to establish relationships and build trust, uh, because I don't know. And I need people who trust me enough to disagree with me. And that's hard when they don't know you. So that, I think that was one of the biggest surprises.
That's good. I actually don't know a whole lot of CEOs who have that attitude. That's a great attitude. You want people to tell you, I mean, I'm sure we know this, especially when you're new on the job, you want people to tell you stuff because the last thing you want is to be surprised. So you want people to tell you that. How about you? What was your, um, what was your big surprise?
So, thanks Paul. Um, so for me, um, so in full disclosure, I'm a continual adult learner. So the first thing I did as soon as I got this job was to pick up a book. and read about what it takes to be a CEO. Um, and I also did some research with other CEOs to kind of get a feel for what the expectations were going to be. And then I got this book that talked about what to do your first 90 days, 100 days. If you've seen those books, they're very interesting.
And, uh, one of those books said, whatever your plan is, just be prepared for it to blow up. Right, so what surprised me the most was how quickly my plan blew up. And in all fairness, uh, what ended up happening was we were charged with, uh, with pulling together our capital, uh, investment program, um, for our PRIMO plan. Um, 200 miles of new transit service to Broward County.
Um, and that's going to be, uh, commuter rail, light rail, uh, bus rapid transit, high frequency bus service, an expansion of our bus fleet. And, uh, basically had to kind of figure out what that looked like, put a package together, communicate that to the public, and get buy in. And I had to do that in my first 90 days. and I had to get our commission to agree that this was worth spending 4. 3 billion dollars on.
I'm happy to say that we got a unanimous vote and a nod to move forward with our PRIMO plan. so that, that was huge.
Did you hear all the, she's going to talk about this in the next question, but it's like three modes, brand new modes coming to her, to her county. Amazing.
So, so the biggest surprise to answer your question and to close this out was that I had to do that and had to do it so quickly. Um, and I think one of the things in these roles. is, you know, the surprise is how you end up spending your time, because you think you're going to spend it one way, and it's never what you think it's going to be, and I think that was my biggest surprise.
That's great. One thing, you know, if you want to move up in your career to potentially be a CEO one day of a transit agency, I think you can see one skill set demonstrated right across the board here. And that is verbal communication skills. All of them are tremendous communicators, uh, can, you know, communicate with empathy and explain to you what's happening. Even if it's a complex idea, they can break it down to help anyone understand it.
And I'm very impressed, and it's just, it made me think about that, that as you continue to move your way up, I'm telling you... 21st century leadership, it requires good communication skills, so we've got great examples of it here, and I'm going to ask them to continue to demonstrate that by telling a story. Everybody loves a story, so I'm going to ask each of you to tell me a story.
What's one thing about your position or responsibilities that most people don't know, and tell us a quick story to illustrate it. And I'm going to start with Dottie. Are you, you ready? You got one?
So I think that, um, one of the things, and I shared this with some of my colleagues when we were on this panel, a similar panel back at the ThinkTransit Conference. Um, one of the things that was a surprise to me was how pervasive politics is in the work that we do because we are, such public facing organizations, but I think the one thing that That I didn't know, so I'm going to presume most people don't know it, because that makes me feel better about myself.
Is that, um, politicians are people too. And that ultimately, it's all about seeing people as people, and meeting the people where they are. Um, we had a difficult, um, transition, um, shortly, right after I was given my contract, or right as I was given my contract. Um, we got a new mayor, an almost new... City Council, about half of them were new, um, and then we had an ice storm.
I remember that.
And, um, it was actually kind of the weirdest, like, we were the, it was the, literally the perfect storm. It was like, just drizzly and icy enough in central Texas where we have a ton of live oak trees which keep their leaves in the winter. So then, they got really icy and heavy and started literally cracking off the trees and falling all over the power lines and doing all of this stuff.
Um, and I think one of the things that... that we kind of learned from that was You know, not everyone is, is, is going to be necessarily up for the task, and our, our city leadership struggled with communication during that time, and just put out a lovely after action report if you're really dying to hear it, um, but I think really realizing that like, Oh, wait, even these people who I have held up as, you know, in high esteem for a very long time in my career can also look up one day and have
an oh no moment, right? We don't usually say oh no, but we're recording this for the podcast. So I'll keep it clean Um and and have that moment where you realize like This isn't going well, and, and really be able to, to see that in them. So, I think that, um, just realizing that every, everyone has their faults, and we never, nobody ever figures it out, I think that has really been driven home for me, um, in this, in this last year.
