Part 3 in a Series: Lead Yourself First, RAILWAY AGE JANUARY 2026 ISSUE: In Part 1 of this series, I shared how rail leaders who are positive deviants in the industry navigate uncertainty utilizing four distinguishing high-performance habits. They universally heighten awareness, increase clarity, build alignment and drive momentum. The response to the article was overwhelming—and it also surfaced a deeper question many asked privately: “How do I lead my organization through crisis or uncertainty when I’m struggling with my own doubts?”
It’s good question that illustrates what I’ve learned from the highest-performing leaders in heavy industry, specifically the rail sector: We cannot lead others through uncertainty if we haven’t first learned to lead ourselves. We call this collection of skills the Trinity of Excellence: Know Yourself, Control Yourself and Respect Yourself.
When track supervisors are looking to you for confidence during a safety incident, when union negotiations are at a breaking point, or when federal regulators are demanding answers you don’t have yet, your ability to lead yourself in that moment determines the trajectory of the team and the results.
Leading isn’t about perfection. It’s about three fundamental components that the best leaders master: self-awareness, self-control and self-respect.
Know Yourself: Self Awareness is Vital
I’ve watched a veteran rail executive freeze during a crisis. A derailment had occurred, the media was circling, and his team needed decisive action. But he couldn’t make a call, and when he finally did, the call was objectively the wrong one and it took too long to be made. Heightening self-awareness would have helped in this situation. It’s recognizing what’s really driving your decisions: fear vs. purpose, ego vs. mission, anxiety vs. confidence.
Self-awareness means asking yourself the hard questions: Am I reacting from fear or responding from wisdom? Am I avoiding this conversation because it’s truly not urgent, or because it makes me uncomfortable?
In rail operations, we have sophisticated monitoring systems for every mile of track. The most important monitoring system rail leaders have is the one inside themselves. Exceptional heavy-industry leaders know their triggers, recognize their patterns and understand when their emotions are driving the train instead of their judgment.The highest performers schedule time for self-reflection—not as a luxury, but as operational necessity.
Control Yourself: Master Your Response
Here’s what separates good leaders from great ones: the space between stimulus and response. Something goes wrong. A regulatory audit finds violations, a key employee quits during a critical project, a labor dispute threatens operations. In that moment, everyone is watching to see how you respond.
Self-control isn’t about suppressing your emotions or pretending everything is fine. It’s about choosing your response instead of letting your emotions or the circumstances choose it for you.
I’ve seen rail leaders receive devastating news and still walk into a network operations center with composure, not because they didn’t feel the weight of the event, but because they understood that panic is contagious—and so is calm.
Self-control means you don’t fire off an angry email at midnight. You don’t make threats you can’t follow through on. You don’t promise solutions before you understand the problem. When you hear a difference of opinion regarding a crucial decision, receive new information at the wrong time or someone demonstrates they can’t or won’t do what is expected, do you act out or avoid a possible confrontation?
Your team doesn’t need you to be perfect or have all the answers immediately. They need you to be steady when everything around them is shaking.
Respect Yourself: Honor Your Capacity
This is where many rail leaders fail, and it costs them everything. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Yet I watch executives run themselves into the ground—skipping meals, sacrificing sleep, neglecting their health, abandoning their families—believing that’s what leadership requires. That’s not leadership. That’s self-destruction disguised as dedication.
Self-respect means setting boundaries that protect your capacity to lead long-term because if you collapse, your entire organization suffers. When you’ve done everything right, but things don’t go your way, it means restoring peace and focus so you can lead without bitterness. It also means if you accidentally violate someone’s values, dignity or integrity, you make amends quickly.
Leaders must be able to look in the mirror and respect themselves and their decisions, not simply justify them. The highest performers understand taking care of yourself isn’t selfish—it’s strategic. When you respect your own limits, you make better decisions. When you protect your own well-being, you model healthy leadership for your entire organization.
THE FOUNDATION OF EVERYTHING
Each strategy I shared in my first article starts with a leader who has mastered leading themselves first. You can have the best operational plan, but if you’re making decisions from fear or based on ego, reacting from emotion, or running on empty, the plan won’t matter.
Lead yourself first. The rest will follow. Your team is watching. Show them what it looks like to lead with self-awareness, self-control and self-respect. That’s how you lead through uncertainty.
Pauline Lipkewich has been railroading since 2011, including leading the global group sales team at Rocky Mountaineer and growing revenues more than five times in less than four years. She has also worked alongside Class I operators at CN, Kansas City Southern and Norfolk Southern, specifically targeting safety performance and operational effectiveness improvements. She runs KingdomBuilding Leadership, Inc., a boutique firm committed to helping individuals and organizations go further, faster by leveraging behaviors and culture as a key competitive advantage. Pauline’s love of leadership, heavy industry and unlocking the potential in people is the genesis in bringing The Rail Way™ to life. Her ability to build trust and performance with the individuals and organizations she works with has been demonstrated through the awards and recognition her teams and clients have received. Pauline has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Arts (Leadership), both from the University of Guelph. If you have an idea for a future column for The Rail Way™, contact Pauline directly at pauline.lipkewich@kingdombuildingleadership.com or +1.780.991.9993. The Rail Way™, a division of KingdomBuilding Leadership, Inc., strives to be the preeminent voice on leadership, people, behaviors and culture for the transportation industry while transforming how the rail sector develops generational railroaders and creates value for all stakeholders. KingdomBuilding Leadership, Inc. specializes in organizational transformation by focusing on high performance leadership behaviors, people and culture. Leveraging three pillars of performance, clients witness rapid, profound and sustainable results—often taking them from industry laggard to industry leader—when implementing proven methods and strategies and utilizing tools.
