What An Opportunity
Earl Nightingale once said that there are four criteria that an individual must have when selecting employment:
1. You must be able to enjoy the challenging position.
2. You must have room for advancement.
3. You must be able to invest in your company or investment.
4. You must be able to work as many hours as you want.
These four criteria were the main reasons that I recently selected the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad as the company that I wanted to retire from.
The railroad created a position in real estate that is as rewarding as it is satisfying. Surprising as it may be, a great deal of the real estate department's job deals with safety. Every time our tracks are crossed, whether over or under, a hazard is created. Many of the primary hazards are obvious, such as a roadway inviting a collision, electrical wires creating electrocution possibilities, and gas lines creating explosion possibilities; however many of the hazards are not as apparent. Television and telephone cables are normally attached to electrical poles, which could take down several electrical poles if hit. Water, sewer, and other underground boring under the tracks disturbs the ballast, thus increasing the likelihood of a derailment.
The real estate departments job is to find all such crossings, insure proper installation, place the economic burden of the hazard on the parties creating it and eliminate as many crossings as possible through economics.
Another aspect of the real estate division is to locate A&M real estate that could be used better by an individual, municipality, or company rather that by the railroad and negotiate a fair purchase price with that entity in order to establish the best and highest use of the land, all the while keeping safety in mind.
The job requires detective work, real estate knowledge, legal knowledge, market knowledge, as well as negotiation skills. It's certainly challenging and, from my point of view, just plain fun.
Advancement is self-created. The better the performance, the more room for advancement. Real estate is tied to so many things in our economy that expansion is almost unlimited. One of the great things about the A&M Railroad employment is being able to invest in the company through stock purchases as well as ideals for improvement, to better the company as well as yourself. As a salaried employee, the railroad will let you work all the hours you can over 40 hours and never complain.
BOY, DO I LOVE THIS JOB!!
Don McNaughton
Manager of Real Estate
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