I was very proud of the way Capital Metro responded in that crisis. We were, um, We were fresh off of two years before we had had what we called snow apocalypse, where we got six inches of snow, which never happens in Austin, Texas. And so we had learned a lot about decision making and communicating with our customers, and we were able to put that into action, um, this past February. So, um, yeah, it's, everybody makes mistakes.
It's great story. Tiffany, how about you?
And, and to echo, uh, Dottie's story about elected officials being regular people. My husband is a former state legislator, so they really are just people and, and they all don't have seven heads. So, um, I, and, and going to the emergency response, um, I think that's what people don't know the most about transit is our role in emergency response. Uh, LYNX obviously Florida hurricane response, we do that in our sleep. it is a machine. It goes like clockwork, uh, when it works well.
But what they also don't is when there are dignitaries or events, they use the buses as, um, uh, security. Um, Secret Service will work through our Emergency Operations Center and request buses because they look better for blocking off roads than garbage trucks. Um, we are going to be having the, uh, U. S. Olympic Marathon Trials here in February and LYNX is playing a significant role in that time trial in blocking the route.
I think when they had the time trials in Atlanta, they expected 250, 000 people. Um, so we're going to have an influx of 250, 000 people in downtown Orlando in February. Monster Jam is a very big event here in Orlando and we, um, and, and you know this, when there's a crisis, uh, like Pulse, um, a major corridor was shut down in downtown Orlando for over a week and it was the heat of summer, it was June.
And cooling buses are the one thing that, you know, we as transit agencies can provide, um, in that emergency response. So I think that's one of the biggest, when, you know, I packed my bag to go for a hurricane response, you know, my husband's like, see you in a week, you know, maybe. And, but, look, they've been going faster, so, you know, it's only been a day or two.
Yeah, that's good. That's a really good, uh, analysis. One of the things that made me think about when you talk about politics, the one thing I was most surprised about when I became a CEO in Baltimore, was that every week a politician called and asked me to move a bus stop. They wanted to put it here, they wanted to put it there, and you had to respond to that. I couldn't, I was like, really? Yeah, you know, they either didn't want people coming to their community or they did want more.
You got any of that, Frank, going on? Or you got...
Bus stop placement standards are awesome.
This is being recorded, so I'm not going to actually say anything. What's one of the, uh, what's a fun story from you that's something you didn't think about? I don't know if it's fun. I think in leadership, people follow you, right? And so, you know, normally, I think Dave said, when you get this job, you don't get it because things are going well. So when I came in, uh, last August, uh, it was, it was, it was a cluster, okay?
You know, leadership confusion, board confusion, we had no contract with the city, new union contract, everybody's like, what's going on? And the thing that struck me the most was, you're now responsible for 620 people and their families. So any decision you make, good or bad, you know, you're affecting lives. And so, to navigate that, so I would say to somebody, leadership is lonely.
Because you've got to make decisions and you hope they're the right decisions, but you've got to make decisions regardless. And so I look back on it now and I kind of laugh at it, Paul, but at the time it was kind of hairy because, you know, you have no controversy, you have no funding, the federal government is like, who's this guy? Do we trust this guy? What's his plan? And you're like, well, I think, I know I can do it.
Um, but at the same time, you've got to show your staff and your employees that you've got it figured out. And, and they don't, because they're looking at you like, well, if he's freaking out, then we're in trouble. and so, you learn to become very mentally tough. And, and you also become somewhat isolated. Because you have to make these decisions dispassionately. And they're not personal decisions, because you think of the agency first. And will the agency survive?
And so for me, I'm better now because of it, but it was a very intense period because you really don't know. You think you got it figured out, but, you're taking all these things I just said, it's like this jambalaya of stuff, and you're hoping it's going to work. You add the political dynamic to it, all the other stuff as well, um, and so you really have to lean on and really learn to believe in yourself, um, because people don't want to see their leader weak.
