TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2010


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S THE FEDERAL WORKER ‘Train geeks’ give railroad agency high marks


Surface Transportation Board ‘like a friendly small town’


by Lisa Rein On the top three floors of an of-


fice building wedged between the railroad tracks and the Southwest Freeway in Washington, a tight- knit staff of lawyers, economists and analysts churns out reviews and decisions in one of the most obscure corners of the federal government. This year, the Surface Trans-


portation Board has held hear- ings on coal shippers who ignore rules on coal-dust dispersal and a railroad’s request to abandon a freight line in Northern Maine. It has investigated community complaints about the merger of Canada’s national railway with a Chicago area railroad. Pretty dry stuff. Yet the 150 bu-


reaucrats tasked with the eco- nomic regulation of U.S. freight railroads came out on top among small federal agencies last week in a survey by the Partnership for Public Service of the Best Places to Work in government. The self-described crew of


train geeks and experts in the ar- cane field of railroad law gave their office high marks for team- work (85 percent) and pay (81 percent) and their bosses win- ning scores for leadership (87 percent). They know it sounds trite, but they describe themselves as a family with par- ents who are demanding but fair and have pride in what they do, since not a lot of other people un- derstand it. “It’s a little like a friendly small


town,” said Victoria Rutson, di- rector of the board’s environmen- tal shop, which includes an an- thropologist who monitors pro- posed new railroad lines for historically significant sites. “Small can be a real blessing.” Rutson’s office at 395 E Street


SW, a sleek glass complex that opened across from NASA in 2008, has three picture windows that face the Washington Monu- ment. Most of her colleagues also have offices instead of cubicles, another perk that makes the staff feel valued. These highly educated regula- tors, led by a three-member board that adjudicates mergers, new routes and other transac- tions in the $63 billion freight in- dustry, converse all day on the ar- cana of grade crossing protec-


tions and how mergers will affect shipping rates. But they also wear Hawaiian


shirts to the office on Fridays, share their quirks and hobbies on a five-minute video filmed after they’re hired — for roasting by colleagues later — and exchange gag gifts during the holidays. They’re regulators who are al- most never in the news, which they say is good for morale. Where some government


workers seem burdened by a top- down work culture, “we’re not hi- erarchical,” said Eric M. Weiss, a speechwriter for the board chair- man and agency spokesman. “If a GS-7 retires or the general coun- sel retires, they get the same sendoff.” Like many federal agencies, the board has no day-care center or subsidy for child care, which may account for low marks in the sur- vey for family-friendly culture and benefits (46 percent). But it does have a small gym, where the staff can shower after biking to work and put in an hour on the treadmill during lunch. About a third of the employees work from home one day a week, and 10 per- cent take off alternate Fridays, compressing their work into four 10-hour days. The Surface Transportation


On Leadership: The Federal Coach 6Excerpts from views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach


The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington


Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership. The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.” Share your ideas and questions at fedcoach@ ourpublicservice.org.


Favorite books on leadership The Federal Coach asked


federal leaders about their favorite books on leadership. Here’s the list, with his own favorite included. What’s your favorite leadership book? Please send your suggestions to fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org. My top pick — “The Cathedral


Within” by Bill Shore — continues to resonate with me. Shore uses the construction of cathedrals, including the National Cathedral, as a metaphor for the long-term view that those looking to make a difference must adopt. The idea is that the person who lays the foundation rarely gets to see the finished product, but they have started something spectacular. Here is a broad and interesting


selection of books from federal leaders: National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said, “My favorite book is ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ by Dr. Seuss. I think what Dr. Seuss reminds us is that the basic lessons about being a leader are listening to other people and listening to your heart. And in the end, those might be some of the most important things.” Patricia Adams, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for civilian human resources, recommends “Partners in Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace” by Mark Perry. It’s Eisenhower and Marshall writing to each other during World War II, with Marshall mentoring Eisenhower through the process. It’s a great book, and it helps her understand more about the military, she said. David L. McClure, associate administrator of the General


Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, said: “One that I use repeatedly in conversations that I have with people, which is ‘The Heart of Change’ by John Kotter. I think in my area, the technology area, it’s just so relevant. Because we tend to think about arguing for rational, process-driven solutions, whereas Kotter says, you’ve got to really get people to see and to feel the impact of what you’re proposing to change — an emotional touch to leadership.” Anh Duong, director of the borders and maritime security division in the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, recommends “It’s Okay to Be the Boss” by Bruce Tulgan. Duong says it advocates all leadership. High expectations inspire people to achieve, the book says, but at the same time, it stresses the willingness to apply what you call tough love at bad attitudes and underperformers. U.S. Citizenship and


Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said he draws the greatest motivation from biographies of Abraham Lincoln. Many people don’t realize, Mayorkas said, that Lincoln’s great accomplishments, what he is most remembered for, were achieved in the last six years of his life. It speaks to the power of each day and the power of making the most of each day. Douglas B. Wilson, assistant


secretary of defense for public affairs, likes “What it Takes: The Way to the White House” by Richard Ben Cramer. “It’s the best book, I think, on political campaigns ever written.” Another is “The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the


FED FACES


Till Rosenband Physicist, National Institute of Standards and Technology Best known for: Working at an NIST laboratory in Colorado, Ro- senband applied a radical idea in quantum physics to invent the world’s most precise timekeeping device. This new atomic clock is considered 30 times better than the current version and will lose only one second in 3 billion years. Atomic clocks provide precise time and frequency information used every day for key applica- tions such as synchronizing tele- communications and computer networks, controlling electric power grids, enabling satellite navigation and positioning sys- tems, and documenting financial transactions. Government service: NIST staff physicist, November 2006 to


our clock atoms to behave! Noth- ing really works the first time you try it. In the laboratory, you’re constantly figuring out why some- thing doesn’t work.” Quote: “Laboratory research is


a patient quest. You’re learning about hidden errors and unantici- pated difficulties, and after every- thing is fixed and the experiment works just right, you can see what you were hoping for. This mo- ment feels like a small miracle. Af- ter several of these laboratory miracles and some true luck, my colleagues and I finally had a su- per-accurate atomic clock.” —From the Partnership for Public Service


Till Rosenband helped invent a “super-accurate” atomic clock.


the present. Biggest challenge: “Getting


For more on Rosenband, go to washingtonpost.com/fedpage. Send your nominations for Federal Faces to fedfaces@washpost.com.


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Board, with a $29 million budget, is relatively young, having been carved out of the Interstate Com- merce Commission in 1996 after the railroads were deregulated. Trucking and other industries the ICC had overseen came under the federal Transportation Depart- ment, which oversees rail safety and operations. Today, the STB has jurisdiction over mergers, new construction and expansion, rates, service dis- putes and other economic deci- sions in the industry — and re- cently added to its portfolio the management of passenger rail- roads, including Amtrak, that travel over freight tracks. While the chairman and board members are political appoint- ees, the board is widely viewed as nonpartisan. Since being ap- pointed by President Obama in August 2009, Daniel R. Elliott has pushed for more mediation be- tween disputing parties to avoid costly litigation. He has made some proceedings public and pledged to communi- cate news of cases in plainer Eng- lish. He holds open houses every Thursday afternoon, for any staff member to come by his office. He started a “genius” award for em- ployees who come up with good ideas. The first went to a woman


who discovered a software pro- gram that enabled the staff to look up board decisions dating to the ICC days. “For the most part, these are


very driven people who are inter- ested in what they do,” Elliott said. “They come here for a better lifestyle. You’re definitely going to work hard here — but you’re not going to put in 80-hour weeks.” The staff includes former ship-


pers, rail operators, engineers, statisticians and many lawyers who put in 80-hour weeks until they decided on a different path. Weiss calls the level of expertise a “cross between a law firm and a college faculty.” Janie Sheng was a lawyer spe- cializing in transportation law on a partner track at a top Washing- ton firm until she came to the board six months ago. “I was one of the few people who knew what the STB was,” she joked. She took a big pay cut but doesn’t regret it. With two young children, she has a more predictable schedule and far fewer hours. But she says she’s never bored. “You can’t fully know this area of the law until you’ve gone to the agency that regulates the indus- try,” Sheng said. “The nerdy side of me comes out.”


reinl@washpost.com WASHINGTONPOST.COM


So your agency didn’t do so well in the “Best Places to Work” rankings, announced last week. What’s the problem? If you were in charge, what would you do to improve things?


Q.


 E-mail your answer to federalworker@ washpost.com and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We might include your response in Friday’s Washington Post. When answers are particularly sensitive, we will consider a respondent’s request to withhold full identification.


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Douglas B. Wilson


United States Army” by Greg Jaffe. “It’s a book about four current generals who, I think, represent the new generation of Army leadership at a new time and in a new context of war. It’s a really interesting examination of how each of these individuals not only represents this new framework, but helped to shape it,” Wilson said. U.S. General Services Administration Administrator Martha Johnson says the one that she has read over and over


Martha Johnson


again is “All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren. Johnson says it’s a beautifully written book that in the political scene teaches you how complex everybody is when they enter into these arenas of power. Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams noted that Nelson Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom” is an outstanding book, because it’s one of these unique situations where someone who’s in prison for a long time comes out with a


positive view of what needs to be done in that society. He has a plan of action to carry it out and doesn’t allow the past to be baggage that impedes his way to progress in the future, Williams said.


Visit On Leadership at views. washingtonpost.com/leadership/ fedcoach. Mondays: “Getting Ahead” — advice on leading up. Wednesdays: “View From the Top Floor.”


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