Because, you know, it's like you're on a plane. If the flight attendants are nervous, then you get nervous. So, that's been the biggest thing. It's not a really fun story, but it's a proud story. Because I'm still here. And they're all still here, and they still like me, I think. At least they're getting paid, so it's a good thing. But at the same time, you can't do it without your folks, right? Everybody that's here from the ATA, you know, they all stepped up.
Um, I think Tyler might have been the person I hired outside, but everything we've done Paul is by the people who are already there. So that's a testament to the people that were already there.
The other thing that you alluded to but didn't say it is that, you know, if anything happens, bad, it isn't something that you personally did probably. It's something that happens. You know, a crash or a derailment. It's your face on the cover of the newspaper, on the front, uh, story of the evening news, if it bleeds, it leads, as they say. I mean, it's a very personal, uh, thing that people don't, don't understand unless they're sitting in so
you have to become incredibly mentally tough. You have to get a very, very thick skin. Yeah. And, and, and not take it personal. And no one does, no one likes being criticized, right? But it's just part of the job. That's right. And we go in, so. Um, everybody, you know, you find your, your, your therapy, whatever that may be. I prefer cigars and whiskey. Um, and, and it's, it's a joke because...
Can't wait to come to Kansas City.
Oh, I got some place we can go.
Alright, good. I'm looking forward to it. Paul wants to come too.
You are more than welcome. Um, but, but that's the biggest thing. It's just, it's just... You don't get to, you don't get to like, have the self doubt. Because if there's any sense of, like, weakness, they will, people will see it. And, and they will pounce on it. So
that's good. All right. Tell your story.
You know, as transit professionals, we know the, the, the passengers. We know who our customers are. We know who the people are that we serve, and, and sometimes, you know, they are some of the people that don't have choices of whether they use transit or not. Um, and quite frankly, society may or may not been very kind to them. And so they, they get to their critical. activities, whether it's work or school or doctor's appointments using us. So, from, from my perspective, I had this aha moment.
Um, I had two of them actually. the first one was within the first, uh, week or two of my, uh, joining, uh, BCT. And I was out, um, meeting with customers. And, um, we happened to walk up to a gentleman who was, um, waiting for one of our buses. And, um, you know, I introduced myself and said hello. And he proceeded to tell his story, right? And, you know, he said, how are things going for you? And he shared with us that he was in recovery.
That he was from another state and that he could come to Broward County to pursue his recovery and that our bus system kept him sober. Now, if that isn't moving, I don't know what is. Because that made me feel like this is where I need to be and I'm doing the job I should be doing. But that's not the last one of those stories. Shortly after that, I met a woman on one of our express buses. So we have express service that goes from Broward County down to Miami. And she shared with me her story.
And her story was that she was a breast cancer survivor. And she had recently, been, through her treatment process and was returning to work. And part of her returning to work meant that she had to drive from home every day to Miami, which she was struggling with. The stress was bothering her. the physical, activity of actually driving was bothering her. And finally, somebody from her work said, you should try the express bus service.
She said that she wouldn't even have her job if it weren't for the bus service that we were providing and how she could get to work and how she could be relaxed when she got to work and that was part of her recovery story. So, when I think about the things that, um, we're able to influence, we, we don't know it. But, you know, again, that's what makes me really want to come to work every day and work with the wonderful people that I work with who are in the audience, many of them.
I'm glad you're here. Um, but, you know, we all share that.
That's wonderful. It came to me, uh, a while ago that when public transit is going well, a lot of times the CEOs don't hear about it, um, and, uh, but if you do it, if we do it wrong, it can ruin somebody's day. Ruin maybe more than just their day. You know, taking people to dialysis and all that. So those personal stories have a real impact, I think, on people in the agency that they understand the impact they're having on people's lives. That's a wonderful story. Two, two wonderful stories.
Dave, do you have a story?
I have a lot of stories. Um, but it's um, you know, just to piggyback on, I think the thing that surprised me what people don't, you hear it, you hear it's lonely, right? It's lonely. I don't want to say it's lonely, but you need to, it's, before you get into one of these positions, it's important to have a network of people in place that you can call and complain to. It's been recorded, so I will say complain to. You know, my wife only wants to hear so much of it, right?
Um, but, you know, I'm in a fortunate spot where I have a couple people who are really close to me that are in the exact same spot. So Corey and I will talk together, I see Clinton over there, Eulois around. Uh, people who are in a similar spot, that you can complain to, you know, or I can call Dottie because I'm not to where, I, I, I don't know I'll ever be where I don't take it personally. You know, the criticism, I think I will always, take it personally.
You need to have that functional outlet, um, you know, I know who both of my internet trolls are. Like, one of these days, I'm going to have more internet trolls, like I have two, but and I, and my wife's like, why are you reading those? I'm like, because that's, I mean, you have to hear the bad stuff too, right?
but it's so important to be able to talk to people who are, because No one at work wants to hear it, like, hey, listen, you competed for this job, you asked for it, you know, you got it. Um, so no one wants to hear it. And, uh, so it's important to find that group of people around you that you can trust. Um, and that's what, you know, I always kind of say what's special and different about transit, where I came from a class 1 railroad, where if I called my buddy to cry, he would record it.
Put it on the internet, and that would be, that would be the end of it, but like, in this business, people care about each other, and people share with each other, and this is a, and, and I say this, it's an absolute unique business, where everyone is 100 percent interested in everyone else's success. So we should all be happy about that, but build those networks, and have someone to complain to.
That's good. Yeah, it is interesting about our industry, isn't it? Because every transit agency... It doesn't compete against the other city. Let's get a big round of applause for all five of our CEOs, Corey Cuff Lonergan, Dottie Watkins, Frank White, Tiffany Hawkins, and Dave Dech thank you so much for being here as part of our Transit Unplugged podcast live today for you. And thank you for being here today. Thank you.
¶ Marketing Minute with Elea Carey
I believe the number one skill set required for a leader to move up in the public transportation industry Now in the 21st century is communications. That's why we regularly bring you our Our Transit Unplugged communications expert, Elea Carey, explaining to you ways you can improve communications in your agency and your personal skill set
Hi, I'm Elea Carey, a communications consultant who loves working with public transit agencies. The way Paul talks with this panel about their leadership trajectories and what it means to be in the driver's seat of a transportation organization got me thinking about internal communications. I was particularly struck by Dottie Watkins saying one of her biggest surprises upon becoming a CEO is that people treat you differently. Now Dottie doesn't say if that was a good thing or a less good thing.
But one possibility is that if your internal people are treating you differently, you might not be getting the information or transparency that you need to do your job. How can internal communications help that? Internal communications are all those things we do to communicate with the people we work with on official channels. A solid internal communications plan will increase employee engagement, cut down on turnover, and help you mitigate interpersonal conflict on your teams.
Most organizations that function well have healthy, active internal comms channels. That means they're sending out regular newsletters to employees, they're celebrating their staff members for achievements and milestones, they're providing feedback mechanisms and creating safe spaces for employees to talk about their experiences without retribution.
Healthy internal communications means sending out the same information in many different formats and doing so repeatedly to make sure that employees with a variety of communication styles get the message. And internal comms extends beyond just communicating to include creating fun, meaningful events, great reasons for your team to get together and put their focus on something other than work.
If you'd like to talk more about how a healthy internal comms plan can help you create a strong organization or anything else related to communications and public transit, look me up on LinkedIn. My first name is spelled E L E A, last name C A R E Y.
¶ Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged
Hi, this is Tris Hussey, blog, and podcast manager at Modaxo and the editor of Transit Unplugged. I'd like to thank our guests on this week's special episode recorded live at the APTA TRANSform Conference and EXPO Coree Cuff Lonergan, Dave Dech, Dottie Watkins, Frank White and Tiffany Homler Hawkins. Now coming up next week. It's the start of season seven. We kick off season seven, episode one with none other than Randy Clarke head of WMATA. This interview recorded in Randy's office.
Where Paul and Randy talk about the challenges, WMATA has been seeing, how Randy has solved them, but what the fiscal cliff might mean for the agency. While you're listening to the show. We'd appreciate it. If you could take a moment and rate and review the show. Rating and reviewing it helps other people find Transit Unplugged and be part of our transit enthusiast community. If you have a question comment, or I'd like to be a guest on the show. Feel free to email [email protected].
Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo. At Modaxo, we're passionate about moving the world's people. And it Transit Unplugged. We're passionate about telling those stories. So until next week ride safe and ride happy.